Pit Roasting

One of my fondest memories is of a trip my family took to Lake Powell late one summer when I was about 13 or 14 years old. Now we took A LOT of trips to Lake Powell, at least once a month every year for about 8 years because my parents owned a scuba diving/boat business. So to think that one trip would stand out from the rest seems difficult to believe. However, this trip was special because of the food that was prepared on the final night there.

I remember going to the butcher--something that isn't normally done in the days of supermarkets--and my mother buying a "half pig". Yes, that is an entire one side of a very large pig that has been butchered. Not sure exactly how much it weighed, but I am sure that it was around 50 pounds or so.

The next thing I remember was my dad and several other men spending a couple of evenings digging an enormous (4 or 5 feet deep, 3 feet wide, and about 5 feet long) hole and lining it with flat sandstone rocks. Before going to bed the night before our last day at the lake we built a huge fire in the pit. And by huge I mean a roaring fire that was shooting flames 4 to 6 feet high out of the pit. It was so hot you couldn't get within 10 feet of the fire. After it had burned all night it was allowed to die down to nothing but scorching hot coals. My mother and I spent the morning preparing all types of fruit--pineapples, bananas, oranges, lemons, limes, cherries, strawberries, etc. When all was ready we placed all of the fruit into the cavity of the pig and tied it closed. We then wrapped the pig in heavy duty tin foil--several layers. We took several burlap bags and got them good and wet in the lake. These bags were wrapped around the tin foil covered pig and tied on with wet twine. Several men picked the whole pig "package" up and lowered it into the pit onto a sheet of metal flashing that had been placed over the hot coals and rocks. Another sheet of flashing was placed on top of the wrapped pig roast and then they shovelled dirt back into the pit. Once the hole, coals, pig, etc. was completely buried it was left to roast all day.

At dinner time the men shoveled the dirt back out of the pit and brought the roasted pig over to the table. We cut off the bags and twine, then removed the top half of the tin foil so that the meat was exposed. Everyone just helped themselve to whatever pieces of meat they wanted.

This was the best meat, pork, food I have ever eaten!! The flavor was indescribable. It was so moist and tender that a knife was not needed.

Wow! I am so hungry!

P.S. I have also cooked Thanksgiving turkey this way and it turned out fantastic! Those fryers can't cook it near as good as the pit roast method.