Guide to cooking a whole pig in a wood fired oven.
Mar 27, 2016 19:59:59 GMT
cannyfradock, kstronach, and 1 more like this
Post by davenott on Mar 27, 2016 19:59:59 GMT
I thought I'd post this to help anyone else considering cooking a pig in a WFO.
Depending on the size of your oven, you can cook anything from a suckling pig (which will fit in a normal domestic oven) a weaner or a larger pig.
My oven is well insulated, so keeps it heat longer and with more stability, if your oven has little or no insulation you will find this more difficult. I was able to cook my 37kg pig just using retained heat (ie; no live fire)
Sourcing a pig; I found 2 suppliers on the internet who could supply me a 35kg free range pig. Both worked out at about £300 plus £30 for the courier. I went to a local meat wholesaler that was a mile from my house and they supplied me a 37kg free range pig for £117. (They needed 3 days notice for a pig this size, whilst they could supply me an 80kg normal size pig with a day's notice or less, and the cost per kg is less for a bigger pig). [Malpass Meat Market]
Dimensions of a pig; my 37kg pig was 5ft1" long from tip of snout to rear trotters (legs were out backwards, and stiff, so couldn't be tucked under pig) Height; 12" not including ears which can be bent down to fit through oven entrance (my oven entrance is 12" high!)
Maximum width; 15".
Preparation of oven; I lit a big and sustained fire the day before to maximise my heat retention, and then let the oven cool with oven door and chimney open to lower the oven air temperature (as against hearth temperature) to my desired starting temperature of between 130-140'C.
Preperation of pig; the pig was supplied gutted with just kidneys inside, and complete with head and trotters. In a fly free area, I used a new Stanley knife to score the pigs skin from front to rear. I did this at approx 2" intervals. Next time I'll probably score it slightly closer together. I then brushed an oil based marinade all over the pig inside and out, then wrapped the pig up in plastic with some chill blocks from the freezer to keep it cool till I cooked it the next morning, and placed it in a cool place. Before the pig went in the oven, I recoated it with marinade.
Marinade; obviously use what you want. I made mine from a pint of olive oil, with a generous handful of chopped fresh herbs ( I used thyme, rosemary and sage) a couple of chopped garlic cloves, some freshly ground black pepper and about a tablespoon of smoked salt.
I also used a meat basting syringe to inject a pint of stock into the flesh, to help prevent the meat drying out during cooking. I'm not sure this is necessary but they do it a lot in the USA, from what I have read (they also often use mono sodium glutamate, which I avoided) I made my stock from 500ml water, 10g of smoked salt and a teaspoon of Worchester sauce.
Temperature recording; I used a wireless meat probe to record the internal temperature of the deepest part of the meat (aiming for at least 71'C). I used a second probe to measure the air temperature of the oven, as I was trying to keep my oven temperature between 130-140'C. (120'C would be fine)
Temperature regulation of oven; I cooked my pig for 8 hours and my oven kept temperature fine for this time, I found I could regulate the air temperature of the oven by opening or closing the entrance over my chimney pot; I did this by using 2 bricks over the chimney pot and either opening the gap or closing it. If the air temperature was going above 140'C, by opening the chimney, the air temp in the oven would fall, and if it was going below 130'C , I could easily and quickly raise the temperature by closing the gap. This regulation proved so effective that I am confident with my oven I could maintain this sort of temperature over at least 16 hours, probably more. For my next pig, as I know my oven has such a good thermal reserve, I would aim for a cooking temperature of between 120'C-125'C and cook the pig for 9-10 hours.
Cooking method;
My oven maximum internal length is 4ft1" and as the pig was 12" longer than this, I simply used a new wood saw to cut the rear of the pig off as you'll see in the photos, reversed the hind quarters round and then placed the pig in the oven over several trays. I loosely covered the whole pig in foil first, and also remembered to insert the meat probe. I then closed the oven door (in my case with fire bricks, as I haven't built a door yet!) and then let it cook. I didn't turn or rotate the pig, I simply checked it quickly after 3 or 4 hours to make sure it wasn't burning, and 6.5 hours into cooking removed the foil to allow the skin to crisp/crackling to form. (I had intended to remove pig from oven, light a live fire and pop in to get crackling, but found this was unneccassary) for the last 1.5 hours I closed the door and chimney pot entrance fully and found the air temperature raised by itself to 160'C. After 8 hours from the start of cooking, it came out great with lots of crispy crackling.
