How to cook a suckling pig on a spit roast
This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed at home. This little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none and this little piggy cried ” ah crap, it’s gonna be hot in here “. Funnily enough that was the nursery rhyme which came to mind when I was preparing the suckling pig for roasting on our spit roaster.
This post is for the meat eaters, Vegetarians you have been warned. Anyway, sometimes having a normal barbecue just isn’t enough. This weekend we decided to make things a bit more interesting by ordering a 12kg baby pig from our local butcher. It set us back roughly $200, which is pretty good value considering it costs about $30/kg if you buy it pre-roasted from the Chinese barbecue stores. Not only is it fun, but you save a lot of money by roasting it yourself.
I remember the first time we tried roasting a lamb or pig ourselves, we were quite intimidated. The fear of over cooking or a crappy tasting marinade can make or break a $200 piece of meat. When you have guests around looking forward to the main event, you wan’t to make sure that it tastes damn bloody good.
Cooking a suckling pig on the spit roast is not rocket science though. I’ll show you how easy it was to do. The hardest part is probably figuring out how you would marinade the pig since it is so big. We are fortunate enough to have access to a fridge cool room. Equally as important is making sure you buy a decent sized pig. I’ve been told that 12kg is a good weight, because anything weighing more may mean it is just full of fat rather than meat. For the spit, if you buy the pig from an Asian Butcher you can also hire the spit. It should be around $30-40 to hire it, if they are generous they might even let you borrow it for free.
The Marinade
We didn’t stick to a particular recipe, it was more a mash up of what we found in the pantry as well as some tips from Linda’s Mum. I don’t have exact portions on me, but we used a combination of the following :
- Hoisin sauce
- Black bean sauce
- Salt and pepper
- Chinese 5 spice powder
Only marinade the inside of the pig, not the outside. Rub the inside of the pig thoroughly. If possible, let it marinate over night, the longer the better. But if you don’t have a fridge big enough (99% of people) then marinating for an hour or two should be fine. This is very important, to not baste the outside of the skin with the marinade. It will probably make the skin chewy and not form any crackle at all.
The spit roaster and the heat source
If you don’t have a spit roaster, ask your butcher to see if you can borrow one. If you are in the market for your own, Kmart sell a Jackeroo one for $299 which I think is a bargain. It has a motor attached to it and holds upto 20kg. Our pig was 12kg and it could easily feed 10 people.
For the heat, we only used heat beads and pieces of bark from a tree outside Linda’s house. Next time, we might try using charcoal or apple wood to see what results we can come up with. To speed up the heat bead heating process, we put it over a gas stove until they turn bright red. We had the spit heating up about 40 minutes before cooking time. If you are using charcoal you will probably need to start it up a bit earlier.
Setting up the pig
I think the most important thing about this stage is making sure the pig is securely attached. The last thing you want the pig to not cook evenly or even fall into the coals because it wasn’t secure enough. Make sure the metal pole is put into the pig’s ass and mouth, it’s probably the best way to keep it from falling off the pole.
left to right : chicken wire, we cooked the dog later, salt on skin, slow roasting is the way to go
Contrary to what the picture above may suggest, no animals were harmed during the cooking process.
Try get your hands on some chicken wire, it will help tying up certain parts of the pig such as it’s legs.
And how long to cook it for ? This depends on your heat source, I’d say anywhere between 3 and 6 hours.
How to get the perfect crackling
First of all and I’ll mention this again, do not baste the skin. From past experience it make the skin chewy and gives you less of a chance to get perfect crackling. Instead, rub copious amounts of salt onto the skin just before the pig is fully cooked. The salt draws out moisture from the pig.
If possible, lower the pig so that they are closer to the coals. The fat from the pig will drip onto the coals and flames should start appearing. The flames will start to cook the skin even further and if you’ve done it right, the skin should start to crackle.
How did it turn out ?
