Host Your Own Hog Roast

Basic "How-To" for Hosting a Hog Roast: Order your pig from a specialty meat packer, grocery store or local locker; often 7 days advance notice is necessary. You will also need a specially made "hog cooker" – a grill made to accommodate the large size of the butterflied hog.

You will need:

  • 1 75-100-pound dressed pig
  • 1/2 pound salt
  • 60 pounds charcoal briquettes
  • Barbecue sauce

Makes about 30-40 pounds of chopped pork, enough to serve 50-70 people.

Tips:

Allow about 1 1/2 pounds carcass weight per person.

Do not exceed 225°F cooking temperature during the first two hours of cooking; the idea is to slowly cook the pig.

Temperature control is more difficult in an open grill; allow for 1 hour of cooking time per 10 pounds of pig.

Additional coals started in a small grill outside the cooker should be added as needed to maintain proper temperature.

Distribute more coals under the shoulders and hams and less in the center for more uniform cooking.

Allow two quarts of barbecue sauce per 75 pounds of pork.

Equipment to Make the Job Easier:

  • Specially made hog cooker
  • Extra small grill or "burn barrel" for starting coals
  • Squirt container of water for possible heat source flare-ups
  • Knife, cleaver, chopping block for chopping roasted hog (a new, clean garden hoe does the job)
  • Thick rubber gloves for handling the hog
  • Two pieces of wire approximately 3 1/2 feet X 4 feet to be used for turning, sturdy enough to support carcass weight

Split backbone to allow pig to lay flat, being careful not to pierce skin. Trim and discard any excess fat. Sprinkle salt inside cavity. Set pig aside.

Place 20 pounds of charcoal in large grill; pour 1 quart charcoal lighter fluid over top and ignite. Let burn until charcoal has turned ash-grey. Place heavy-gauge wire, about the size of the pig, over grill, 13 inches from coals.

Place pig flat, skin side up, on wire surface. Close lid of cooker; cook at 225°F for 6 hours, adding additional lighted coals as needed to maintain temperature in cooker. Place a second piece of wire over pig, sandwiching pig between the two layers of wire. Turn pig over; remove wire from top. Insert meat thermometer in thigh; do not touch bone. Baste meat with barbecue sauce; pour sauce in rib cavity to measure one inch. Close pork cooker lid; cook at 225°F for two more hours or until meat thermometer registers 160° and no pink meat is visible when hams and shoulder are cut.

Slice and chop meat; serve with barbecue sauce, sandwich buns, cole slaw and your other favorite side dishes.