Looking for some help on roasting a pig. I’d like to build a Cajun microwave as opposed to building the little shed with a rotisserie. I can’t really find a good design for one though. Most of the ones I’ve seen just have a metal pan on the top to hold the wood and coals. This design appears to only use the coals and wood chips as a heat source and not for flavoring. Is there a way to have smoke actually go into the box to flavor the meat? Any advice would be appreciated.
I actually prefer an open-pit roasted pig to the cajun microwave ones. The smokey flavor is there, the cracklin's are crisper, and it takes longer to cook, so you can stay up all night drinking whiskey and telling lies.
I've stayed up all night drinking whiskey at a pig roast before. Good times. Thought a cajun microwave might be a little easier to manage though.
Agreed. The open fire is fun but it can be hit or miss. Here's a link to a place where you can purchase a good microwave: http://www.cajunmicrowaves.com/
Am I correct that with a Cajun microwave the smoke from the fire does not actually flavor the meat? It's basically just an outdoor oven.
Baked pig is quicker, less messy, and juicy . . . but it just ain't as authentic as a pit pig for flavor and style.
Just from eyeball I see some red neck engineering possibilities here. The stainless insert has a drain hole which you could rig a chimney to fit. Use SF's lil smokey for a coal, wood source and pipe the smoke in. Also looking at the dimensions of the large microwave you can possibly cut a 55 gallon steel drum in half and fit a lid over the top and finish the pig over the grill. Maybe it works, maybe not but I do not believe getting smoke to a pig is impossible, you may have to resort to a higher cooking temp to get the smoke to the pig, you will just have to find the balance.
Trust me I've thought of lots of possibilities from convection to conduction, using baffles, and even propane fired. The thing is I've never done this before. I wanted some expertise before a went off half cocked building some elaborate contraption. I found this site. It's Cuban but gives a pretty detailed overview of the process. Seems like a fairly simple rig to build in the back yard. http://cuban-christmas.com/pigroast.html
