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Originally Posted by VALENT
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Hey, it's Louisiana! Pigs die by the droves here just before the three major holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the Opening Day of Squirrel Season!
You don't have to get quite that complicated to cook a good pig.
Weight recommendations are Ok...I'd shoot for something that weighed 35-65 pounds dressed. While I like to inject mine just like the article (I skip the garlic, however), you don't have to. Just make sure you take a knife and make several long incisions the back length of the carcass, but not all the way through. Pay particular attention to the area between the shoulders, and go pretty deep either side of the backbone, as that is the last place to get done on the hog, and nobody wants rare pork.
Start the hog in front of the fire hams down, in a wire rack hung on a dog chain or other small chain as shown on the website. We build our "pig turners" from rotisserie motors and bicycle wheel bearings, but any slow turning motor/bearing combo will work. If you don't have a pig turner, you can do it the old fashioned way, with a long stick with a clean rag tied to the end...turn him as needed, probably once a minute or a bit faster. You'll know if you are going too slow, because you'll notice the pig cooking too fast and wanting to burn on the outside.
Swap ends with the pig about every couple of hours (the bottom cooks faster than the top). Watching the grease drip is how we judge when our pigs are done...when the pig is done, or almost so, the dripping grease is almost none. Of course, we always place a pan under the hog sometime during the last hour of cooking, or so, simply to catch the drippins to make biscuits with.
Wood used? We cut "roast length" stuff about 4 feet long, although my dad always liked his about 6'. Any hardwood will do, but hickory or bitter pecan wood is some of the best.
Time to cook? Depends on the weather and what kind of setup you have. A cooking shed like in the link cuts down wood usage and cooking time a bit. The best I've ever seen was a large fireplace type enclosure made from 1/4 plate, where we hung 3 pigs at a time in front of the fire. Cold weather means you cook longer, as does windy weather. Once cooked a pig in 14 degree weather that took 18 hours...most of the time if we put one on at 4am, he's usually ready midafternoon, or 8-10 hours.
