Suckling pig secret

markopa

Hi !

In the region where I live its very popular to make an entire suckling pig on kind of roast. Its not exactly roast, but is a mixture of grill/bbq. A picture will explaint it all:

What they do is to have the fire on one side. Once the wood chunks turn into ember they put it below the pig. The pig is constantly rotating. The outcome is a very tender, moist meat. The best part is the skin. Crunchy, sweet and tender at the same time. 

It was my second attempt at emulating this process on my BGE with indirect setup. The first time I did it on low temp 250°F and the second time I decided to do it on a slightly higher temp, 370°F. The meat was good booth of the times, but the skin was miles away from what it should be. It turned out hard. Hard to slice, impossible to bitten whereas it should be crunchy and crackling.

Any idea where I'm failing ? How would you emulate the setup the from the above picture ?

Thanks, M.

Chris_Wang

Apples to oranges. Though the BGE is versatile, it's not the best at everything. The setup you did was pretty much the closet way imitate the picture. Indirect cook at 250° till done.

If you get the XXL, maybe you can get a big enough rotisserie to fit. There also may be enough space between the wood and the pig to not need an indirect piece. But again, apples to oranges. Closing the lid of the BGE changes the cook environment and oxygen levels compared to your picture.

TexanOfTheNorth

I agree with @Chris_Wang. Among other things, the rotating spit keeps the pig constantly basting in its own juice. This could be part of the reason that the skin is not so dry.

markopa

Heh.

I'm wondering what the equivalent dome temperature would be assuming in the setup I'm showing above a whole pig takes 4~6 hours to get done.

I'll try to figure this out and I'll also try to flip the pig inside the BGE several times during cooking.

Thanks.

Big_Green_Craig

I have done a pig on my Egg as well. The skin turned out almost leathery. I have done one in the oven that turned out amazing. Someone told me that it is the smoke that effects the skin?? Makes sense I guess

markopa

Hm. I don't think smoke makes the difference. I ordered a cooked pig and it was done in a similar setup as shown above, but it was like in a glass chamber. I assume there was plenty of smoke inside.

To me is either humidity or temperature. Skin, skin, damn skin... 

fishlessman

ive read that scoring the skin with a microplaner helps as well as rubbing it with salt and baking powder helps. this is the planer, ill see if i can find what i read

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-MICROPLANE-EASY-TO-USE-STAINLESS-STEEL-ROLLING-MEAT-TENDERIZER-SAFETY-COVER-/380405416061

fishlessman

heres the writup i read, it was about porchetta but sounds similar

http://billg0mez.blogspot.com/2012/04/porchetta-on-big-green-egg.html

Big_Green_Craig

markopa said:

Hm. I don't think smoke makes the difference. I ordered a cooked pig and it was done in a similar setup as shown above, but it was like in a glass chamber. I assume there was plenty of smoke inside.

To me is either humidity or temperature. Skin, skin, damn skin... 

I remember now. It was the folks at La Caja China. They specifically say "do not use smoke" and then explain that smoke in an enclosed enclosure does something to the skin and prevents it from crisping. I don't know, just saying. 

Focker

Like others have said, it is the all-or-none setups of the BGE that make it hard to replicate.  The rotisserie's brief direct, then indirect cooking with a two zone fire, and self-basting that create the perfect skin. 

Fred19Flintstone

I've only cooked a skin on picnic roast once and the skin came out with a Wilson logo on it and advised me to inflate to 13 psi. Seriously, if anyone has a good method for yummy skin on a picnic roast, perhaps that will work?

SenecaTheYounger

The skin in the rotisserie set-up is benefiting from direct radiant heat, which is higher than the temperature on the dial.  This is what crisps the skin in the first picture. 

There's also likely a higher draft which draws off moisture in the chamber.  The egg's efficiency reduces the needed airflow (to maintain a given temperature), and that keeps things like chicken skin from crisping.

For beef roasts, chicken, duck, et c. you can achieve crisper skin by allowing it to dry uncovered overnight in the refrigerator.

Pork skin is a different animal (literally).  I get better skin (on porchetta) from going very low for as long as possible.  Scoring it helps to allow the moisture under it to evaporate, otherwise you will have something akin to shoeleather. Even then, it is not crisp, but does allow bite-through.

I usually remove the skin from my picnic shoulders.

markopa

fishlessman said:

heres the writup i read, it was about porchetta but sounds similar

http://billg0mez.blogspot.com/2012/04/porchetta-on-big-green-egg.html

The skin looks exactly as mine - not crispy but more like leather. That is not something you are going for.

Thinking of it the setup from the top is really a combination of direct/indirect process. MAybe our BGE is really not up to the task.

I'm not giving up. I'll try once more with frequent flipping, starting very low and then trying to bump up at the end.

SenecaTheYounger

Score the skin

fishlessman

i have a feeling its mostly the airflow problem mentioned. maybe low and slow but with the dome cracked open an inch during most of the cook to dump some heat and get rid of any heat mass in there

fishlessman

i found this, seems to be in the right direction
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73424

and this

To put the crackle in crackling…
One less known use of Bicarbonate of Soda’s tenderizing properties is in the making of uber crispy pork skin. Cracking that is made using Bicarbonate of Soda will not go soggy and tough once it cools. Recipes for a host of crispy crackling dishes from German roasted pork knuckles, to Cantonese roasted whole pork belly, to just plain baked pork rind snacks, all rely on the secret of Bicarbonate of Soda. You have to use a lot more of it for a much longer time for skin, since skin is much tougher and more impervious than meat. The normal technique is to score the skin lightly in a criss-cross pattern, then coat it with a layer of Bicarbonate of Soda. The meat is then left in the fridge for a day while the connective tissue between layers of the skin is broken down, allowing the skin to eventually fluff up beautifully. You would then scrape the bicarb off and paint vinegar on the skin till the bubbling stops and all the bicarb is neutralized. As with before, you end up with salt, so the skin is automatically salted. With some steaming followed by roasting, you’ll end up with uber crispy cracking.

SenecaTheYounger

The meat also needs to evaporate water during cooking.  Skin is waterproof.  Score the skin

SmokeyPitt

FWIW...I was just leafing through Serious BBQ and APL's recipe for Crispy suckling pig includes cooking on a Caja China.

markopa

SenecaTheYounger said:

The meat also needs to evaporate water during cooking.  Skin is waterproof.  Score the skin

I'll try that as I have nothing to loose

Still few toughs about evaporating moisture. So, in the original rotisserie setup the skin is not scored at all (and no glaze was applied, but just salt the day before). Why in the EGG the moist couldn't evaporate ? Would just frequent turns do the job ? 

I think I'll go with old-fashion empirical testing

SenecaTheYounger

Set up indirect in the egg is very different than rotating in direct opposition to the coals, especially with the greater draft in the rotisserie.

The egg is designed to insulate.  Less heat radiates outward away from the meat, which means less is required to maintain the dome temperature.  Which means less fuel, and therefore less oxygen, is needed to keep the fire at a certain size.  Less oxygen means less air drawn in, less air drawn in means less evaporative cooling.

This is why chicken cooked in the egg is less crisp, unless dried out somewhat in advance.

It's the radiant heat of the coals that is the big plus for crisping the suckling pig's skin. That's absent in the egg, and you also have much less air moving through.

Consider a metal cooker, where the heat radiates outward, everywhere.  Much more fuel is used than in the egg, where the dome is relatively much cooler, and doesn't jettison as much heat outward.

markopa

Thanks for that great technical explanation.