Around Christmas I got the idea that I needed to cook a suckling pig. I spent most of January scouring the internet looking for advice on how to tackle this. My "go to" sites – Amazingribs.com, Serious Eats, and Chefsteps all had completely different approaches. I was confused about what I should do. I would be cooking the pig in my Primo Oval XL so that eliminated certain approaches due to size constraints and functionality. I consulted youtube. I believe I’ve seen every youtube video on cooking suckling pigs…at least once! The vast majority of the videos approached cooking the pig on a spit. Primo doesn’t have a rotisserie so that was out. I needed something that would best suit my ceramic cooker.
I came across this video below from the Philippines and knew I’d found my muse.Just skip to 1:15 on this video.The sound of them cutting into the pig is REDONKULOUS!I literally groan every time I watch it.The more I discovered about how this woman prepares her suckling pig the more I liked it.First off, her nickname is "The Lechon Diva".Lechon is what Filipinos call suckling pig.How perfect is that??! Secondly, a little digging on the net and I found a picture of her custom cookers.They are brick ovens – very similar to how my ceramic cooker cooks.Third, she became famous for stuffing her pigs with a truffle rice.That not only added to the whole presentation but scented the pig from within.I liked that idea a lot.
Here's the video.
Next, sourcing a pig, I realized, could be a bit of a challenge. Well it could have been a challenge but since I knew I could order one on line from McReynold’s Farms I didn’t spend too much time looking. Note to self, source this locally for future cooks – the shipping alone added $80! I guess that’s the price of laziness. Having no real clue how big a pig would fit in my Primo XL, I took a wild guess and ordered a 15lb pig. Most sources say that you need 1.5lbs per consumer so that would be good for 10 people. Luckily for me I called McReynold’s Farm about a month before the planned cook date. They couldn’t get their hands on one that size – they could find a 10lber or a 20lber. I opted for the 20lber and invited a few more friends.
So thanks to The Lechon Diva, I had a strategy but I didn’t really have a specific plan. I sent a FaceBook message her restaurant page to see if she would cough up cooking instructions but got no replay J Kenji Lopez-Alt says a 20lb pig would take 4hrs in his oven at 275-300 plus another ½ hour at 500 for crisping the skin. But he didn’t have his pig stuffed with rice. I found a recipe by Emeril for a pig stuffed with rice and beans. He said 20 mins per pound at 350 degrees. That would be 6hrs 40 mins. And he said if it wasn’t stuffed it would be 5hrs. Hotter and longer…huh? That seems like a huge discrepancy in time and temp. I was going to have to take the plunge and pick a strategy.
I got my little piggie on Thursday morning.It was still partially frozen so I stuck it in the fridge to thaw until Friday.Friday, I gave it a good rinsing and drying inside and out. Then dry brined the inside with a good amount of salt.Saturday I made some Persian Jeweled Rice from here:
Made ChefSteps’ Medieval Sweet Spice:
I Rubbed the entire insides heavily with the spices, filled the cavity with the rice – about 5.5lbs fit snugly, sewed it up, then salted the skin and popped it back in the fridge til morning.
Sunday -the day of the feast- had come and I still wasn’t sure how I was going to cook this bad boy. Guest were arriving at 3 and my plan was to eat by 4. Kenji says that his 20lb pig took 4hrs and his pig wasn’t stuffed. Surely my (now 25lb w rice) pig would take longer. He does say that you can take the pig off the heat for up to 2hrs (before crisping at high heat) if your pig is done before the guests are ready. That information turned out to be a godsend. I put my pig on at 9 thinking it would take probably at least 5hrs to cook. The Primo settled in at 288 degrees so that’s the temp I went with. Well, the pig cooked much faster than I thought it would. After 3 hrs it was almost at 160! Shoot! That was way too early. I decided to cook it for another hour rather than let it sit for longer than two hours. I ended up taking it off after four hours and a temp of 167. Once the guest arrived I put it back on for 30 mins to crisp up the skin. After 30 mins I checked and all the skin wasn’t crispy enough, so I put it back on and checked 20 mins later. Perfecto!
I am not ready to call myself the "Lechon Divo" but I got a beautiful crunch when I cut into it, and, for my first attempt, I was very happy with the outcome. I really loved the combination of the spices, with that rice dish and the delicate suckling pig flavor. Actually it’s a very easy thing to cook. If I had a clue about the timing I wouldn’t have stressed at all. Next time I’d do a couple things differently. I’d take the meat off at 155 bc it might take closer to an hour rather than 30 mins to crisp the skin at high heat. I’d also rotate the pig during the cook. I wasn’t really paying attention to my cooker but the left side was definitely hotter than the right side. I’ve noticed this happens in cold weather with my Primo.
