Ed Garren’s Weblog

The story of a man, a pig and a hole in the ground.

As published in the Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2000 

By Edward G. Garren

Special to the Los Angeles Times 

He stared at me with blank eyes, fixed, indifferent, cold, expressionless. I wasfrozen with a sense of dread, not knowing what next to do or howto do it. I was terrified. I wanted to scream. Instead, I picked up the marinade andstarted to work. 

This was not a killer or even a burglar. This was a 90-pound frozen pig I was trying to roast. After years of making fried chicken and other foods for my guests, I had decided to do something really special. Now I was face to face,eyeball to eyeball with my dinner, something most Americans only experiencewith seafood. 

I was having a big party, about 90 guests, and I wanted to do something different and adventurous. Roasting a whole pig seemed the ticket.  

When I lived in Miami, a friend of mine roasted a pig every Christmas in classicCuban style and served it to a yard full of delighted family andfriends. I had called her and got some pointers, and I called other Cubans I knew.But in the end, I discovered that the art of roasting the pig is just that, an art.  

The beauty of roasting a pig Cuban-style is that all you need is a pig, a hole in the ground, wood for a fire, metal racks (which can be made withabout $20 worth of materials), some banana leaves (or some other way to “blanket” the pig on the fire)  and patience. 

Plan on a pound of pig per guest if the pig weighs more than 50 pounds. Smaller pigshave less meat relative to weight, so adjust accordingly. Whole pigs are bestpurchased at a wholesale meat packer. Call in advance to be sure theywill have one on hand.  

Pork is forgiving; it loves to be slowly cooked in the most primitive environments.It is best complemented by garlic, oregano and cumin. Cut slits in the meaty portions of the neck, shoulders, and legs and put in whole (peeled)garlic cloves. It is virtually impossible to put in too much garlic. 

My friend’s marinade recipe for a 20-pound pig is 5 cups sour orange juice (or halforange and half grapefruit), 2 heaping tablespoons salt, 2 heapingtablespoons red pepper, 2 heaping tablespoons cumin, 2 heaping tablespoonsoregano, 2 heads of garlic, mashed. Do not use any barbecue sauces. Any sugar will cause the pig to burn.  

Marinate the pig in a plastic bag for at least 12 hours. It can be stored in the bath tub and you can put ice around the plastic bag to keep it at a proper storage temperature.  

Making a ”pit” for cooking the pig is relatively simple. Dig a 3×6-foot hole in theground, about 2 feet deep. Mound up the dirt from the holealong the sides so that in all it is about three feet from the top of the sides to thebottom of the hole.   Make sure there are no underground pipes or wiring near the hole, particularlygas lines. Also, you will need some working room, at least threefeet. Consider wind and smoke and try to separate the hole from the gathering andserving area. If you can’t separate the two, at least dig the hole down wind so you won’t have a smoked dwelling and guests too.  

You will need eight pieces of 6-foot reinforcing bars and two 30×60-inch metalgrills. The metal grill is flexible, and has a diamond pattern.  Place all but two of the reinforcing bars across the hole from side to side, leaving about a foot between the last bar and each end of the hole.  

A small, slow-burning fire of a mixture of soft and hard woods is best. Remember,you want to cook this pig as slowly as possible, but still get it done.  Charcoal or a fire that has burned down to coals is too hot. A slow fire, with about two sticks of wood actually burning, is the ideal.  Use a complementary aromatic wood such as citrus, almond, fruit, hickory ormesquite. Whatever you do, don’t use eucalyptus, this is not a massage,it’s a roast pig. You will probably need about three bundles of wood for a fire that will burn eight to nine hours.

Let the fire burn for about an hour before you put the pig over it.  This is the same as preheating an oven.you are heating up the hole so that the heat that radiates into the pig will be more even.  Set up a work table near the roasting site with a piece of heavy plastic on it as acover. Put down one of the pieces of grill and lay the pig on its back on top. You must now flatten the pig, which is not unlike splitting a chicken to place it whole on a barbecue grill.   Start at the hips, pushing both hind legs down. Push down the front legs in the same manner. Then push on the ribs of both sides at once so that the ribs disjoint at the backbone and lie flat.  

Place the other grill on top and place a piece of reinforcing bar along each side between the two grills. Tie the assembly together with a straightened wire coat hanger, being careful to include the reinforcing bar in each knot. Tie the four corners and the middle of each side. This makes a nice metal ”envelope” in which the pig can be easily handled.  

Place the pig over the pit on the rack of reinforcing bars, at least two feet above the fire. Cook the back of the pig first. Pour some of the  marinade onto the pig so that there is a pool of it in the center. Make sure you have stirred up the bottom so that lots of the garlic will be in what you put on the pig. Cover the whole affair with moistened banana leaves, with each end open about a foot for access to the fire. Make sure there are no combustible materials near the site and have a water hose close by.  The fire needs to be kept burning, but just barely. Remember, slow heat. About 60% through the cooking time, uncover the pig and turn it over, then cover it again.

The roasting process is a mixture of patience and patience. The most common mistake is trying to hurry it along.   Have a couple of family members or friends to help you. Part of the joy is sitting around the fire and just being with each other, something mostAmericans rarely do. Play cards, listen to or make music, contemplate the purpose of your life. By surrendering to the process, you will under stand the secrets that the pig has to offer. Just let it happen and don’t try to rush it.  Cook the pig about five minutes per pound. The last pig I did was about 85 pounds and it took about seven hours. The aroma will change, much theway that other meat changes aroma as it cooks. There is the aroma of the cookingmeat, which is good, but not complete. When the pig is almost done, the aroma changes to the complete aroma of meat that is done.  

Doneness is most precisely gauged by inserting a roasting thermometer into the front shoulder, the thickest meat on the pig. If the meat is around 160 to 170 degrees, it is almost done. At this point, break up the fire so that it willburn out in about 15 minutes. Let the pig finish cooking for another 45 minutes to an hour with only the residual heat and the heat of the”blanket” of banana leaves over it.   Then, remove the banana leaves, move the ”envelope” back to the table with the back of the pig down. Remove the top grill and begin to remove the meat.  

If the pig is cooked well, it will have crisp skin and even be blackened in someplaces. The meat will be moist and will fall off the bones with little resistance.  A little pale pink may be found in the most interior places, but this is normal as long as it is pale and not red. If you discover any red, just do not serve it. You can put it in an oven for further roasting, and next time you will know where to put the thermometer.  

We do not present the pig as center stage for two reasons. The first is that it is easier to ”carve” at the cooking site and then carry pans of meat to the main table. Also, those who are not yet ready to see a whole pig don’t have to look at it, while those who are curious are free wanderback to the place where the cooking and carving occur.  My brother Gene, who has more than 20 years in Army Special Forces, takes great pleasure in being at center stage while he is carving with his army survival knife. But the joke between us is that the meat is so tender he could use a butter knife as it falls off the bone at the most gentle of touch.  About 10 minutes after the table is opened, a hush of quiet ”oohs” and ”aahs” will settle over the house and yard as guests settle into one of the most delicious plates of food they will have all year. The roast pork is tender, not greasy, and has just a hint of smoke flavor.  Only first-timers show up late; everyone else comes on time to get a good starting position. Expect people to gorge themselves on seconds and thirds. The table will quickly look like a cloud of locusts has passed through. 

In a city of often overly catered entertaining, the primitive act ofroasting a whole pig over an open fire is a tribal gathering.