B'day pig roast

I'd go the block pit route if you can't have an underground one. I believe the blocks would be quite a bit cheaper than purchasing a cuban box. (I could be wrong on that though).
A 50lb pig isn't very big. Think of it as 4 good sized butts, inject and season with your favorite injection and rubs. Anything added to the cavity for flavoring and moisture is a plus. imo

Hmmm... I'll do some more thinkin'.

Good luck with it and early Happy Birthday! :grin:

Is there no way to add wood chunks to the propane roaster? I'd see about buying a used cast iron pan (a few dollars) and putting it over the burner somehow. My first smoker was propane and I used a cast iron pan from a yard sale as my chip tray and it worked great.

Well, honestly because of the skin on a hog, you do not get very much smoke flavor even cooking on logs. Propane is not as evil as you would think with whole hog Im guessing.

Happy Birthday! Can't help much with cooking a whole pig, but good luck!
Following the thread with much anticipation and good mojo for success!

A good base is killer hogs AP rub. A light coating followed by a good cue run of your choice.

Sounds exciting!

On the Sunday before Labor Day, we cooked two 45 pound pigs on an open spit. My plan was: inject with lightly salted apple juice & season the inside with Montreal seasoning on Saturday, then hold in a cooler on ice overnight. On Sunday we rigged the pigs on the spit, scored the skin, oiled the skin, seasoned with salt, added some garlic, lemons and aromatics to the belly and trussed it closed. Cook time was about 8 hours with my buddies spit. We had water pans under the loin to protect it and the final temp for them was 155°. The shoulders and hams finished around 170° and were moist and tender.

The skin was not as crispy as I would have liked, and the meat did not get a smokey flavor (like lambs or goats do that we have cooked without skin), but it was moist and had a good roasted flavor. I made a fine-grind finishing rub and the meat was sprinkled with that before serving. A local chef volunteered to make some sauces, and my only request was that he make them on the thin side so they would not over power the delicate flavor of young pig. I believe he took his standard recipes and used pork stock to thin them. I used the small condiment cups with lids for the sauce and made about 50 of them for the serving table.

Just to play it safe I took one of my drums and smoked two pork loins on site since I have the timing down on those, and to give us a variety of meat to serve. I also kept the drum burning in case any of the pig parts were under-done.... and one ham was a little pink at the bone, so I put it in the drum for about 30 minutes.