Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

[muppety1]

Hi Folks. Not sure where to post this , but as i'm a newbie this looks a good spot. I am trying to work out how to build an oven with another chamber alongside which I can use for Hog roasting-- or cooking a whole Pig-- we have a 'Barn' venue here where we entertain / feed lots of people in one go and need to cook a whole pig to cater for this , I am aware it will take 6-8 hrs to cook , not a problem, but how do i build it?
My thoughts are to have a standard oven with a door off the dome to let the heat into another chamber - barrel vault type of thing big enough for a small Pig.
Has anyone tried this ?

[tombomb]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

i do pigs about 225lb. not in my oven but usr 275 gallon barrel.the spit is a stainless rod that i sucure pig with chicken wire. cool thing is reduction box, toyota transfere case added pully and chain electric motor.. works great, but not 5,6 hrs more like 24 hrs.i also use charcoal from oven for heat. the bottom ov barel is lined with firebrick to help hold heat and save barrel. be well tom

[muppety1]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Thanks Tom . We have done most of them before with a gas oven, but I wanted to do something more interesting, One was cooked using a wood fire with a corrugated / wriggly tin affair! and used a tractor pto shaft to turn it from an electric motor. It worked ! But took 12 hrs to cook.

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Get one of these bad boys and you will not look back.


La Caja China Box - Superb Pig Roasting BBQ Grills and Smokers

[DrakeRemoray]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

I can second the Caja China...an excellent, foolproof, device.

[dmun]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Xabia Jim has done suckling pigs directly in the oven - shouldn't be too much different than cooking a turkey or other large roast.



The great advantage of cooking something greasy in the brick oven is that it's self cleaning - all that baked on crud goes up the chimney on the next firing

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Interesting....

I think you would want to have a smoker chamber with a bypass type arrangement so you could send your heat and smoke to your chamber from your dome. the barrel might work for that?

I think the hard part would be having the pork at a lower level...it would probably work best if you could have the chamber above the dome so the smoke naturally passed through the chamber.

It would be a slow cooker for sure!

I've done whole hogs in an old oil tank...probably like 200 gallons....with the wood fire directly below the pig....still takes hours and hours....

Do let us know if you go ahead with this idea!

[muppety1]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Maybe I should make the dome oval in shape ? that would make it big enough for a fair sized beast; say 42" dome but 60" long ?

[PizzaPolice]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Honestly...If you are going to the trouble of building something just for roasting large primal cuts or whole animals you should consider something like the caja china box. Or maybe a cooker/smoker affair. A huge mass of cold meat sitting in close proximity to a fire just begs to be unevenly cooked and adorned in soot. I just can't imagine the logistics in jockeying the beast about the oven.

There, I said it. Now I'll shut my mouth.

[muppety1]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

Guess its a primal / pagan thing about cooking whole beasts. Thank you for your help and thoughts , appreciate it.

[CSWolffe]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

I understand the primal appeal of smoking an entire hog. I usually only smoke ribs, but enjoy the primal satisfaction of chewing meat, burned on a fire, off a bone.
My design, pushed back due to lack of funds, is an entire outdoor kitchen. Sink, mini fridge, counter top, open gril, pizza oven, and a large vertical smoker. Once i added the counter top and grill to the pizza oven the extra cost and labor of the smoker was negligible.
If you are already pouring a slab, make it a bit bigger. Once you are stacking block, stack a few more. build a horizontal smoker next to your pizza oven, and you have a permanent place to smoke your hogs.
Just my 1.34 cents(adjusted for inflation)

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Pigs (or hogs) in ovens

I want to see pictures though!

An oval dome works....I think my BenjaMia oven is the size you're talking about.

thoughts....make sure the door is big enough, amd maybe have some kind of rack to slide the beast in. You can take the fire out or shield the fire if necessary but I like the smoke.

Having just bought a side of lamb, I'm thinking about trying that for a feast some day....

PaganJim