Pig tasted great, and the meat fell off. Meat was very lean (probably because it was a young free range pig) and I only collected about 2 pints of fat and stock in the trays underneath (a lot of the stock would have evaporated of course)
Depending on the size of your oven, you can cook anything from a suckling pig (which will fit in a normal domestic oven) a weaner or a larger pig.
My oven is well insulated, so keeps it heat longer and with more stability, if your oven has little or no insulation you will find this more difficult. I was able to cook my 37kg pig just using retained heat (ie; no live fire)
Sourcing a pig; I found 2 suppliers on the internet who could supply me a 35kg free range pig. Both worked out at about £300 plus £30 for the courier. I went to a local meat wholesaler that was a mile from my house and they supplied me a 37kg free range pig for £117. (They needed 3 days notice for a pig this size, whilst they could supply me an 80kg normal size pig with a day's notice or less, and the cost per kg is less for a bigger pig). [Malpass Meat Market]
Dimensions of a pig; my 37kg pig was 5ft1" long from tip of snout to rear trotters (legs were out backwards, and stiff, so couldn't be tucked under pig) Height; 12" not including ears which can be bent down to fit through oven entrance (my oven entrance is 12" high!)
Maximum width; 15".
Preparation of oven; I lit a big and sustained fire the day before to maximise my heat retention, and then let the oven cool with oven door and chimney open to lower the oven air temperature (as against hearth temperature) to my desired starting temperature of between 130-140'C.
Preperation of pig; the pig was supplied gutted with just kidneys inside, and complete with head and trotters. In a fly free area, I used a new Stanley knife to score the pigs skin from front to rear. I did this at approx 2" intervals. Next time I'll probably score it slightly closer together. I then brushed an oil based marinade all over the pig inside and out, then wrapped the pig up in plastic with some chill blocks from the freezer to keep it cool till I cooked it the next morning, and placed it in a cool place. Before the pig went in the oven, I recoated it with marinade.
Marinade; obviously use what you want. I made mine from a pint of olive oil, with a generous handful of chopped fresh herbs ( I used thyme, rosemary and sage) a couple of chopped garlic cloves, some freshly ground black pepper and about a tablespoon of smoked salt.
I also used a meat basting syringe to inject a pint of stock into the flesh, to help prevent the meat drying out during cooking. I'm not sure this is necessary but they do it a lot in the USA, from what I have read (they also often use mono sodium glutamate, which I avoided) I made my stock from 500ml water, 10g of smoked salt and a teaspoon of Worchester sauce.
Temperature recording; I used a wireless meat probe to record the internal temperature of the deepest part of the meat (aiming for at least 71'C). I used a second probe to measure the air temperature of the oven, as I was trying to keep my oven temperature between 130-140'C. (120'C would be fine)
Temperature regulation of oven; I cooked my pig for 8 hours and my oven kept temperature fine for this time, I found I could regulate the air temperature of the oven by opening or closing the entrance over my chimney pot; I did this by using 2 bricks over the chimney pot and either opening the gap or closing it. If the air temperature was going above 140'C, by opening the chimney, the air temp in the oven would fall, and if it was going below 130'C , I could easily and quickly raise the temperature by closing the gap. This regulation proved so effective that I am confident with my oven I could maintain this sort of temperature over at least 16 hours, probably more. For my next pig, as I know my oven has such a good thermal reserve, I would aim for a cooking temperature of between 120'C-125'C and cook the pig for 9-10 hours.
Cooking method;
My oven maximum internal length is 4ft1" and as the pig was 12" longer than this, I simply used a new wood saw to cut the rear of the pig off as you'll see in the photos, reversed the hind quarters round and then placed the pig in the oven over several trays. I loosely covered the whole pig in foil first, and also remembered to insert the meat probe. I then closed the oven door (in my case with fire bricks, as I haven't built a door yet!) and then let it cook. I didn't turn or rotate the pig, I simply checked it quickly after 3 or 4 hours to make sure it wasn't burning, and 6.5 hours into cooking removed the foil to allow the skin to crisp/crackling to form. (I had intended to remove pig from oven, light a live fire and pop in to get crackling, but found this was unneccassary) for the last 1.5 hours I closed the door and chimney pot entrance fully and found the air temperature raised by itself to 160'C. After 8 hours from the start of cooking, it came out great with lots of crispy crackling.
Pig tasted great, and the meat fell off. Meat was very lean (probably because it was a young free range pig) and I only collected about 2 pints of fat and stock in the trays underneath (a lot of the stock would have evaporated of course)
