a hundred pounds of pure pig awesomeness

A couple weeks ago, I hinted that I’d have a pig roast post up shortly, and today’s the day! Our dear friend Mardi turned 40 a few weeks ago, and she hosted an incredible pig extravaganza in her backyard, complete with live music, an ice-cream sundae table, and a wonderful spread of side dishes and desserts–including forty Red Velvet Trophy cupcakes. The night before the party, my husband and I went over to Mardi’s house and helped her husband Dion marinate the pig.

We mixed up huge bowls of marinade and poured it over the pig, which rested in a cooler over ice overnight.

We mixed up several mixing bowlfuls of a simple marinade–just orange juice, soy sauce, chili oil, garlic (something sweet, savory, spicy, and aromatic.) The pig weighed 100 lbs. and was purchased from Better Meats in Ballard, which was the most reasonable price ($300) we could find for a small, whole pig in Seattle. (Someday, I hope to spit-roast a Mangalitsa pig, which retails for $600-$700.)

The next morning, my husband woke up at 6am and drove over to Mardi and Dion’s, and he and Dion put the pig on the rotating spit. At about 1pm, I went over to their house to help with set-up and cooking.

lime and lemon wedges for the copious amounts of alcohol consumed that evening

I made a very garlicky hummus for the buffet table

Mardi had some garbanzo beans soaking, so I whipped up some hummus for her. I simply boiled the garbanzo beans ’til they were tender, and sautéed a whole mess of diced onions and garlic. The whole thing got puréed with plenty of tahini and olive oil, and I seasoned it with lots of ground fennel, paprika, red pepper flakes, and whatever herbs I found in Mardi’s pantry and fridge.

I also made some cornbread–I call this: “Mardi’s Refrigerator Cornbread”

After I made enough hummus to feed the 40-50 hungry people she had coming to the party (that red bowl that holds the hummus is a mixing bowl!), I made a triple batch cornbread. I used whatever I could find in her fridge, which meant plenty of buttermilk, caramelized onions, about 15 servings of mozzarella string cheese (she has two toddlers), fresh chopped jalapenos, and lots of scallions. Both the hummus and the cornbread were big hits; Mardi’s dad kept telling me I should quit my job and just sell cornbread for a living.

platters of cheese–I kept hitting the triple cream brie like no one’s business

Trophy Red Velvet cupcakes

my husband painting the skin of the pig with coconut juice

Pit masters! (that’s Dion, Mardi’s husband on the left)

By 5pm, Mardi’s friends had gathered in her yard. There were tables and chairs set up outside, and some of us made S’mores while we waited for the pig to finish cooking. Here are a few photos I took before we got down to the grubbin’.

Kimchee had to be tied up to the tree, because she kept trying to crawl under the pig pit to lick up the coconut juice

(at 6pm, the pig was ready. I am rocking awesome pink gloves from Safeway)

the first piece!

my first crack at the buffet

10 minutes after carving

And how was the pig? Absolutely moist and tender, with softly pink flesh that indicate a long and slow cooking process. The crowd descended on that pig, leaving a carcass in mere minutes. It was sublime.

(We all hit the ice-cream sundae bar afterwards, but none did it as beautifully as Maysun!)

Thanks Mardi and Dion for hosting such a fabulous party! I can’t wait for the next pig roast!

**

Have you ever roasted a pig? I would love to hear what goes into your marinade, or how you like to cooked it (i.e. China Box? Spit roast? In a pit in the ground?) What are your tricks to getting the skin ultra-crisp? One mistake we made was scoring the skin before putting the pig on the spit–I now know, thanks to a few chefs, that we should’ve scored the skin midway through cooking!