Pig Roast Instructions

On Saturday I held my annual Pig Roast lakeside at Point Mackenzie, Alaska.

We cook a whole pig Polynesian style, using hot rocks a opposed to using a spit.

There a few differences in these two styles of cooking.

First and foremost is the equipment required to cook the pig.  This year we cooked a 120 pound pig.  This would require either the construction or rental of a very large roaster using the spit style of cooking.  With the Polynesian cooking in the ground style, it simply requires more rocks.

To start, you need a pit.  My pit was created with a couple scoops from a backhoe while my driveway was being built.  Alternatively, one can be dug by hand.  It does not need to be deep, but should be big enough to allow people to get in on either side of the rock pile to work with the fire and pig.

We build the wood stack for the fire the night before the pig roast.  The stack is built with an outside rectangle of rim logs to contain the fire.  The bottom of the stack is lined with small fist-sized rocks, then the split wood is stacked in an inverted pyramid from the rim logs inward. A space on two opposing corners of the stack is left open for kindling; the fire is started at both corners.

We cover the pit with a tarp over night and get a good nights rest; we start early in the morning!

This year I woke the guys at 5:00am to get started.  We start the fire at both corners and then begin piling round river rocks sized between a fist and an ostrich egg on top of the fire.

In the photo to the left, my Samoan friend Joe is in the pit working the fire.  Joe and I go a long way back as volleyball teammates.  We aren't as young and spry as we once were, but we can still cook a pig.


As the fire burns down, the hot rock pile accumulates between the rim logs.  When the rocks are red hot, it is time to pull the remaining wood out of the fire.

Start by pulling out the rim logs and then remove each of the remaining burning logs.

This is hot work!  The heat in the pit is incredible.  You will need buckets of water at hand to douse the burning logs once they have been removed from the pit.  Only the hot rocks should remain.  The rocks are used to cook the pig. Make sure you use plenty of rocks; the more rocks, the more heat is generated to cook the pig.

Use a long stick (12 to 16 feet long) and a shovel to create a trench down the middle of the hot rocks for the pig.

While the rocks are heating up, it is time to prepare the pig.  We stuff the pig with whole heads of cabbage and yams wrapped in aluminum foil.  We also rubbed the inside of the pig with fresh basil we grew at home in Wasilla.  The pig is then wrapped in wire fencing lined with Aluminum foil.  The wire fencing is important.  Without this structure, you will not be able to lift the cooked pig back out of the pit; it will fall apart.

The bundled pig is then set into the trench between the rocks.  Using the stick and a shovel, the remaining rocks are placed around the sides of the pig, in the bundle and on top of the pig.  Next we take sheets of aluminum foil and place them lengthwise across the pigs and rocks.

This is the place where, traditionally, you would cover the pig and rocks with banana leaves.  These are a little hard to come by in South Central Alaska!  Instead, we used wet newspapers.  You will need a lot, so collect them over time in advance.

Soak the newspapers in a tub prior to application.  Slap the news papers on the pig/foil/rock pile until the entire pile is covered in wet newspaper.  It should resemble a huge paper mache monstrosity.

The resulting mound is then covered with a tarp to trap the heat and reflect it back to the pig. All of the edges of the tarp are buried in dirt to finish the heat seal.  Keep burying the edges until there is no heat steam escaping from underneath the tarp.  You do not need to completely bury the tarp.

After waking up at 5:00am, we had the rocks hot, the pig prepared, buried and cooking by 7:00am.

This is another area where this style of cooking differs from cooking a pig on a spit; The pig requires no further attention while it is cooking.  We are now free to take a paddle on the lake, take a nap, or continue setting up the party until the pig is done.

With the amount of hot rocks we had, this pig should be fully cooked in about 6 hours.   We did not pull the pig out until 2:30 because we wanted to wait until enough of the party goers had arrived and were ready to eat.  This is another area where the two cooking styles differ; using the Polynesian style with hot rocks you cannot really over cook the pig.  The pig is essentially steamed, so it comes out moist and tender.

To pull the pig out, remove the tarp, pull of the steaming hot newspapers (gloves recommended), grab the wire cage by each end and walk it out of the pit.

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Aloha

Back Home

February 26th, 199 pounds.  I am finally getting somewhere.

Since returning from my Business trip I on February 5th, I have lost 11 pounds.  I got up to 210.  I now only have four weeks to lose 8 more pounds to meet my one stone challenge.

two pounds a week sounds easy, but it is not.   Most of my weight loss is due to diet, not exercise.  I did get a little exercise in with my chainsaw, attacking some blow downs and an unhealthy birch during a recent thaw.