Bloody fantastic. I can’t imagine a better way to cook suckling pig. The meat was very moist and juicy and the crackling was to die for. It’s a great feeling to cook this thing from scratch and even better when you have a few mates over with beers to chat all day with. I’d say it took about 3 hours to cook, but it didn’t cook all the way through. We had to cut it up into pieces and put them back onto the bbq for another 30 minutes. Some of the hard to read places of the pig would be impossible to cook evenly without cutting it up, unless you slow cook it for 5 or 6 hours which is something I might try next time.
Also, feel free to experiment with marinades. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but our one was a real crowd pleaser.
Poor Linda, she is not eating meat and had to miss out on this epic feast. As consolation, she had prawns, hah!
Suckling pig is also great in a bread roll. Along with the beautiful suckling pig, in the roll was pickled radish, sriracha chilli sauce, cucumber and hoisin sauce. If you have a better combination for a suckling pig roll let me know! We also served it Vietnamese wraps style with fresh Vietnamese herbs, rice noodles, cucumbers, pickled radish and shrimp paste sauce.
So there you have it, a trial and error guide on how to roast a suckling pig. You must give it a go especially with the cold weather coming up. The hot coals will keep you warm, and cook a bloody good suckling pig too.
Author
By Howard
We started eatshowandtell in 2008, it was meant to be just a journal of where we ate. The first thing I usually do when I'm looking for a restaurant is check out eatability and the restaurant website. But what is usually missing is pictures of the food, how do I know I'm getting what I expect? This blog hopefully plugs that gap.
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This article was written on 18 May 2010, and is filed under cookshowandtell, Dinner Recipes, Recipes.
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suckling piggeh! crackling! oh gawd the envy!
Holy crap that's one helluva feast! I want, I want!
That’s it. I’m inviting myself to your next suckling pig party. Looks AMAZING. Bravo!
.-= foodwink´s last blog ..Berowra Waters Inn, Berowra =-.
Ohh my god, look at that crackling! That is awesomely insane. I want a leg all to myself! Poor Linda
She is so disciplined!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Howard. Howard said: new post on eatshowandtell. check out how I spit roast a 12kg suckling pig with awesome crackling results. Vego's beware. http://j.mp/bZA06m [...]
wow what a feast. that would certainly feed a small army of hungry souls. glad it worked out really well
Oooh, crackling.
That pic with the dog lying in the backgrounds… I thought it was another piggy…!
Awesome job! But as much as I love eating crackling & suckling pig, seeing the animal uncooked scares me! :-
Along with spit roasted lamb, this had to be one of the best carnivorous meals. When I was a kid my dad used to spit roast these animals every few months. Except they weighed around 100 kg and fed many many people. I want some now!
.-= john@heneedsfood´s last blog ..Uighur Cuisine, Haymarket =-.
*faint*
looks sooo gooood!!!
.-= Yas @ hungry.digital.elf´s last blog ..Get stinky with it. =-.
What a pig! Turned out amazing, bet that crackling was something special! Like the leg in your last pic. Line 2 position 1 – awesome!
The crackle is amazing when piping hot, it's different to the crackle you get from the chinese bbq shop. It snaps immediately in your mouth, artery clogging stuff seriously.
I’m planning on doing a suckling pig roast for my birthday this year, some great advice in this post! Here piggy piggy piggy…
Do let me know how it goes! I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve how we do it.
I'll definitely report back!
wow, I don’t eat piggeh, but I wants!
EXTREMELY IMPRESSED!!! You bring out the caveman in me! Also impressive that you could wait 6 hours for your meal, hehe! No way that dog was going to be cooked that day, you hadn’t even scraped the fur off yet (I’m Asian so I’m allowed make that joke)!
.-= Moya´s last blog ..City of Jetties – South Australia =-.
So..did you eat the head??? Head cheese??? Trotter gear???
Is there non a more beautiful sight… /tear. You guys always have such awesome gatherings hee hee a suckling pig has always been on my to-do list! Hee hee go Max
Wow this is amazing! I have always wanted to do this! Thanks for the post!
That looks great- It’s been a while since I’ve been to a pig roast, and judging from the sounds my stomach is making after looking at these pics, it’s time!
