Offal Good

Put your pig in a box

January 4, 2008 on 3:37 pm | In Blog, Photos | Comments

This Christmas I decided to do something a bit different, I roasted a whole pig for my family and friends. This was a great meal alot of laughs and a ton of great pork. What more could you want for Christmas My family was happy. As you will see by the photos its very similar to that great Saturday Night live skit. This pig box is killer i will be doing this every year. The photos give a step by step.

22 Comments

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OMG…that looks awesome! I’ll have some skin! Did you make a dipping sauce for it? In the Philippines we had soy sauce, vinegar, with onions and garlic as a dip.

Comment by Joy — January 4, 2008 #
Oh My God she is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!
So, are you gonna put the recipe up on this website? hehehe.

btw I totally cracked up when I saw her smiling picture.

Comment by Shila — January 4, 2008 #
Just thinking about that crispy skin makes my mouth water! Awesome photos Chef Chris.

Comment by JR Prospal — January 5, 2008 #
That’s the first time I’ve seen a pig box like that. Where did you get it?

Comment by Robert — January 5, 2008 #
You reminded me of my parents’ 10-year college reunion 5 years ago, when I was 9 years old. They cooked a whole pig like that and it was delicious. Thanks for the memory Chef Cosentino!!!

Catherine

Comment by Catherine — January 6, 2008 #
Heh it reminds me of traditional Filipino parties just as Joy was saying.

I thought it was a funny picture of you with your tiny jar, only a quarter full of salt, for that 85 pound piece of pork.

Oh also, here’s a question I’m surprised no one else asked: What happened to the offal? Did you cook those too?

Comment by Joseph Bayot — January 7, 2008 #
WOW!!! I want one

Comment by jc balek — January 7, 2008 #
I see you went out and splurged on one of the models available from La Caja China. How ultimately appropriate for you to utilize the Cuban technology of swine cookery.
We did one recently again at our hotel in the Miami area. Check out what our co-worker’s grandpa did to create his own China Box… all metal with a side door so you don’t have to rely on 2 people to remove the hot burning wood tray above. This man, Severino Cruz, made this box over 20 years ago, and I’d trust him with my pig any day.

http://chadzilla.typepad.com/chadzilla/2007/11/china-box.html

Comment by Chad Galiano — January 7, 2008 #
Oh no! She fell out of her car seat!
That’s some mouth watering pork porn.

Comment by Neal L. — January 8, 2008 #
Beats the hell out of a Christmas goose. Thanks for sharing.

Comment by SwillMonkey — January 8, 2008 #
I LOVE this picture series — a whole pig in a minivan, next to a car seat, cooked in a standard issue back yard. I see this and think, um, I guess I could do that . . . and that’s a huge favor to me! I can’t afford to keep making up reasons to go to New York and eat at The Spotted Pig — I’ve got to get braver about offal cooking, not just eating. You’re a good mentor for bringing it on home.

Comment by Julia O. — January 28, 2008 #
The box reminds me of what we called Cajun Microwaves back home, but the outside doesn’t look as durable as swamp cypress.

That was one fine-looking pig you cooked!

Comment by Lori K — January 28, 2008 #
Good stuff, I may try this this year. Where did you get the pig? Prather?

Comment by Rory — February 12, 2008 #
I’ve been using the caja china for years. Next year try brining the little piggy. It makes the soppings extra tasty.

Comment by Bob Howald — February 19, 2008 #
I love the La Caja China. I have done over 20 pigs, hundreds of chickens (16 at a time), turkeys and even a whole lamb in it. Being from the South Carolina we believe in eating the whole animal. This is a great site.

Comment by JB Bannister — March 30, 2008 #
I SO want one of these - but I think my wife would be unhappy at filling half our not so big DC yard/garden with a pig cooker. Not that it’s gonna be the same as the whole pic in a caja china, but I’m thinking about trying to do a shoulder in a smaller hand built box. Might get around to it sometime this summer.

Comment by Drew — May 7, 2008 #
Ooh nice. My parents never cooked the pig themselves, but for special occasions (we’re Vietnamese), we’d buy the whole pig already roasted at a Chinese BBQ place (they’d also do roasted whole ducks).

Comment by Jennifer — August 29, 2008 #
You are what you eat I suppose… Absolutely disgusting - fat, tissue, cancers, tumors, infection, blood vessels. These belong to a living creature. You are deluding yourselves thinking this is “food”. It’s a carcass - dead flesh and not NECCESSARY. Man survives better on a plant-based diet… for health & heart - GO VEGAN

Comment by Bea Elliott — October 1, 2008 #
been there done that. The box is great and the pig is cooked wonderfully. BUT - it is a roast pig, no flavor of the coals or the grill, no bar-b-que, no crispies, just baked. Tastes like it came from an oven (which it did) and is not as good or tasty as a grilled on top pic

Comment by johnk860 — October 1, 2008 #
Your face is so ugly there is no way your getting laid so you take out your frustration on killing animals. Die the same cruel death the pig did. Can’t happen soon enough.

Comment by colleen q — October 16, 2008 #
Colleen Q … He’s ugly, mean and nasty… I’ve just discovered these “offal” people here exist on the gross-out factor and trying to avoid the ethics. I have a 7 year old that does the same thing… the boy will do anything to avoid reality or “serious thought”.

Why are the ethics avoided so vehemently? Accept that there really is not argument - and no justification for the animal killing… Reduced to mono syllables and doing the avoidy-thing they chant “hummm…bacon”….

Comment by Bea Elliott — November 6, 2008 #
Do you even know what this website is about Bea?? There whole idea about eating offal is that you have respect for the animal and that your not just eating a choice cut ….and throwing out the rest. Or grinding it into dog food ….the people that are on this website are the people that are pushing the sustainable food movement….supporting small farmers, fisher man…educating people on where there food comes from and how it gets there, so they can make there own decisions on what they eat…and yes maybe they would decide on nuts and seeds, if they seen a cow being bled out. Cooking with offal has been apart of human history
as a way of not wasting an animal that has been killed, do you think the modern way(BonelessSkinLess) is better?
But i see that you have nothing wrong with death threats and can sit in your high tower looking down at the meat eating monsters, not leting your kid be a kid…nibbling on organic vegtables from your local farmers market that have been grown in shit from Dairy,beef, and god forbid a chicken factory farms….so think about that the next time you bite into that carrot….or eat a big bowl of over cooked barley…..

Colleen Q….you must be 10..11…years old….your parents shouldn’t let you on the internet by yourself..

Comment by Jesse Vergen — November 7, 2008 #