How to Barbecue Suckling Pig on the Grill

If you're are looking to learn how to spit roast a pig, or barbecue a pig, you've come to the right place. I recently set out to learn how to do it, and surprisingly there are few good resources, so I hope you enjoy this Hub.

The first thing you need to decide when planning a pig roast is how big of a pig you want to cook. Plan on four to six ounces of meat per person and think about 60% of the pigs weight will be eatable. Four to six ounces doesn't seem like much, but spit roasted pig is pretty rich in flavor and has a stronger pork flavor than pork tenderloins and baby back ribs. I'm not sure why, but that's my experience.

Once you figure out how large of a pig you need, the real challenge begins.

If you show up at the butcher, he's not likely to have any in available since whole pigs aren't in high demand. Call him seven days in advance and order the pig. It will usually take five days, but give a few extra days to be sure he can get one.

I started by calling butcher shops in the San Francisco bay area. Papes meat market in Millbrae will order you a 50 to 100lbs pig. That was too big. I was looking for a suckling pig to order. I found a 25lbs suckling from the San Francisco Meat Company for $165. Since I was ordering the pig, I had the option of picking it up at their retail outlet in the Ferrry Building. That's what I did. The other options I found for a suckling pig was to go to Marsh and Sons farm in Half Moon Bay. They will slaughter the pig for you. That would have been interesting, but picking the whole pig up wrapped and in a box with ice was much more convenient.

I picked the pig up the day before we planned to roast her. I put some ice in a cooler and stuck the suckling pig in the garage until we were ready to start preparing her to be cooked.

The first preparation step for spit roasting the pig is pumping the pig full of a salty solution that keeps it moist as it barbecues for several hours. You'll need a meat injector. I purchased one from William-Sonoma that worked great for $20.

Meat injecting recipe:

• 1/2 gallon of water
• 1/2 cup of seasoned salt

Inject the pig full of fluid. Create one batch of injecting solution for every 25lbs of pig weight. I had hoped to use the 4s Penzey salt, but it didn't arrive in time, so I used Lowery Seasoned Salt. It worked great. Insert the meat injector a few inches deep into the legs of the pig from the inside going toward the skin and inject the fluid. As you inject the fluid, you will be able to feel the meat and skin filling with water. Go all around the legs, ribs and shoulders injecting the fluid and pumping the pig.

After the pig is pumped, it's time to tie it to the spit. This is the hardest part. Run the spit through the mouth and out the butt of the pig. Next, place the clamps on the spit and ram the head and butt into the forked clamps. As the pig rotates on the rotisserie, the clamps hold the pig in place and helps it cook evenly. Once the pig is on the spit, and clamped, stitch the pig up with wire. We used a philips screwdriver to punch holes in the pig skin, then we used the meat injector needle to run through the holes with the wire working like a needle and thread.

Now, place the pig on the barbecue and begin to roast it. We cooked a 25lbs suckling for six hours at 250 degrees. Every hour base with a vinegar sauce. Once it was done cooking, the skin was a deep golden brown and when I stuck my meat thermometer in to the pig, it read 180 degrees. So it was well cooked. i was a little worried we had over cooked it, but it wasn't. It was the most rich, melt in your mouth suckling pig I've ever eaten.

The last step is cutting the whole pig up to be eaten. Start by removing the legs and butt. With a sharp knife, and a pair of cooking gloves, pull and cut off the legs. If the pig has been cooked for several hours, it should be very tender and not difficult to cut of the legs. Next remove the front legs and shoulders. Lastly, slice off the ribs from the spine. I just pulled the ribs from the spine and sliced it a little with a knife to remove it. Lastly, the pig cheeks have rich tender meat. Just slice it directly off the cheeks. That's all there is to it. From there you can slice it into smaller pieces to serve people, or you can put a knife and forks in the serving trays and let people slice it up for themselves. It might seem a little daunting to cut and carve the pig up. Just get it in chunks and put meat in pans as you go. There's really not that much to it, although, it's not going to be in pretty slices.

All in all, from pumping the pig, to slow roasting it to cutting it up, the pork turned out delicious and a great way to feed a ton of people.