Pig in the ground

[NCTrees]

Anyone cook whole pigs in the ground? Curious how yours tuned out.

 

[Swamp Fox]

Is this a current pig or a future pig?

'Cause the ground's pretty hard around here right now, lol ..


There used to be a few decent YT videos on this but they seem to have been buried by bullshit in the last few years.

Good luck to you. Keeping the humidity up is a key. Oak or pecan leaves? ...

...Since banana leaves are in short supply around here.


Beware.

 

[ohoopee]

I have eaten a couple ham's cooked in the ground. Both wrapped
in wet paper. Fall off the bone delicious. Honestly cant say it tasted
better but it was tender.

 

[BBob]

Yes, pig as in javalina. We used to pit roast them often. Always came out great. Early days we dug a hole in the ground but we did them so often a steel plate covered concrete pit (in the ground) was built.

 

[Holeintheheadgang]

Only thing I heard is cook longer than you think.

 

[Mojave]

When I was a kid, we did this all time in Wyoming. My family used to do vacations in Hawaii, and as a family this became the thing to do.

Until everyone started to realize that it is a BS method and you have zero control over the entire operation.

Buy a smoker. Go hard.

 

[BBob]

Only thing I heard is cook longer than you think.

Our cooks usually went 16hrs or so. For a Sunday afternoon meal we started to burn wood Saturday afternoon. We prepped the pig by stuffing and wrapping while we burned the wood. Once we had the burned down coals we dropped in the pig and covered and sealed the pit. You have to make sure the pit is sealed and airtight. Any sign of smoke percolating up and out of the dirt means it's not sealed. We pulled it the next afternoon shortly before party time, shredded it and put it in a warmer.

As to it being a BS operation, nah it works fine and worked every time for us. I wrote up instructions years ago and passed them along to others. I'll see if I can find and post them later.

 

[Phaseolus]

The group of Guy’s I grew up with had a end of the summer pig roast for years. We cooked it all sorts of ways. When I got my permanent house I decided to build a pig roaster based on my experience. It’s made of brick with a rolled steel cover. The cover got too heavy and I installed a pole with a boat winch. Originally I was going to use a rotisserie but went with a frame made of shaker screen. I live in peach country and use peach wood. I also smoke smaller portions on a smaller raised platform of expanded metal The puts the meat up in the smoke.

 

[Muledeerfanatic]

Yes
Several
The hardest part is not getting too hammered by the time its done!

 

[ohoopee]

lol, our method was not as involved.

 

[KsRancher]

It's more a nostalgia thing. Smoker is the way to go. Our local fire department puts on a hog roast every year. They buy a live hog. Skin, gut and cut in half down the spine then on the smoker. Pretty hard to beat.

 

[Arcola]

I did years ago. Lined a large hole with bricks and had a nice oak bonfire in it. Might have had a few too many beers during the fire part. We had previously wrapped the hog in wet burlap and chain link. Dropped it in when we were down to a nice bed of coals. Surrounded it with additional dried oak logs and covered it up.

If I recall, it took around 16 hours, but it turned out great. Buddies and I were reminiscing about it recently and figured we should probably do another soon.

 

[BBob]

Might have had a few too many beers during the fire part.

That's a requirement no???

 

[RS_Non-Res]

I knew some guys that used to roast a thanksgiving day turkey in a particular volcanic fumerol for several years, until they were told that couldn't use that one anymore. The backup wasn't as hot and the result was nasty. As paybacks, the research work on the hotter fumerol apparently discovered lots of unexplained bacteria that weren't expected that remote location.

 

[KoolBreeze]

We did it a lot when I was growing up but eventually came to the reality that the meat is much better when cooked above ground on a smoker.

 

[JeffP_Or]

I have not personally but have witnessed and sampled whole beef, goat [cabrito?] and pigs; the beef was an effort. They were all good - there is more wrapping and moisture catch involved than you would think too. Fill the pit with wood and burn it down; load with rocks and burn again; pull some coals; wrap up a carcass with wet towels and chicken wire or bailing wire; drop it in; drop coals back in; fill with dirt - drink beer and stay up all night and through the next day. Quite the site using backhoes to cook your beef.....

I have a hunting friend who constructed a Hawaii Box [?] and has done a couple of whole smaller pigs - they turned out great as well and the process seemed easier as it was all above ground and used briquets. The box was built out of rigid insulation with a foil liner as I recall - I believe he dug it up on line. Word of warning - BOTH times he did it in his back yard, someone called the fire department on him when he started it up....

I might be able to find the box info if someone is interested.

 

[traildust]

Anyone cook whole pigs in the ground? Curious how yours tuned out.

You don't own a smoker pit?

 

[GreenNDark Timber]

Anyone else start singing Hank Jr when they read the title?

 

[NCTrees]

You don't own a smoker pit?

Nope, but looks like it’s something I need to look into.