Monday, September 24, 2007

Fine Swine

This past weekend, Gary did what he loves to do..... have fun and cook. He bought a pig, borrowed a big roaster from a friend and invited friends to a pig roast.

Regina and I decided to give the pig some dignity and name her Pauline. Regina wanted to call it Wilbur but I doubt Hannah would've liked that much.... so she thought of Pauline and that suited the bovine just fine.

Here's a rundown of the cooking festivities.... complete with pictures:

Step one is to get up at the crack of dawn to get the roaster ready and put the pig on. This is not a couple hour cook here.... we are talking about hours of slow roasting.









Then Gary added a gallon of vinegar to a steam box and topped it off with water.









Next he lit the roaster. WOOSH!!! The huge burner made a loud wooshing noise as it lit.









He had been soaking some apple wood in water overnight so he added some chunks to the smoke box.










Then we opened the cooler and there was Pauline in all her glory.
Must bleach eyes now.









Rodney (bless him for all his help!) and Regina came over to lend a hand. I'm so glad Rodney jumped right in and grabbed Pauline the way he did. I did not want to touch a cold, dead pig.









Poor Pauline wasn't quite ready for the roasting rack but Gary helped her out with my handsaw. Nothing like the sound of sawing bone at 6am to bring on a gag reflex. blech










Finally! She was ready to go to the flame. Bye Bye Pauline!










Whoa! Hold on! Not quite ready! Gary had to pry her mouth open and put a wood chunk in it so an apple would fit in it after she was done roasting.









He then closed the lid on Pauline and kept her temperature around 200-250 degrees for the day.










Now, we must clean and deoderize all surfaces to keep the wife happy! Go Gary!









About 8 hours later.....mmmmmmm....she looks great!









An apple completes her outfit.









Gary does the carving.

It was delicious and so much fun!

6 comments:

3outta5 said...

PSSSSST.... a BOVINE is a COW. LOL I can't think of what a pig is -- it might be porcine -- but I'm not positive! Wow, Gary is BRAVE. You'd have to be darn sure of what you were doing to attempt a cooking project of that magnitude!!

lime said...

porcine is for pig....in case anyone was wondering.

and may i say pauline looks like she was some good eatin!

Joel said...

WOW. That looks awesome. the church I used to attend had a hog raost every year. they were ALWAYS yummy! Looks like you had a good time...god rest poor Pauline's soul. ;)

Noelle said...

I really don't know if i'm disgusted or super hungry right now! What a fun day it was, I bet Pauline tasted so yummy. I had no idea you'd have to prop open their mouths in order for the apple to fit later.

Noelle said...

p.s. What's the vinegar for?

Sharpie said...

THAT looks like fun and yummy!!