I Am Very Proud Of This Whole Hog Roast I Did Totally & Completely All By Myself

So it's no secret that I've had a run-in or 2 with BBQ twitter over the last year since i got a smoker and smoked a good old fashioned brisket for the first time. Was said brisket maybe a little too tough? Of course, but as they say in the biz it was my "first cook" so you HAVE to cut me some slack. Nope...BBQ twitter was fucking RUTHLESS. Just a bunch of folks ready to end smokey dreams via 140 characters on Twitter. Trashbags. So ever since that first run-in I'll occasionally post some stuff to get roasted by (pun intended).

And this past Saturday I did my first soiree into the pig roast world. Now keep in mind this was completely and only me doing it and definitely not just helping my Uncle who's been doing pig roasts for quite a few years now. It was ONLY me. Completely. In seriousness obviously he was leading the way but since I've gotten way more involved in the culinary game after my Food Network renaissance during quarantine I was happy to be his sous chef. Although I DID make both the rub and Carolina Vinegar sauce all by my lonesome. No big deal.

Roast that rub. You won't. 

After wrangling this bad boy into the cage sort of thing so it could cook in the caja box it was time to put our friend down into his chill zone to get roasted. 

The Caja Box does a charcoal smoke so you have to fill up those cans until the coals get legitimately hot then you pour 'em over the top and let them do the work. Very interesting.

After about 4-5 hours we had to uncover our friend to score that skin. I did not do the actually scoring as I do not think I have the steady hands or the technology (cutlery) to pull off a procedure like that. LOOK AT THAT PIG THOUGH! If that doesn't get the tastebuds ready to roll I surely don't know what would.

Advertisement

Obviously some of the best stuff to eat from a whole hog is the skin. The skin is where it's AT! Much like some fried chicken from KFC, the skin dominates the show.

And finally here was the finished product. I was quite proud of my performance as the sous chef and mostly because of that Carolina-Style Vinegar sauce I made. I've never had a vinegar sauce before yet It was fucking GOOD! A bunch of vinegar, some brown sugar, some ketchup, salt, pepper, and a SHITLOAD of cayenne and red pepper flake may for quite the kick in there as well. Thumbs up all-around. Just very sad I didn't get a comment from the absolute GOD himself Rodney Scott.