Earth Oven Roast Pig Recipes

EARTH OVEN ROAST PIG

Steps:

• Additional Items you will need: canvas tarp (make sure it's big enough to anchor the tarp around the edge of the hole,) charcoal briquettes, one cord of wood, 40 cantaloupe-sized rocks (preferably lava rocks, but river rocks will work,) chicken wire, 30 or so green banana leaves, very sharp knives, 20 wet burlap bags, a metal chimney (I a 3 foot length of 6 inch diameter aluminum pipe,) green corn husks (cabbage or seaweed will work and you'll need quite a bit).
• You'll also need shovels to dig the pit, and some lengths of rope to lower the pig, and remove it. I used carabiners on the end of the rope.
• The first, and hardest part, is to dig the pit. For a 200 pound hog we dig a pit that is 5 feet by 7 feet and 3 feet deep. The dimensions will vary depending on the size of the pig, but you should dig it no less than 3 feet deep. Square walls help in lowering the pig and removing it.
• Once the hole is finished, place your chimney in the center and fill the hole with your wood. I recommend having a full cord of wood on hand, again depending on the size of your pig and pit, but it's a good idea to overestimate. The wood should completely fill the hole and pile up about 2 feet above the hole. On top of the wood, evenly space your rocks. You should have enough rocks so that when the wood burns down you'll have completely covered the bottom of the pit with hot rocks.
• Next, drop 10-15 charcoal briquettes down the chimney. To the briquettes, add a whole can of charcoal lighter fluid. Ignite the lighter fluid and get the charcoal going. The safest way to do this is to take a piece of newspaper or a brown paper bag, roll it up, put a bit of the lighter fluid on it, and drop it down the chimney. You can remove the chimney when you know the fire is going well, but we use aluminum pieces that simply burn away with the intense heat. Once your fire is going, it's time to prepare the hog.
• Score the skin and rub in salt and spices. Pig skin is notoriously tough, so you'll need extremely sharp knives and with a larger pig, you'll probably have to sharpen them as you go. I frequently use box cutters with razors. The onions and pineapples can be placed inside the hog. You can also inject your favorite marinade into the meat at this point.
• Now you need to wait for the fire to burn down. This can be a dangerous point of the project if you're using river rocks. Bubbles and moisture inside the rocks will expand with heat, and the rocks can (and probably will) explode and crack. You can minimize the problem by placing chicken wire over the fire which will keep pieces from flying all over the place. Once the rocks heat up enough, they'll stop cracking and it will be safe.
• Once the fire has burned down, you'll need to place a couple of the hot rocks inside the cavity of the pig. We use a post-hole digger to pick up the rocks. You can use heat resistant gloves but you'll likely ruin them. These rocks are HOT!. Place enough inside the pig to fill most of the cavity.
• Wrap the pig first in the green banana leaves, then in chicken wire. The leaves will prevent the pig from charring, and any parts left uncovered will burn. The chicken wire will help keep the pig together while it's cooking and will aid in placing the pig in the pit and removing it when it's done.
• Now you're going to make a bed of corn husks on top of the hot rocks. I mentioned earlier that you can use seaweed or cabbage for this. I have used both cabbage and corn husks, but seaweed is the traditional Polynesian way. Corn worked great, as did cabbage, though the cabbage was FAR smellier as it cooked. I think the corn husks impart a sweet flavor to the meat, so that's my preferred method.
• Lower your wrapped pig onto the bed of corn husks.
• Thoroughly soak the burlap bags in water, then place them over the pig, covering the entire pig. These will create a type of lid over the pig keeping the heat inches.
• Cover the pit with the canvas tarp, anchor the edges and corners, then moisten the tarp thoroughly. Use the dirt from the hole to cover the tarp completely, starting with the edges to prevent the tarp from slipping in on the pig. Once you've covered the tarp in dirt, soak the dirt and relax. You will need to occasionally moisten the dirt. There's no time schedule on this, but when the dirt starts to dry, hose it down.
• Your pig will be cooked in about 7 hours. Just remove the dirt, then roll back the tarp and take out the pig. At this point I find easiest to use a length of rope with a clip (carabiner) at the end. You just attach the clip to the chicken wire and pull it out. Works great!
• I cooked a 200# hog for my wedding. It cooked for 8 hours and was only slightly over-done. It was delicious, and the looks on peoples faces as it came out of the ground were priceless.
• You should not, however, underestimate the difficulties of a project like this. Hole digging is tough, and it can be difficult to find that many rocks. Allow yourself several weeks to plan, and at least a couple of days to dig the hole. This is not a last minute recipe.
• For proportions, count on 1 person 1 pound. So, 100 people, 100# pig.

