Whole hog cook tomorrow night, defrost advice
 

I am cooking a 53 lb whole pig (in the ground) for my son's Eagle Scout banquet. The whole frozen pig was supposed to come in on Monday and defrost all week in their cooler, but didn't. It came in this morning. They are going to keep it in the cooler room until I pick it up tomorrow afternoon. They say it is "frozen solid". What can I do to defrost this thing? I could get it earlier tomorrow with some great effort, but if I do I can't leave it outside, tomorrow is 52 low, 63 high. I need to start cooking about 10:00 tomorrow night. Any advice?

Put it in the bathtub and submerge it in some water.

^^^This - and change out the water several times. It sounds counterintuitive, but use cold water. I always defrost frozen items in a pot with a very small stream of cold water running into it, but obviously this can't really be done with a pig unless you got a big ole pot and sink! With the bathtub, you can fill it up, let it sit a while (maybe 1/2 hour to an hour?) drain it and start over. This would somewhat replicate the process of using a pot. It's probably worth mentioning I've never defrosted a whole pig - I'm just trying to adapt a method I've used successfully for other situations to this one.

I'd pay close attention whether or not the hams and shoulders in particular are frozen before cooking.

Bathtub or washtub outside changing the water every 1/2 hour.

You'll be surprised how fast it defrosts.

Be prepared? :cool:

A bleach cleaned bathtub :becky:

Everything is clean with all the family coming into town. Bathtub it is. Thanks!!

Pretty sure a photo with the pig in the tub with a rubber ducky is mandatory!

:thumb:

:rofl:

I'll see what I can do :)

How did it turn out??