Pig Roast Traditions...
The tradition of the pig roast goes back millennia and is found in many cultures
There are numerous ways to roast pork, including open fire rotisserie style roasting, and "caja china" style box grilling. Many families traditionally have a pig roast for Thanksgiving or Christmas. In Miami and other areas with large Cuban, Puerto Rican, Honduran or other Caribbean populations pig roasts are often held on Christmas Eve by families and friends whereas families from Hawaii often hold a roast on memorial day.
Pig roast (lechon asado) is a part of Puerto Rico's national dish and is usually served with arroz con gandules.
In Puerto Rico, pig roasts occur year round, but happen in greater frequency as part of New Year's Eve celebrations and especially Christmas; occasionally if a family has relocated to the cities of the United States they will take the recipe with them and use it during the summer
In the Philippines, the roasted pig is referred to as lechon baboy. It is traditionally prepared for Christmas celebrations, but is also commonplace at birthday parties, weddings, Debuts, and family reunions.
In various Chinese communities (especially in Southern China), a pig roast known as siu yuk is purchased for the sake of special family affairs, business openings, or as a ritualistic spiritual offering. For example, a tradition is to offer one or several whole roast pigs to the Jade Emperor to celebrate a Chinese film's opening with a roast pig; the pig is sacrificed to ward off evils in return to pray for the film's success. One garnish used to make the dish look more appealing is a circular slice of pineapple and cherry and is often placed in a red box for luck.
In the UK, the tradition of pig roasting, which is more commonly known in the UK as a Hog Roast, is popular on many occasions, particularly parties and celebrations. It is usually an outdoor event, and a staple meal on many show events. The tradition is either to roast on a spit, turning the pig under a flame, or in a large oven in a roasting pan, roasting pigs around 130 lbs in weight is common in the UK. The pig is normally roasted in a gas propane machine. The pig's skin is scored with a sharp blade and covered in water & salt to make the 'crackling'. In ancient times going all the way back to the Saxons, roasting a wild boar was often the centerpiece of a meal at Yuletide, with Yule being Freya's fest. The head was often the greatest delicacy, as evidenced by the survival of The Boar's Head Carol.
The tradition of the pig roast goes back millennia and is found in many cultures
In the United States, roasting a whole pig or a feral hog has been a tradition for over two hundred years, especially in the Southern United States where it is closely linked to barbecue. From Virginia south to Florida Panhandle. and west to the Mississippi River south to Louisiana, the flavoured meat in Southern, Cajun, Appalachian, and Creole cooking is pork and has been since colonial times: pigs did not require any special handling or maintenance and could be sent off into the woods and rounded up again when supplies ran low, and thus were the prime choice for meat for small farmers and plantation owners, and for men living up in the mountains the tradition was to drive their pigs to market every fall, fattening them up on the many nuts and acorns that proliferated in the area.
Like many plantation owners, he raised several pigs for slaughter in November and once his slaves had finished curing the meat into ham and bacon they would pit roast some whole pigs over hot coals as a treat. Outside of the English speaking states of the South, francophone Cajuns, then as now, had cochon de lait as a traditional dish for the gathering of their large families.
Outdoor cooking is our passion
We find the history of our trade fascinating, and feel as though we are helping to keep an age old tradition alive by offering to make large scale outdoor cooking available to everyone. This means a lot to us and you can tell by the quality of the food we provide. From our supply only service to help keep costs down to our full service package from 50 people upwards, you can sure the our equipment, our meat supplies and our service are to a great standard, and it is important to us that we provide your the best possible service so you can enjoy the tradition of a roast as much as we do.