Thank you for indulging me with this verbose report. It’s a festive and fun cook and all the guests were excited to see and taste the results. As you can see they picked that sucker clean – we even ate the brain. I will definitely be making this again and will probably replace my Thanksgiving turkey with it this year. I hope this will inspire you to make one too – I promise you that you won’t regret it.
I came across this video below from the Philippines and knew I’d found my muse.Just skip to 1:15 on this video.The sound of them cutting into the pig is REDONKULOUS!I literally groan every time I watch it.The more I discovered about how this woman prepares her suckling pig the more I liked it.First off, her nickname is "The Lechon Diva".Lechon is what Filipinos call suckling pig.How perfect is that??! Secondly, a little digging on the net and I found a picture of her custom cookers.They are brick ovens – very similar to how my ceramic cooker cooks.Third, she became famous for stuffing her pigs with a truffle rice.That not only added to the whole presentation but scented the pig from within.I liked that idea a lot.
Here's the video.
Next, sourcing a pig, I realized, could be a bit of a challenge. Well it could have been a challenge but since I knew I could order one on line from McReynold’s Farms I didn’t spend too much time looking. Note to self, source this locally for future cooks – the shipping alone added $80! I guess that’s the price of laziness. Having no real clue how big a pig would fit in my Primo XL, I took a wild guess and ordered a 15lb pig. Most sources say that you need 1.5lbs per consumer so that would be good for 10 people. Luckily for me I called McReynold’s Farm about a month before the planned cook date. They couldn’t get their hands on one that size – they could find a 10lber or a 20lber. I opted for the 20lber and invited a few more friends.
So thanks to The Lechon Diva, I had a strategy but I didn’t really have a specific plan. I sent a FaceBook message her restaurant page to see if she would cough up cooking instructions but got no replay J Kenji Lopez-Alt says a 20lb pig would take 4hrs in his oven at 275-300 plus another ½ hour at 500 for crisping the skin. But he didn’t have his pig stuffed with rice. I found a recipe by Emeril for a pig stuffed with rice and beans. He said 20 mins per pound at 350 degrees. That would be 6hrs 40 mins. And he said if it wasn’t stuffed it would be 5hrs. Hotter and longer…huh? That seems like a huge discrepancy in time and temp. I was going to have to take the plunge and pick a strategy.
I got my little piggie on Thursday morning.It was still partially frozen so I stuck it in the fridge to thaw until Friday.Friday, I gave it a good rinsing and drying inside and out. Then dry brined the inside with a good amount of salt.Saturday I made some Persian Jeweled Rice from here:
Made ChefSteps’ Medieval Sweet Spice:
I Rubbed the entire insides heavily with the spices, filled the cavity with the rice – about 5.5lbs fit snugly, sewed it up, then salted the skin and popped it back in the fridge til morning.
Sunday -the day of the feast- had come and I still wasn’t sure how I was going to cook this bad boy. Guest were arriving at 3 and my plan was to eat by 4. Kenji says that his 20lb pig took 4hrs and his pig wasn’t stuffed. Surely my (now 25lb w rice) pig would take longer. He does say that you can take the pig off the heat for up to 2hrs (before crisping at high heat) if your pig is done before the guests are ready. That information turned out to be a godsend. I put my pig on at 9 thinking it would take probably at least 5hrs to cook. The Primo settled in at 288 degrees so that’s the temp I went with. Well, the pig cooked much faster than I thought it would. After 3 hrs it was almost at 160! Shoot! That was way too early. I decided to cook it for another hour rather than let it sit for longer than two hours. I ended up taking it off after four hours and a temp of 167. Once the guest arrived I put it back on for 30 mins to crisp up the skin. After 30 mins I checked and all the skin wasn’t crispy enough, so I put it back on and checked 20 mins later. Perfecto!
I am not ready to call myself the "Lechon Divo" but I got a beautiful crunch when I cut into it, and, for my first attempt, I was very happy with the outcome. I really loved the combination of the spices, with that rice dish and the delicate suckling pig flavor. Actually it’s a very easy thing to cook. If I had a clue about the timing I wouldn’t have stressed at all. Next time I’d do a couple things differently. I’d take the meat off at 155 bc it might take closer to an hour rather than 30 mins to crisp the skin at high heat. I’d also rotate the pig during the cook. I wasn’t really paying attention to my cooker but the left side was definitely hotter than the right side. I’ve noticed this happens in cold weather with my Primo.
Thank you for indulging me with this verbose report. It’s a festive and fun cook and all the guests were excited to see and taste the results. As you can see they picked that sucker clean – we even ate the brain. I will definitely be making this again and will probably replace my Thanksgiving turkey with it this year. I hope this will inspire you to make one too – I promise you that you won’t regret it.
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