It's graduation and wedding season here in MN. <BR><BR>Something I never encountered in my Central IL. upbringing is this; curing the whole hog before roasting. I don't think I've had any that has not been cured since my move 15 odd years ago as a matter of fact.Cured or not? <BR>By cured I mean injected with the pink salt solution and allowed to sit several days before cooking.Absolutely, it'd spoil on the fire otherwiseVaries, some do some don'tReally? Who cooks a 200# bone in ham. That's crazy.

No idea on the curing.

But that brings back great memories of whole hog roast keggers in in High School back in Iowa as a kid.

We roast them whole around here only hours after they were alive. Apply some rub and slow and low on the smoker.

I've cooked a lot of pigs but never cured a whole one.

Is this similar to what they do in Hawaii?

If you are going to cook a whole hog over the fire I see no reason to inject sodium nitrate, which may have some adverse health effects. If it is chilled after butchering and kept cold until it goes on the fire it makes no sense to add sodium nitrate. Injecting a marinade like apple juice, vinegar, brown sugar, and salt on the other hands makes some sense.

Not an expert by any means but I've never heard of that... all the hogs I've seen cooked whole were just put on either the spit or grill and slow cooked for a long time... usually the seasoning is put on all during this cooking....

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
Not an expert by any means but I've never heard of that... all the hogs I've seen cooked whole were just put on either the spit or grill and slow cooked for a long time... usually the seasoning is put on all during this cooking....

^^^^^ this ^^^^^

I do whole hogs all the time. I’ve done these for the past 8-9 years. Rind on, no curing. 200 lb bone in ham, no worries. I would not consider using pink salt before roasting.

It would seem I'm correct in thinking it was a local thing.

Don't get me wrong, it tastes fine. But it is an odd thing to experience for someone not from around here.

I've done quite a few pig roasts in Hawaii, Puerto Rico and here in Alabama. I've never cured them. I hadn't heard of anyone else doing it either.