1st Suckling pig on the Weber & Ascona
Posted: 08 Jul 2013, 06:40Firstly I must apologise for the delay in posting this, it was a Father's Day BBQ.
The piggie was from Dunstan Food & Game, and arrived frozen.
The nice people at Weber gave me some hints re timings etc and a suggested coating of sage, salt & water we added garlic & pepper as well but it didn't seem to add much in the way of flavour.
I left slightly too much neck on it and had to adjust the spit in order for it to turn properly.
On the spit, Weber set up for indirect with Whiskey Oak chips over Heat Beads for a subtle smoke.
Two hours in and I transferred it to the Ascona to ensure a constant temp & finish.
On a plate and ready to "dismount" from the spit.
Okay a total of 4.5 hours combined cooking on a 12Kg piggie. Temps around 250-275, difficult to maintain on the Weber due to the large gaps caused by the spit setup.
Points learned, cut the head off closer to the shoulders; extra seasoning on the inside of the piggie; stop people picking at the skin to "check if it's done" and finally as will be seen from the extra pictures, get a bigger platter to serve it on and have a carving plan rather than a free for all
Would we do it again? Yes but I've ben told of a supplier in Herts who supplies them chilled, just waiting for a price as we have our traditional family BBQ to coincide with the Race for Life in aid of Cancer UK on 14th;
There was of course only 1 drink of choice.
The piggie was from Dunstan Food & Game, and arrived frozen.
The nice people at Weber gave me some hints re timings etc and a suggested coating of sage, salt & water we added garlic & pepper as well but it didn't seem to add much in the way of flavour.
I left slightly too much neck on it and had to adjust the spit in order for it to turn properly.
On the spit, Weber set up for indirect with Whiskey Oak chips over Heat Beads for a subtle smoke.
Two hours in and I transferred it to the Ascona to ensure a constant temp & finish.
On a plate and ready to "dismount" from the spit.
Okay a total of 4.5 hours combined cooking on a 12Kg piggie. Temps around 250-275, difficult to maintain on the Weber due to the large gaps caused by the spit setup.
Points learned, cut the head off closer to the shoulders; extra seasoning on the inside of the piggie; stop people picking at the skin to "check if it's done" and finally as will be seen from the extra pictures, get a bigger platter to serve it on and have a carving plan rather than a free for all
Would we do it again? Yes but I've ben told of a supplier in Herts who supplies them chilled, just waiting for a price as we have our traditional family BBQ to coincide with the Race for Life in aid of Cancer UK on 14th;
There was of course only 1 drink of choice.
Thanks for posting
and I don't have the room to do a side by side comparisson. The Whiskey Oak chips seemed to add a nice flavour though. Next time (this Sunday) I'm going to rub it as if it were for pulled pork inside and out I'll be using a Butt Rub/Jubilee mix with added garlic powder. I'll check it to see if its worth getting a marinade in the shoulder snd legs purely for added flavour as it was nice and moist just with the cooking.