Hidden Villa pigs
We’ve ordered a pig from Hidden Villa for the Pig Pickin’! Check out some of their fine hogs:
Comments (1)2nd Annual Pig Pickin’!
Tamar noticed that we’ve been all quiet here about this year’s 2nd Annual Pig Pickin’ and BBQ Sauce Contest Jamboree. No particular reason. Actually, I think it’s because it’s been so much easier this year. Much less uncertainty, much better planning. We’re old pros now!
Anyway, said event is coming up this Saturday, and we’re once again going to welcome 100+ people (we think) for some pork in Tilden Park. Stay tuned for wrap-up, pictures, and winning sauce recipes!
Pig Pickin’ Wrap-Up
Well, I guess it’s taken us quite a while to recover from the giant undertaking that was the 1st Annual Pig Pickin’ and BBQ Sauce Contest Jamboree. But here we are, more than a week later, and it’s time for some wrap-up.
The Pig
Perfectly butchered and butterflied, and packed in a convenient cooler box by Ver Brugge, it turned out that our 100 lb pig, headless and footless, was just about three feet long (from shoulder to butt) and similarly wide when it was laid flat. Almost a perfect 3 foot square! This was ideal, as it turned out, since we didn’t have to use the extra grill we’d brought to stick at the end of the ones they have at the park (which are also almost exactly three feet square).
To prepare, we rubbed the cavity of the pig with a spice mixture I’d made the day before. It was a bit improves, but the main ingredients were salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, and fresh thyme. All in the Cuisinart with a few drops of molasses to bind. The only other preparation we did was to lightly score the back legs of the pig – the hams – in order to let more of the fat render out and encourage them to cook a little quicker.
We got to the site at about 8:30, and after a few small mishaps (I forgot the lighter fluid… Doh!), got the coals going and put the pig on shortly after nine.
We used charcoal briquettes instead of the natural stuff for the fire because it heats more evenly and reliably. We also fed the fire with Mesquite chunks we’d soaked overnight. Strictly speaking we didn’t have an enclosed enough area to smoke the pig, but we did get a nice smoke flavor in there nonetheless.
We covered the metal grating with foil in order to trap some of the heat and smoke, and used some wooden blocks to hold it down against the wind.
The hairiest part of the whole adventure came at around 1pm, when we flipped the oinker. Sandwiched as it was between two pieces of stainless steel grating, it wasn’t going to fall apart, but we were more worried about it sliding out, or dropping the whole thing right on the ground. But, with help, we managed it without an incident and it cooked merrily until about 3:30.
Final Verdict
How did the pig turn out? Pretty darn well, I’d say, considering it was our first time. The meat was flavorful throughout, moist in many parts but dry in others. The hardest part about cooking a whole pig butterfly-style is managing the heat. Rotisserie, all you need to do is try to achieve an even heat across the length of the pig. Because it rotates, the variations can more easily even out. Spread out, though, it becomes important to stack the coals a bit deeper around the front and back edges and especially in the corners under the shoulders and hams.
On the one hand, the meat could have used another 4 hours to tender up in spots, but on the other hand, we saved it from drying out more than it did. Mixed with any one of the 10 BBQ sauces we had to taste, every part of the pig was tasty, and though we can do better next year, I think everyone was quite pleased.
Next Time
Lessons learned? Fire management is a big one – next time we’ll have to be much more careful. I also think we need to pick the pig up the day before (assuming we could find some way to keep it cool) so we can have it on the fire longer. 8 hours of proper heat would have made a truly succulent pig.
Another big logistical lesson: pulling all that meat is a HUGE pain in the ass. We did not prepare well enough. We should have set up stations with pans, cutting boards, and knives/cleavers and just chopped up the meat. As it was we were trying to pull it to get that nice texture, and we were so unorganized that it took something like 90 minutes to deal with. The whole time we were being assailed by swarms of yellow jackets and party-goers who just wanted that nice piece there, or a piece of crispy skin, or something. Sheesh!
Oh well. Anyway, I’m sure Andrew will have more to add. And I hope to post some more photos soon, and the winning BBQ sauce recipes any day.
