So the pig's in the tub....

[Jenise]

....The pig for our pig roast arrived Wednesday. First shock: they didn't take the eyes out. Second shock: it had nipples. Porky wasn't a Porky after all, it's a Babe.

And she was about 70% thawed. By the time we got done trimming her out several hours later, she was pretty close to 100% So off we went to get about 50 pounds of ice.

Babe's new address is a former jetted bathtub. Just the right length and width for her, and deep enough to handle her and a brine. Her tub came from the RE Store. How genius is this: it cost us just $25, and they'll come pick up the re-donation next week!!!

Yesterday morning we checked on the condition of the ice. Pretty much melted, and Babe was swimming. So off we went to buy dry ice and borrow a bilge pump so we could get her dry again.

This morning the effects of the -110F dry ice has had the desired effect, she's slightly overchilled and ready for her brine. I'm making the brine, gallons of it, from water, box chardonnay, fresh rosemary, bay leaves and oregano.

Tomorrow at 7:00 she goes on the coals. Wish me luck.

p.s. I am NEVER EVER EVER going to do this again.

Good luck with Babe Jenise, A photo shoot might be called for me thinks.

I reckon it will be such a hit that in a few months people will still be talking about it and convincing you to do it all over again,,, you know women who swear no more babies and end up going back again....

[Jenise]

Staff arrives in 30 minutes, guests in 90.

Went to the garage to put the pig in the roaster at 6 a.m., an exercise that started by putting a bilge pump in the bathtub to get her dry and rinsed off. At 7 a.m. we fired it up (the roaster's propane). At 10:00 it had only got to 180 degrees and clearly wasn't going to go any higher. We called the equipment rental place and they were useless, even chewed me out for being a little sharp about the fact that I had 100 people coming and a raw pig. So we took the thing apart and built a charcoal fire in the roaster and hoped it wasn't too hot. By noon I was sunburned and the pig was only starting to warm up.

More tomorrow....

I really really am never going to do this again!

The timing on this sounds awfully tight: to cook 150# of pig from 8a - 6p ?

‘The pig for our pig roast arrived Wednesday. First shock: they didn't take the eyes out. Second shock: it had nipples. Porky wasn't a Porky after all, it's a Babe.”

I finally gargled this and babe/porky may well have been male, apparently, as I suspected, all male mammals have nipples. Check out Bob!
Hope the pig got done and was yummy. You deserve to be treated to a luxury weekend away.

"The pig for our pig roast arrived Wednesday. First shock: they didn't take the eyes out. Second shock: it had nipples. Porky wasn't a Porky after all, it's a Babe.”

I got a little shock once when I bought some fresh pork belly with skin on, and there was a nipple in the skin.

I finally gargled this and babe/porky may well have been male, apparently, as I suspected, all male mammals have nipples. Check out Bob!
Hope the pig got done and was yummy. You deserve to be treated to a luxury weekend away.

Nearly all non-monotreme male mammals have nipples. Horses, rats, and mice are the exceptions.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I finally gargled this and babe/porky may well have been male, apparently, as I suspected, all male mammals have nipples. Check out Bob!

I know! But there was a certain other part missing.

Jenise, my hat is off to you. I doubt that I'd tackle a whole roast animal of any species.

Quail?

Well, Jeff, I was thinking more of big four legged animals. I can do a chicken or a turkey. Or a whole salmon.

One quail? Hardly worth putting the oven on.