Pork Roast

On Monday we celebrated our 30^th Anniversary by hosting a pig roast at our new house for our family and friends. A head count before dinner was 46 but people straggled in after that so the number served was likely closer to 55 with it growing to about 70 before the end of the evening. On the menu: roasted pig, roast beef, gravy, potato salad, pork & beans, roasted corn on the cob, coleslaw and macaroni salad. Snacks included: vegetable tray, fruit tray, potato chips and popsicles for the kids. Several people brought deserts and other snacks even though we had indicated not to so there was an abundance of food. Our daughter and daughter-in-law insisted that everyone took a care pack with them when they left and still there was a lot left over!

Marinating

The pig was 117 lbs and since we had to pick him up Saturday he spent most of Sunday in the commercial refrigerator of the restaurant of one of our friends. Sunday night the guys picked him up for marinating. The marinade was a mixture of orange juice, oranges, pineapple, lemons, garlic and spices. He slept in our lovely green tub (soon to be remodeled bathroom) while we prepared the yards and house for the party.

There was a lot of prep work to do setting up tables and getting the yards ready. Additional lighting had to be set up along with music. Outdoor speakers were installed the day before so we could hook up the iPod for continuous music. Tekki torches were added to the perimeter lighting to ward of bugs while giving a nice glow and complimenting the solar lighting. Three eight foot tables formed an L near the water and two eight foot tables were used as the food area in the patio.

Pork Roaster

The guys picked up the pork roaster on Saturday when they picked up the pig. They set it up in the yard between the house and garage out of the main party area. This was a practical location given that we would have little ones running around.

The roaster is quite large and is on a hitch to attach to a trailer hitch for moving. A huge crank on the right side (not pictured) can be used to hold the lid open if needed. The fuel was propane but it only took a 25 lb tank to cook the pig so that wasn't too bad. We were concerned we might run out of fuel so had a spare filled tank on hand just in case.

On The Roaster

Surprisingly a marinated pig weighs enough so it took three of the guys to get the pig onto the roaster. From there the humour emerged! We took a lot of pictures as jokes were told and antics unfolded. Well, let me tell you we have some great scrapbook photos!

Once the pig was settled onto the barbeque it was time for action. I was concerned that other pig roasts we had been to had the pig on a spit and we didn't have a spit. However, the guys thought it would roast just fine without a spit. The temperature was set to 150ºF for a slower roasting then increased to 350ºF about an hour before serving. The pig went on the roaster just before 9 am with dinner being served just after 6 pm.

Roasted!

The roasted pig was done to perfection thanks to the help of our son! His contribution to the party was cooking the meat and he did an excellent job. Not only did he roast the pig, he also cut it up for serving.

Roasted pork can have a tenancy to be dry which is why it needs to be marinated. This pork was tender and juicy. The skin normally kept for craklin's was a nice golden brown. Due to the size of the party and refrigerator limitations most of the skin and carcass was not kept. The next time we do a pig this way I will definitely make arrangements for both the skin and carcass.

If you are planning a large party and want an idea of how much this cost us, the pig was $100. We payed $80 for the roaster and fuel. I would estimate about $150 in additional food for a total of $330 or to our estimation about $6 per plate. We over bought on buns, corn on the cob, vegetables and fruits. Given the amount of left-overs the price per plate was more like$3 maybe even less making a pig roast a very frugal way to do larger parties like family reunions.