WHOLE ROAST SUCKLING PIG

Steps:

• Heat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare the pig: Wash it, including the cavity, under cold running water, and towel-dry thoroughly, the way you would dry a small child after a bath - ears, armpits, chest cavity, face, legs, backs of knees.
• Sometimes there are imperfections remaining after the slaughtering and processing of the animal. Use dish towels or sturdy paper towels to rub away any dark spots on the ears, any little bit of remaining bristles around the mouth. Like that yellow, papery flaking skin you sometimes find on chickens, which can be peeled off to reveal tender, fresh skin underneath, a similar bit of crud can remain on pigs' chins and under their belly flaps. Clean this little cutie as if you were detailing your car! The purple U.S.D.A. stamp, however, is indelible. But not inedible.
• Bard the pig with all 20 garlic cloves, making deep incisions all over with a thin filleting knife and shoving the cloves into each pocket; include the cheeks and the neck and the rump and the thighs and the loin down the back and the front shoulders, all areas of the small creature that have enough flesh to be able to receive a clove of garlic. (Sometimes I find I have to slice the larger cloves of garlic in half to get them to slide into the incision.)
• Rub the entire pig in oil exactly as you would apply suntan oil to a sunbathing goddess of another era, when people still were ignorant of the harmful effects of the sun. Massage and rub and get the whole creature slick and glistening. I do this directly in a very large roasting pan.
• Wash and dry your hands. Take large pinches of kosher salt, and raising your arm high above the pig, rain down the salt in an even, light dusting all over. You can start with the pig on its back and get the cavity and the crotch, and then turn it over and get the back and the head and flanks. Or vice versa. But in the end, the whole animal is salted evenly and lightly, snout to tail.
• Arrange the pig in the roasting pan, spine up, rear legs tucked under, with feet pointing toward its ears and its two front legs out ahead in front. Sometimes the pig needs a sharp, sturdy, confident chiropractic crack on its arching spine, just to settle it in comfortably to the roasting pan, so it won't list to one side or topple over.
• Put the potato deep into its mouth, and place in the oven, on the bottom rack, and roast slowly for about 4 to 5 hours, depending on the size of your pig. (Plan 15 minutes of roasting time per pound of pig; if you have a 20-pounder, then you'd need about 5 hours total cooking time.) Add a little water to the roasting pan along the way if you see the juices are in danger of scorching, and loosely tent the animal with aluminum foil in vulnerable spots - ears, snout, arc of back - if you see them burning. For the last half-hour, raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees, and cook until the skin gets crisp and even blistered, checking every 10 minutes.
• Tap on it with your knuckle to hear a kind of hollow sound, letting you know the skin has inflated and separated from the interior flesh; observe splitting of the skin at knuckles - all good signs the pig is done. Or use a meat thermometer inserted deep in the neck; the pig is ready at 160 degrees. Let rest 45 minutes before serving.
• Remove the potato, and replace it with the apple. Transfer the pig to a large platter; nestle big bouquets of herbs around the pig as garnish. Save pan juices, and use for napping over the pulled meat when serving.

ROAST SUCKLING PIG

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, combine the orange, lime, and grapefruit juice and whisk together. Wash and pat the pig dry with paper towels. Sprinkle inside and out with the salt and pepper and place it in a large roasting pan, belly side up. Place the grapefruit, oranges, limes, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme inside the cavity and skewer it closed. Turn belly side down and place a ball of wood or a rolled up piece of aluminum foil about the size of a lemon in the pigs mouth. Skewer the legs into position by pulling the forelegs forward and bending the hind legs into a crouching position (this will help a large pig fit in a home oven, if it fits already, this is not necessary). Cover the tail and ears with small pieces of foil to prevent them from burning. Place the pig in the oven and baste with the citrus juice mixture. After the pig has roasted for 15 minutes, baste it again with the citrus juice mixture and reduce the heat to 325 degrees. Roast for 20 minutes per pound longer, basting generously every 15 or 20 minutes with the juice mixture and then the pan juices. To test for doneness, prick the thigh with the tip of a sharp knife to see if the juices run clear. The internal temperature should read 165 degrees on a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the leg. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes, loosely tented with a large piece of aluminum foil. Distribute the parsley and watercress sprigs loosely around the edges of a large warmed oval platter. Halve the trimmed blood oranges and place them around the edges of the platter, nestled in the greens. Remove the foil from the tail and ears and replace the wood or foil from the mouth with a lemon, lime, or apple. Carve at the table, with confidence.