PIG ROAST IDEAS RECIPES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 300 degrees. Prepare the pig: Wash it, including the cavity, under cold running water, and towel-dry thoroughly, the way you would dry a small child after a bath — ears, armpits, chest cavity, face, legs, backs of knees.
• Sometimes there are imperfections remaining after the slaughtering and processing of the animal. Use dish towels or sturdy paper towels to rub away any dark spots on the ears, any little bit of remaining bristles around the mouth. Like that yellow, papery flaking skin you sometimes find on chickens, which can be peeled off to reveal tender, fresh skin underneath, a similar bit of crud can remain on pigs’ chins and under their belly flaps. Clean this little cutie as if you were detailing your car! The purple U.S.D.A. stamp, however, is indelible. But not inedible.
• Bard the pig with all 20 garlic cloves, making deep incisions all over with a thin filleting knife and shoving the cloves into each pocket; include the cheeks and the neck and the rump and the thighs and the loin down the back and the front shoulders, all areas of the small creature that have enough flesh to be able to receive a clove of garlic. (Sometimes I find I have to slice the larger cloves of garlic in half to get them to slide into the incision.)
• Rub the entire pig in oil exactly as you would apply suntan oil to a sunbathing goddess of another era, when people still were ignorant of the harmful effects of the sun. Massage and rub and get the whole creature slick and glistening. I do this directly in a very large roasting pan.
• Wash and dry your hands. Take large pinches of kosher salt, and raising your arm high above the pig, rain down the salt in an even, light dusting all over. You can start with the pig on its back and get the cavity and the crotch, and then turn it over and get the back and the head and flanks. Or vice versa. But in the end, the whole animal is salted evenly and lightly, snout to tail.
• Arrange the pig in the roasting pan, spine up, rear legs tucked under, with feet pointing toward its ears and its two front legs out ahead in front. Sometimes the pig needs a sharp, sturdy, confident chiropractic crack on its arching spine, just to settle it in comfortably to the roasting pan, so it won’t list to one side or topple over.
• Put the potato deep into its mouth, and place in the oven, on the bottom rack, and roast slowly for about 4 to 5 hours, depending on the size of your pig. (Plan 15 minutes of roasting time per pound of pig; if you have a 20-pounder, then you’d need about 5 hours total cooking time.) Add a little water to the roasting pan along the way if you see the juices are in danger of scorching, and loosely tent the animal with aluminum foil in vulnerable spots — ears, snout, arc of back — if you see them burning. For the last half-hour, raise the oven temperature to 450 degrees, and cook until the skin gets crisp and even blistered, checking every 10 minutes.
• Tap on it with your knuckle to hear a kind of hollow sound, letting you know the skin has inflated and separated from the interior flesh; observe splitting of the skin at knuckles — all good signs the pig is done. Or use a meat thermometer inserted deep in the neck; the pig is ready at 160 degrees. Let rest 45 minutes before serving.
• Remove the potato, and replace it with the apple. Transfer the pig to a large platter; nestle big bouquets of herbs around the pig as garnish. Save pan juices, and use for napping over the pulled meat when serving.

Steps:

• Prepare the meat:.
• Trim the roast leaving just a little fat on it.
• Prepare the meat:.
• Mix all the ingredients above except the Mustard. Bring mixture to a boil then let cool stirring every few minutes to release the seasonings.
• Draw mixture into an injector and inject the roast putting the needle as close to the center of each muscle as you can (doesn't have to be perfect). Rub the outside of the roast with mustard then sprinkle a little Old Bay seasoning all over it.
• Put the roast in a zipper lock bag or in a covered bowl. Put it in the fridge overnight (at least 8 hours).
• Light the pit and get a nice hot fire going. Add a bunch of soaked hardwood chips to the fire. Put the roast right over the fire. Let the roast get dark brown all over. Take it off the fire and put it in a covered pan. Use a disposable aluminum pan if you're going to finish it on the pit.
• Note: You have a choice here, you can finish it on the pit, or, in the oven. What's nice about this is that you can take care of the browning, remove it, and continue to barbecue other things.
• In the oven, set the roast in a pan and broil it until the browning completes.
• Now, here's the juiciness trick. Add about 3/4 cup of water to the pan, or, keep enough water in the pan to cover the bottom. Cover it well with aluminum foil and, on the pit, set it off to the side away from the fire. Note: The heat should be at least 275ºF in this section of the pit. Check the water content every half hour and flip the roast each time. In the oven set the temp to 275ºF and do the same.
• When is it done? Use a meat thermometer and test the thickest part of the roast, 160ºF is where you want it. Here's where you have a choice. You can take it out and slice it now, or, continue to let it cook. If you continue to let it cook the muscle sections will begin to pull away from each other, and become more and more stringy. It is more apt to be dry so you must baste it from here on out. If it gets too dry you won't get the moisture back in the meat immediately, you'll only have dry meat in a sauce.
• As you slice it dredge it in the liquid, or just leave it in the liquid. Taste the liquid to see if it needs any seasoning.
• After the first few taste testers visit be careful with the knife so you don't wind up with additional finger food.