[OGRipper]

So, this weekend I attended a camping event/party in the wine country (Sonoma County) that included the cooking of a 200 lb pig in the ground, hawaiian style. That's 200 lbs ready to cook - I'm told it was over 300 "on the hoof." This was a first for me.

I missed the first part but here is what happened: They dug a hole about 4 feet deep, then added a bunch of large river rocks and made a huge hardwood fire. While it burned down the pig was heavily salted and stuff with halved pineapples, sweet potatoes, whole onions and whole heads of garlic. It was then wrapped pretty tightly in banana leaves, then burlap, then finally chicken wire.

When the fire had burned to super hot coals (glowing red rocks and all), a few inches of dirt was thrown on top, then the pig, then the whole thing was buried and left for 16 hours. The guy who was running the pig portion of the program wanted to dig it up 2-3 hours earlier but some people were concerned it would not be fully cooked.

I was there to help dig it out and get it moved onto the table. It smelled amazingly good, all porky and sweet from the pineapple. One guy carved some big chunks and we all started by eating it straight up with white rice and some of the pineapple and sweet potatoes. It was a little overdone but really good - very smoky, like good bbq. I made a quick little salsa with some of the pineapple and that really helped, it needed the moisture.

We first started eating at about 3 pm. There was lots of beer, tequila, and wine, and as the day/night wore on the pig was heavily picked over. Things are a little fuzzy but I have vivid memories of picking the cheek meat right off the head (the best part), and ripping the succulent ribs off one at a time and handing them out like lollipops. The night did not end until 3 am, when we crashed and dreamt porky dreams.

There was almost nothing left in the morning. What was there was used for breakfast burritos.

Despite all the drinking and the late night, I was up at 7 am and, after coffee, did a little over 40 miles of road riding in the Mayacamas mountains, including some damn steep grades and probably 2,500 or 3000 feet of climbing at what was a pretty fast pace, considering. I like to think the pig gave me wings.

 

[narlus]

sounds great, but too bad that the people didn't trust the cooker in terms of duration. still, i guess you'd need a long meat thermometer to stick into an entire pig which is buried. bummer to have it undercooked; there's really no turning back at that point.

 

[OGRipper]

sounds great, but too bad that the people didn't trust the cooker in terms of duration. still, i guess you'd need a long meat thermometer to stick into an entire pig which is buried. bummer to have it undercooked; there's really no turning back at that point.

I think you meant "overcooked" and yeah I agree. A few of us kept saying undercooked would be better since we could finish those parts on the grill, but there was enough squeamishness around that we were over-ruled. I amazed at how much heat was retained, 2-3 hours after we took it out of the ground I was still burning my fingers.

 

[Greyhound]

I've done this style of cooking several times over the last few years, and although it's really neat way to cook, it takes a lot of prep. Here's one of my favorite recipes for cooking a pig underground:

Yucatean pit-cooked pig(Conchinita pibil).

First off....if you happen to have a butcher locally that can hook you up with a 35lb or so pig--cut primally(meaning front quarters, legs, saddle halved down the backbone...and the head) that's one of the best ways. But, if you don't, no problem....get yourself 2, 20lb pork shoulders and that works just fine.

I like to use a huge roasting pan for this instead of dirt on top of the coals---excessive dirt on top of your coals can reduce the temp and delay your cooking time by as much as two hours. Getting back to the roasting pan, it needs to be about 10-12 inches deep and at least 2ftx2ft in size. Next.....hit up your local Mexican market(or Asian) and pick up about 3 pkgs of 1lb banana leaves. These come frozen, so you'll need to let 'em thaw just a bit before using them. Line the bottom of your pan with the several banana leaves--making sure you leave them draped over the edges of the pan at least 6 inches. Next, plop the pig parts in the pan...pretty simple, right? Well....hold on to your horses, there's more......

You're going to need a good marinade for the little piggy, so in keeping with this whole theme, while you're at the Mexican market, look around and find some achiote seasoning--I think El Yucateco is a common brand. You'll need about 20oz. of this stuff and I think it's usually sold in 4oz. pkgs. It's a seed-like seasoning that's real earthy tasting, and commonly used in Yucatean cooking. Get yourself about 2.5 cups of lime juice(no....don't get the bottle stuff...squeeze your own). Mix the achiote and the lime juice together in a blender---season with about 4 tblspns of salt--I know that sounds like a lot, but you're seasoning a lot of meat here, so don't freak out.

You're going to have a nice red mixture in your blender by now---take this mix and pour it over your pig parts in the banana leaf-lined pan. Here's where I have to caution you to use gloves---achiote stains....badly. Using your hands, spread the mixture evenly over all of the pig--getting down into all crevices you can. Next, pour about 3/4 of a gallon of water in the bottom of the pan--this will provide the steam that's going to do a lot of the cooking. Now, take the remaining banana leaves and put them over the top of the pan. No need to be fancy--just get it covered up.

You are now ready to go.

As for the pit.....I just dug a hole about 4ft.x4ft. and at least 2.5 feet deep. Line the edges with fire brick. I have a fire barrel that has rebar stuck through it about halfway down so I can burn the wood on the top half and then when the coals fall through to the bottom, I have a hole cut in the side where I can just shovel the coals out and into the pit. Get a good six inch layer of coals going and you're set. When you put the pan into the pit, you'll see that the water in the bottom of the pan will almost go to an instant boil. This means you're at the right temp. I use a heavy metal plate to cover the pit over and then I shovel dirt about 6in thick on the top of the plate and around the sides so that no smoke escapes.

Walk away and forget about it for 5 hours.

Come back, shovel the dirt off the top and sweep away all the dirt around the edges, so that when you pull the plate up, no dirt will accidentaly fall into the pan. The meat should be between 150 and 165 degrees.

Take the pan inside and chop it up loosely and serve with small tortillas. I like to take the pan and turn on all 4 burners and reduce the juices to about half over high heat and season with a little salt.. Pour over the top of the chopped pig.

 

[OGRipper]

^^^Damn that sounds good!! And yeah it's a fun thing to do but it sure is a lot of work - and I was only around for a small part of it.

 

[valve bouncer]

Pretty common method all over Polynesia, Maoris call it a "hangi" from memory. Been to a few in Australia, was fairly apparent that the people involved didn't really know what they were doing which was a shame.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Mmm.... roasted pork.

I like your "Charlotte's Web" reference, too.