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Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice for Christmas Dinner. I've been Down Under now for 4 years and still haven't found what I would consider to be a "good enough" Christmas dinner for when it's hot, so this year we thought we might try spit roasting a suckling pig. So I went to the butcher to try and order one and he said it's not worth it, "too expensive for all bone and skin". Instead he tried to point me in the direction of a leg. So my questions are

a) Has anyone else tried it?
b) Is it worth the expense?
c) Is it all bone and skin? (personally I quite like the idea of a pig load of crackling)
d) If we did a leg, is it the equivalent of slow roasting in the oven, i.e. does it fall apart?

And if all this is not going to be a good idea, any other suggestions? We tried the whole roast salmon last year which was nice, but I can BBQ a whole fish any time, and it makes for difficult leftovers!!!!

Thanks

Nic

Mrs. Northerner wrote:Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice for Christmas Dinner. I've been Down Under now for 4 years and still haven't found what I would consider to be a "good enough" Christmas dinner for when it's hot, so this year we thought we might try spit roasting a suckling pig. So I went to the butcher to try and order one and he said it's not worth it, "too expensive for all bone and skin". Instead he tried to point me in the direction of a leg. So my questions are

a) Has anyone else tried it?

about 4 times

Mrs. Northerner wrote:b) Is it worth the expense?

Depends. I did it for a Cub camp at an US Army base (poor children down there was on C rashions). Cost $170 Canadian.

I took the rib cage out and the shoulder blades, made up my famous sausage meat and filled the cavity. Looked like a plump little porker

Mrs. Northerner wrote:c) Is it all bone and skin? (personally I quite like the idea of a pig load of crackling)

Not really, shoulder end there is a fair bit of meat as well as the legs. I think it helped with the additional sausage meat as there was 19 hungry brats as well as 6 adults, mind you there was not much left after giving some to our host (US), the boys even devoured most of the head.

Mrs. Northerner wrote:d) If we did a leg, is it the equivalent of slow roasting in the oven, i.e. does it fall apart?

If you cook it long enough, do it in the fire (foil and wet newspaper), you can even do individual orange cakes if you like.

Mrs. Northerner wrote:And if all this is not going to be a good idea, any other suggestions?

Boneless stuffed turkey done in the fire, takes about four hours. I have also done a rib eye roast (sorry, I cannot pull the name up. I believe it starts with a D) wrapped in a double smoked bacon also done in the fire



The turkey, completely boneless except for the wing tips, stuffed with a goose, duck, chicken, pheasant with layers of sausage meat between each layer. For the life of me I cannot remember what was in the centre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken



re; suckling pig I would go the whole hog

If you get to Melbourne go to Supper Inn in China Town best suckling pig Ive ever tasted.

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showt ... p?t=754101

We've done a take on this a couple of times - fantastic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m_UmNGYLGg

We did a whole suckling pig for our wedding. Didn't spitroast it though - popped it in the bread oven at the bakers. It was delicious.

I haven't done it myself but have been to 2 events where it has been done and from an eating point of view it was GORGEOUS!!!! Not sure of the processes involved but it had a lovely coating on it
Well worth the effort in my humble opinion
Cath

Thanks for the replies, I knew there would be a few meat lovers on here that would've tried it before! I just need to find a more enthusiastic butcher who actually wants to sell me the beast!

Mrs. Northerner wrote:I just need to find a more enthusiastic butcher who actually wants to sell me the beast!

If you will go and live on the other side of the planet!!

quietwatersfarm, you sound like my mother-in-law, who also happens to reside in Devon!!!

I've been doing a bit more investigating thanks to all the links posted on here and the more I read and the more I watch the more I am sold on the idea! I really hope I can pull this one off!

Nic

I'm sure you will find a Vietnamese, Croatian or Italian butcher in Sydney who will sell you one
I could get one here if I gave my butcher a weeks notice and I live in the middle of nowhere.

Following the posts on here I made it my mission to track down a butcher that did suckling pig and I'm collecting it on Thursday! I think I'm going to stuff (following the Carluccio video). So now my question is how long will it take to cook on a spit? I'd like it to be like slow roast pork, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Someone has suggested an hour per kilo, but that seems like quite a long time (it's a 7kg pig +stuffing). Any suggestions from someone who's done it before?

Thanks

Nic

It seems to me that there are as many opinions on what constitutes the right way to bbq as there are about how to make sausage, but here is one suggestion

I always have a seperate fire to provide coals for cooking, this allows material at the right stage of heat to be kept constant for even and reliable cooking.

If you are using good hot coals from a feeder fire you should be able to achieve a cooking temp of around 220-250F quite easily and this would cook your little piggy in around 2 or 2 1/2 hours.(Just make sure your probe hits 145 in the ham)

One thing I would stress though is the need to warm rest a suckling pig for around 30 mins minimum as its a juicy thing and needs this time before carving. Tented foil is a good help here.

Be sure to post us a pic

I am off to see my butcher in a moment to get a price on a sucklign pig for some time in the new year. I recently bought a gas bbq with a rotisserie attachment and a gas burner along the length of the back of the bbq. Done a couple of chickens so far, best skin ever! Doing a rolled shoulder of pork boxing day, hope its not too cold to be outside! And the plan is to find a supplier for suckling pig for next year.

I look foward to seeing some pictures!!

We do a suckling pig about 9kg on a manual spit. We do this with no stuffing just garlic, wine and herbs. It goes in a 500(f) wood dome oven and closed up, we quarter turn the spit every 15 minutes. This cooks for 3 hours, by the time the oven cools it is about 300(f).

The best pig EVER and I mean EVER

And I know pork BBQ low and slow as the Eastern Canadian Champion



Mike...

Iamarealbigdog wrote:We do a suckling pig about 9kg on a manual spit. We do this with no stuffing just garlic, wine and herbs. It goes in a 500(f) wood dome oven and closed up, we quarter turn the spit every 15 minutes. This cooks for 3 hours, by the time the oven cools it is about 300(f).

The best pig EVER and I mean EVER

And I know pork BBQ low and slow as the Eastern Canadian Champion



Mike...

Out of interest what sort of size, physically is a 9kg suckling pig?