Pig Roast...Preparation

     Today was Day 1 of the pig roast.  I've got a bunch of pictures even after discarding forty of them, so let's get started...chronologically.  Tom and Michelle Perelka, who run a barbeque supply store in Lancaster, PA, provided the expertise and equipment to make it work.  The fact that they are nationally recognized barbequers doesn't hurt.

                                                         The pig arrives.

     That's Tom and Michelle in the first picture while Tom's brother, Bob, is helping in the second.

     First, the feet are removed.  Then the interior is trimmed and cleaned.

     Then an electric saw makes short work of sectioning the ribs.

     The pig is carefully positioned with the legs and head propped up and the whole thing wrapped up like a mummy with commercially sized aluminum foil.  Here Tom is propping up the head.

     After the trimming is done, the next step is to inject seasonings into the meat.

     Before it is wrapped up, it gets a thorough dusting of the rub.  Also the skinned portion and the ribs get covered with bacon (ironically).

     The roaster has two complete bags of charcoal with an emphasis on each end of the cooker.  The pig goes on the slow fire set to burn at just 250 degrees.  There is a thermostatically controlled fan that supplies more or less Oxygen as required.

          
     Here Tom dumps a chimney of hot charcoal onto the bed of charcoal in the roaster.  The lid was closed at 3:00 and will be opened at 9;00 AM tomorrow.  It will then get some final tweaks and rest over the spent fire until serving time.