Success!

Did my 57# pig on a spit, 30# brisket and 45# crawdad boil yesterday.
All came out great! Thanks for the tips! Injected the hog with mojo and wrapped in chicken wire, a few onions and garlic cloves in the cavity, cooked for nine hours, meat fell off the bone! Plenty of left over mudbugs for some etouffee!

Tell us more on how you cooked the pig. What did you cook it on? Did you wrap any of it? What kind of wood? What temp? Sorry, I'm wanting to try this and I need all the info I can get.

Cooked the pig on a rottiserrie over a fire pit I made from an old bathtub. Made 4 small mounds of Kinsford briquettes towards the outer edge of the tub under the pigs rump and shoulders. Temps averaged around 200. Every so often I threw a small chunk of cherry wood on each pile. I basted the pig with the mojo and Apple juice every 10 minutes or so. cocacola for the last hour. I took the pig off when the internal temps reached 155 at the rump. It was pretty obvious when it was getting done. It started oozing juices and fat. I kept the fire low for the first 3 hours or so, letting the internal temp rise without cooking the skin too much. I didn't wrap piggy up in foil or anything but I did tuck the ears under the chicken wire. It came out the color of a coffee bean.

The étouffée recipe is my own. Trinity, roux, tomato paste, sherry, seasoning, tabasco and fish stock with shrimp or crawfish, over a bed of white rice...a little olive oil makes it velvety.

Skin was a dark mahogany color, kinda' tiger striped from the spinning around. I personally didn't try it. Someone did nibble on one of the ears and said it was tasty. I did let the pig rest a bit before tearing it apart. Maybe carry-over heat got the temp up? If anything I think much longer and it would have been a bit over done. This was my first whole pig...a lot of work!

Sorry Steve T. I would have gladly had such a close neighbor up the hill to chow down. Looks like a lot of folk from Cali here.

I dunno' about the "done-ness" of the pork guys. All I know is that there were no pink areas and I got no complaints or tummy aches. Maybe I need a new thermometer? I'm very cautious when it comes to food safety and I rely a lot on gut feeling. I'm still chalking my first whole hog up as a success.

Do you have any pics? Sounds like a great feast, I would love to see some photos.