China Box / Pig Roast

[Smokin Gator]

Marinating sure does help... but I think injecting works even better. The best I ever had was a mixture of 1 gallon garlic butter and one gallon Texas Pete hot sauce. That hog won the Whole Hog "Best of the Best" Invitational at the 2008 National BBQ festival in Douglas GA.

[e-man67]

That looks tremendous!

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Smokin Gator

Marinating sure does help... but I think injecting works even better. The best I ever had was a mixture of 1 gallon garlic butter and one gallon Texas Pete hot sauce. That hog won the Whole Hog "Best of the Best" Invitational at the 2008 National BBQ festival in Douglas GA.

Under the right circumstances I think injecting is great, just so long as it's not the jars of premade injection marinade (Cajun Injector brand for example) being used. Every one of those I tried, it always seemed to create a funky texture in the meat and a very off flavor after the cooked meat has been refigerated overnight.

[Blueface]

Lots of photos on here on CA of some of my pig roasts.
One in the South Florida herf that we did a few weeks ago.

I inject mine.
I take the mojo that has orange juice, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic, and spices and separate the garlic from the juice.
I inject my pig the night before and then I rub plenty of salt, followed by the garlic from the mojo and let it sit overnight in the Caja China, iced down.
The next day, I fire it up using Leña instead of chacoal. It burns better, hotter, cleaner with less ash.
I have been using Caja China for a long while and am a big fan of it.
Just ask the 100 or so folks that attended the Mega Herf we did in Florida a couple of years ago or the guys that were over my house a couple of weeks ago.
Any help I can provide, will be glad to.

BTW,
For 30 people, 100 lbs is an overkill.
Smaller pigs cook better and tastier.
I did a 38 lb one for 24 folks a couple of weeks ago and plenty of meat was left over to give away, after everyone slaughtered the heck out of the finished pig.

Check out the photos starting on this page.
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...t=27541&page=8

Adam,
The result to the skin doesn;t have to do with the size of the pig.
I can toast any size the way mine is in these photos.
My skin on my pig was amazingly crispy to eat with beer.
I turn over the pig and cut slits in its back. I then add additional salt.
I then add lots of more carbon and finish it off for about an hour.
The first side cooked until 180 based on digital therm in thigh.

I never add seasoning to inside meat.
Pork is very flavorful as is. Injection is purely to break down meat overnight.
Seasoning goes on outside and let it sweat in.
Big secret to a well cooked pork involves salt and no infusion of seasoning into the meat. Never needs it and alters the flavor drastically.

With the right carbon, three to four hours gets you to 180, and additional hour to get it nice and crispy on the skin.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Smokin Gator

Marinating sure does help... but I think injecting works even better. The best I ever had was a mixture of 1 gallon garlic butter and one gallon Texas Pete hot sauce. That hog won the Whole Hog "Best of the Best" Invitational at the 2008 National BBQ festival in Douglas GA.