Weekend Pig-Out - a Porky Spit Roast

Sorry, friends, I've been a bit preoccupied with life and haven't found the time to blog of late. I'm back, however, and have lots to report in the coming posts.

For instance, I spent the weekend with my parents in the country and happily gave a trial run to a ginormous joint of pork on the spit! This was a practice run as Mum and Dad had pulled the spit out of storage with a plan to bring it into action for an upcoming event. We visited the local abbatoir, picked up our fresh piece of piggy, and spent an afternoon determining how to skewer him 'just so'. It was not for the faint of heart, and took four of us to impale the little fellow on the rotisserie, but it was well worth it in the end. There were times when I thought I was on the set of a horror film, but I pushed those thoughts aside and instead concentrated on the crackling I was about to receive.

Look away now if you don't want to see half an animal impaled on a giant steel spike, because here are some great progress pictures:

Impaled! Piggy is receiving a nice olive oil massage.

and now a salt rub, to promote a crispy crackling...

after a couple of hours' rotation, our headless Piggy is looking nice and toasty...

Piggy is done! But it takes two strong men with girly oven mitts to lift piggy off the spit...

Our finished product awaits carving.

We simply slathered the poor chap in plenty of olive oil and salt before the wheels started turning on the spit. It took a good 7 hours, which was more than a little torturous as there was a delectable roast piggy smell wafting around the house for the whole afternoon and evening! Cruel and Unusual Punishment, indeed!

In the end, the meat was deliciously moist and tender, and the crackling was flavoursome and most of it was perfectly crispy. There were a few hard and chewy bits that didn't crackle, but these were brought up to perfection in the oven later. I must confess I gorged myself and proved that too much of a good thing really is too much of a good thing, and I'm not sure when I'll be ready to face another roast pork meal. There was certainly plenty of pork to go around and I'm sure this will be a crowd pleaser. In the meantime, however, my fridge is packed with curry made from the pork leftovers and the freezer has numerous packages of sliced pork for future meals. Even Camilla has been partaking in a few porky dinners!

This is how Piggy ended up, a veritable feast on my plate,
with roasted potatoes, carrots and pumpkin, silverbeet and cauliflower cheese.
Did I mention the bit about too much of a good thing?? Definitely Feasting Food.

We really pigged out. Ha! (Sorry, couldn't resist).