The Pig Was Picked!
It’s over! The 1st Annual ‘The Other White Meat’ Pig Pickin’ and BBQ Sauce Contest Jamboree was a huge success. We had more than 100 folks up at Tilden Park. 10 sauce entries, 60 pounds of meat, endless yummy side dishes and desserts, and a raft of beers later, we think it went off without a hitch. Thanks to the many folks who chipped in food, drinks, money, music, cleanup, and other support. In the days to come we’ll post some pictures, a post-mortem on our pig, and hopefully recipes from the three winners of the sauce contest. Stay tuned!
Here Comes a’ Pig Pickin’
Well, the time is almost here for our giant bash. The pig is ordered, more than 100 people have RSVPd, and we’re busily making preparations for an all day party. I’ve got a giant backload of posts that I’ll be firing off in the next couple days, and hopefully they’ll encapsulate all that we’ve learned (a lot!) during the preparation for the pig roast. Stay tuned.
It’s On!
Ladies and gentlemen,
The date is set, the picnic site is rented, and the band is booked. There’s no stopping us now. So put it on your calendar:
The 1st Annual ‘The Other White Meat’ Pig Pickin’ and BBQ Sauce Contest Jamboree
July 14th, 2007
2pm
We’ll be sending out an evite with the rest of the details. Really I guess this is just rubbing it in for everyone reading this who didn’t get invited. That’s mean. Sorry.
The 5th Annual Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookoff
5th Annual Russian River Beer Revival, August 18th, 2007, Stumptown Brewery, Guerneville, CA
This was the single best even of last summer, I gotta say. If you are in the Bay Area, you love BBQ, and you’re not at this event…I don’t even want to think about. Let me break it down for you:
- All you can eat BBQ ribs and chicken from 25 teams
- All you can drink beer from 25 breweries
- The banks of the scenic Russian River
- Sun
- live music
Dear lord it’s good.
Planning a Pig Pickin’ – Part I of ∞
Well, there’s a pig pickin’ (pig roast?) in the works in East Bay. And by in the works I mean, dear god, how will we ever find the time to plan this thing? But the basic gist of it is this –
- One whole pig.
- All day smoking.
- Pork bliss.
My friend MJ, another North Carolinian, and I cooked up this idea a few weeks back, and others are interested. So we’re hoping to make it happen sometime in late April, and to invite as many people as the pig will allow. We’ll do pot luck, drink a keg of beer, and definitely have a BBQ sauce contest. 1st prize? All the cracklins you can eat (and not throw up).
In the small amount of Googling I’ve done on this so far, I’ve been disappointed with the lack of information available for someone planning an event like this. So I thought I’d document the practicalities along the way, and collect comments and suggestions from the interested BBQ community.
1st Problem: Location
This is not a simple question. There are two primary constraining factors: 1. a pig will feed lots of folks, so the venue must accommodate lots of folks. 2. A pig requires some special apparatus to cook, be it a large grill or a fire pit.
Given these constraints, we’ve tossed around a few options:
- My backyard: Pros: We could construct a proper pit to line with coals. We’d have access to the kitchen, fridge, bathroom, etc., which would make things much easier. Cons: Small space would be crowded, especially when we make room for the pit. Would the smoking smell disturb the neighbors?
- A Tilden Park Picnic Area: Pros: A ton of space for many people, frisbees and footballs, kegs, cars. Beautiful scenery. Cons: We probably couldn’t make a pit at the picnic area, so we’d have to find another way. Rent some kind of crazy grill trailer? Build our own giant grill pan, rent a UHaul to get it up there? We’d have to pack everything in with us in coolers, etc. No bathrooms.
- Rose Park: Pros: Closer than Tilden. MJ has been to a pig roast there before, so we know it’s doable. Cons: Same as Tilden, with less space, probably.
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or resources, fire away. I’d love to do the Tilden Park thing, but the problem of figuring out how to roast the pig up there is big. Can we rent a grill trailer? Where? Can we make one ourselves? Who knows how to weld?
More info. as it comes.