6
Operating the Rotisserie
Once the rotisserie has been fully assembled, all the screws and bolts are checked for tightness and
proper adjustment, the loaded spit has been attached as instructed above, the drip pan is in place, the
fire pit has been constructed and the fire is underway, simply attach a (connected)
properly rated and
sized extension cord
to the power cord of the motor and the motor will automatically start. Check to
see that the spit is turning smoothly and motor is running without and unusual noises
To shut off the motor, disconnect the power source.
Prepping the hog
It’s a good idea to hose (or even scrub) the hog down thoroughly and dry it before you begin. Then,
give it a good rubbing, inside and out with salt. If you have to store it for any longer than a few
hours, ice it up as best you can and store in a cool, safe place until ready to cook (this can be done
after the rigging).
As far as any culinary preparations, there are of course endless options. Some of the most common
are injecting with a flavor solution or marinade (the meat of the hog will not pick up much ambient
flavor such as smoke or even surface seasoning that is applied) and brining. Since it’s not very easy to
brine a large hog, flavor injection is more popular. You can inject up to 12 hours before cooking.
Stuffing it
Since the hog will cook for many hours and end with a high internal temperature, you can stow just
about anything (pork buts, turkeys, sausages, etc.) in the belly and it will cook through.
Stuffing
should be done after the hog is rigged to the spit (see below)
.
Rigging
Attaching the meat to the spit:
Just as there is no standard way to cook a whole hog, there is no standard way to rig the hog for
cooking, and there are probably as many variations as there are cooks. For use with this machine we
recommend a specific method of securing the hog to the spit that will keep the hog from loosening
on the spit all throughout the cooking. Instead of using forks at each end (this technique is more
practical for solid pieces of meat such as a roast) we recommend “lashing” the backbone of the hog
directly to the spit by stitching it with butchers twine and a special trussing needle. A detailed guide
on how to do this can be found on our web site.
Note: this process can easily take two hours. Try to have someone helping you and plan the timing
accordingly. Remember it will take at least 12 hours to cook a 150 lb. hog so you may want to
consider rigging the night before if you plan an all-day cook.
Trussing and binding:
The other thing to consider is how to keep the hog intact until the end of cooking. Because of the
size of the animal (the larger the hog, the bigger this problem), the prolonged cooking times, and the
condition of the meat when fully cooked, some parts of the hog my come loose toward the end of
cooking. Because the meat gets soft, some shrinkage occurs, connective tissue is broken down, so
the cooked animal may start to loose it’s “integrity”. In other words, unless properly held together,
parts of the animal may become dislodged and actually fall off.
To address this, some people wrap the hog in chicken wire to form a crude cage and sometimes even
tighten the apparatus as needed during the cooking. This is can be cumbersome and unhealthy (most
chicken wire is treated with a poisonous zinc compound).