Woah. This is awesome! I'm so impressed. I don't know how Linda could've resisted all of that!!
Raising the bar of normal food blogging. Great to you pushing the boat out.
Reminds me of eating at my greek friends place, too bad they cooked so many chops and sausages, by the time the pig was ready, we would be all full!! Plenty of left overs………..
"We cooked the dog later".. hahaha! Awesome pictures, and I really love this post – it's the kind of thing I'd like to try at least once in my cooking life
Thanks for the Pictures. I'm planing [having] a 60th B'party; coming on the 19th. and for the first time will do a Spit roasted Piglett. At the Moment it is still running with the litter.
Dude that looked so delicious! Wow…
I wish I could have been with you for the feast .From the pictures, it looked amazing.For the firts time I am planning to roast a 25 kg pig in two weeks . Once the pig is on the spit ,should I tie wire around it to keep the meat from falling off or should it be ok.Thank you for your posting . Denis
Hi Denis, I think you should definitely tie some chicken wire around it. We had to do it for our pig and it was half the weight of yours! Good luck let me know how you go.
feel like cooking a pig for me for a christening?
im serious. name a price
Hi Jeff! I reckon if you speak to your butcher, they might be able to help you
Hey,
we have those same model spits. Heat and coal bed lifetime can be improved by removing the center ‘baffle’ from the fireplace.
That pig look damn tasty.
[...] how-to guide on how to cook a suckling pig, check out my previously documented adventures here. All Purpose Sauce [...]
[...] So there you go, probably my first dessert post on this blog. The results were super but I’ll probably stick to savoury though, I’m much more confident cooking a suckling pig or ribs!. [...]
Here are some of my tips for a great suckling pig….
1. Definitely marinade the inside but you can marinade the outside as well… Just remember if you do the outside you have to do a few things after…
Namely…
a) Use a marinated mix with honey, soy and boiling water and then ladle it over the skin to make it taut
b) after you see the skin go a bit tighter, try and hang the pig up in a dry place with a meat hook or something (we use one of those portable clothes racks) and then stick a fan in front of it. Make sure it is a a relatively cool and dry place
c) lay some paper underneath it or something to stop all the dripping onto the floor
After you’ve done this and placed the salt on when spit roasting it, you will get an amazingly crispy suckling pig!
Wow! thats just what I’m looking at doing for my birthday. Are you able to tell me where you bought the pig from? I’m also in Sydney and need to find a good butcher that also hires the spits.
Hi Zoe,
We bought the pig from a butcher in Cabramatta, they also offer the spit for hire free of charge I believe. Even if it isn’t free of charge, the fee would be minimal. If you need specific shop details let me know!
Thanks Howard!
Yeah if you can tell me the shops name that would be great.
Hi Zoe, apologies for the not responding earlier but I’ll check out the shop contact details this weekend and let you know.
Having pig-onna-spit this weekend for a friend’s 30th. Gonna try it out. Awesome timing! Thanks for the tips!
I live in Spain, just made a Spit for my old bbq now just going out to buy a “cochinillo” to put on it and if it turns out as good as above!!!
[...] I am definitely the total opposite to him to the extent that I have written a step by step guide on how to roast a suckling pig on a spit roast. Ab’s ancestors would be rolling in their graves if they knew he was dining with such a [...]
Hey guys.. did you guys get the pig from cabra??
Hi Ryan, yes I did. Can’t remember the name of the butcher but I can check next time if you’d like!.
Excellent artical and recipe! Looks gorgeous. Wish I had been there.
Will definately give this a try! Many thanks guys!
[...] Comments on: How to cook a suckling pig on a spit roast This entry was posted in Chinese Food Cooking. Bookmark the permalink. ← Cross bridge rice noodles [...]
[...] on how to roast a pig on the spit if you would like to check them out via Men’s Health, Eats How and Tell, Serious Eats, Pig on a Spit, Instructables, Adam Perry Lang, The New York Times & even The [...]