Winter is back now, so I will have to try to get out on the skis and not get buried in work.

Back from London

I have returned from my 4 week business trip that I dreaded for its impact on my weight loss.

I am tipping the scales at 208 again, so it was a disaster diet-wise.

The first week in Houston was bad because I was with my boss and we drove back and forth to work.

Once he left, I swapped hotels to one closer to work and walked the 1+ mile back and forth to work.

The last two weeks were spent in London.  I checked my weight in London at my hotel to find that I had gained five pounds.  I told Mike, my boss, that he was my weight gain partner.  That did not make him particularly happy.

I stayed in County Hall (across the Thames from Big Ben) and walked the 5+ miles back and forth to Canary Wharf to work.  The photo above was taken with my cell phone one morning during my walk.  Th group of tall buildings at the center of the photo is Canary Wharf.

On the final week of my stay, I issued a one stone (14 pounds) challenge to Mike.  We will be meeting up in Napa Valley at the end of March, by which time we must have lost the required weight.  There is a bottle of Opus One riding on this challenge.

My progress to date, +3 pounds!!

Day 5 Results

202 - 1 pound.

This cold is getting to me.  I don't have the energy to exercise.

Tomorrow will be a bad day with football and drinking. 

Then its four weeks traveling! Ugh!!

Day 4 Results

203 pounds - no weight loss today.

I am not surprised, that is the end of the easy weight.

The only exercise I got yesterday was a round trip walk to the mailbox (2k).

My travel plans are worse than I thought,  I am traveling a total of four weeks; two in Houston followed by two in London.

I guess I will have to hit the hotel work out rooms.  I am not much of a gym rat, I don't like working out per se.  I prefer to be going somewhere, having fun in the outdoors, or accomplishing something for my workouts.  For instance, walking to work, skiing, or chopping and splitting wood.

In London I have the option of walking to work.  I can stay at County Hall and walk to work along the Thames to Canary Wharf. 

In Houston, there is not such an option.  The city is a mass of expressways, but few walkways.  The weather is also a factor as it is usually either pouring rain or sweltering hot and always humid.

Today is the final bowl game between Alabama and Texas.  I plan on watching that.  Saturday I am being dropped off in Anchorage to watch football with my friends and then catch a 2:30 am flight to Houston.  It will be a long day.

I had planned on going back to the Lake this weekend and get in another long ski.  Perhaps I could bring my skis into Anchorage and spend some time on their nicely groomed trails.  How I would get my skis back to wasilla is another concern.

Day 3 Results

203.  I Lost another 2 pounds.

I also seem to have gotten a cold, probably contracted at the Rose Bowl or on the flights between.  One of the hazards of mixing with the public.

Actually, I most likely got it from Lisa as she was having symptoms during the trip.

I just got the news that I have to travel to Houston for work next week.  Travel is difficult on a diet because of most meals will be out at a restaurant.

We will see as the diet saga continues.

Once again yesterday I did not get any exercise, just diet.  An organge for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and dinner minus the starch.

Day 2 Results

205 pounds. I lost two more pounds.

I did not have a good day yesterday as I did not get a chance for any exercise.

I did eat a salad for lunch and skip the potatoes at dinner.

I feel these first five pounds are the easiest, coming off as fast as they went on. I have five more pounds of "holiday weight" and then I can work on some real weight loss/conditioning.

Day 1 Status

With the Vikings ahead 31-0 at half time, and the sun finally up, I felt it was time to go for that ski.

The temperature outside was 9 F, so I waxed my skis with green glide and blue kicker.I drove the half hour to Point Mackenzie and parked the car in a light swirling snow. By the time I skied to the cabin, my fingers were cold from locking up the car and taking a few pictures.

I built a fire inside the cabin to get my trip rolling. By stoking up the fire, I knew I could return to a warm cabin after my ski.

I followed a groomed trail for most of my journey. The base was well packed with a fresh light powder. The skiing conditions were excellent.



While I was skiing, I ran into this interesting trail sign. The jacket reads

Polar Bar
Nome, Alaska

I hoped this was not a sign of where I was headed. I knew that Nome was approximately a 1000 mile ski from where I was, but I also knew this trail system intersected the Iditarod trail nearby.

I spent about an hour and 45 minutes skiing before returning to my warm cabin. I re-stoked the fire and thawed out before returning home.

On the diet front, I did not do so well. I skipped lunch in favor of skiing, but I had a good size dinner. On the bright side, the Brie is now history.

The final result? 207 pounds; -3 pounds. Apparently shivering burns calories.