Latin Touch

Planning your Whole Pig Roast

Posted by Perry Perkins on 7th Mar 2016

Planning your pig roast includes determining hog size, knowing your guest count, where to buy a pig, cooking options, times, and the gear you’ll need. Including, of course, your Caja China roasting box.

After roasting many, many pigs, here’s the information and list I use every time I roast.

Where Do I Find Whole Roasting Pigs?

The two easiest places I’ve found in my area are the Asian grocery store (I use one called Uwajimaya), and a restaurant supply stores like Cash & Carry or Restaurant Depot.

Also, check with your local grocery store’s butcher, as sometimes they have access, or at least leads to ordering whole pigs, as well as lambs, goats, etc.

The restaurant supply is going to be, by far, your best price.

If you can’t find a restaurant supply in a local online search, talk to the owners of a (non-chain) restaurant or coffee shop in your area, they should know.

How much pig do I need?

Whole pigs are usually sold in either live weight (the weight of the entire pig) or, more often, “dressed weight” or the weight of the pig with the internal organs removed.

If live-weight equals 100 lbs., then your dressed weight (72%) should equal around 72lbs. This will provide an eatable yield of 50-52 lbs.

I base my calculations on “dressed weight” because that’s how I always buy my pigs.

Remember, this is a generalization; pigs (like people) can carry widely different ratios of muscle, bone, and fat.

So, now you know how much porktastic meat you’ll end up with, but…how much are people going to eat?

I plan 1/2lb per person, edible yield, for “mixed groups” (men, women, and children), or potlucks with lots of side dishes.

So...52lbs eatable yield / .5 = 104 servings. I know that sounds like a lot, but it's worked out almost exactly to that figure with the last dozen pigs I've roasted.

This is likely because for every mom who nibbles on a tiny slice of pig, there’s a teen-age boy scoffing down a plate’s worth!

I plan 3/4lb per person, dressed weight, if it’s mostly men, or if I’m just serving pulled pork sandwiches as the meal.

This equates to about 70 servings from a 52lb pig. When in doubt, round up!

You’ll never run out.