How long will a Pig take to Cook?
Is a Hog Roast worth the time it takes
For those people who like their catering cheap and cheerful then I think it is safe to say that hog roast may not be high on your list of priorities. Not that hog roast is not affordable not that it is not something that makes you smile. Indeed, enjoying hog roast meat is going to make almost anyone very cheerful for it is one of the very best catering solutions for putting a smile on anyone’s face. Hog roast is certainly not a quick solution when it comes to providing great tasting food, but there are good reasons for this.
Hog roast is as you may already know pretty ancient meal that dates back to medieval times, and while many things have advanced in the world since then, you could say that cooking has not really progressed that much. Some would say that much of our cooking has become ridiculously bland and that the old favourites such as hog roast simply blow the new options out of the water when it comes to flavour. But flavour comes at a big cost and that tends to be in the time it takes to cook up some of the tastiest meat that there is.
Those six hours that a hog roast tends to take is a long time but a whole pig is a pretty significantly sized piece of meat, therefore it really does need a good length of time to get it cooked properly. But why six hours? Surely that is just far too long, even for a whole pig? Well, no. That is what it takes and the reason is all about slow roasting.
When you have settled down on a Sunday evening to carve and tuck in to that joint of beef that you have been cooking for a few hours, you may simply take it for granted that this is what meat tastes like when roasted. Well, roasted meat is the best, we all know that, but the roasting process is just one part of it when it comes to hog roast. Ask the hog roast chef and they will whisper a three letter word to you that is key to cooking the perfect pig. The word is fat.
When the chef goes on a mission to find you a pig for your hog roast, they are not simply looking for a pig that has a glint in its eye, a nice snout or a cute tail. They are looking for one that is ideal for your event and that means knowing how many people are going to be at your event, but they are also looking for a pig with the right amount of fat because that is super critical to the whole cooking process.
Meat loves to be roasted for a long time because it really gives the meat time to absorb all the flavours it can from the bones, but a long time roasting can be detrimental to the meat too, as it can dry out the meat. This is why the fat is really important as it can act as a barrier that serves two important functions. Firstly it can stop the meat drying out, ensuring that meat stays super succulent - one of the big plus points of a hog roast – and it also means that the meat can absorb some of the special flavours from the fat itself, adding to the incredible taste.So six hours may seem like a long time for that pig to cook but as you will no doubt confirm once you have had your fill, it is definitely worth waiting for. Just make sure that you get your seconds before everybody else does or you could left without!
