Oaxacan Whole Hog with Tyson Ho and me.

Photo by: David A. Powell

When  my good buddy, Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy’s No. 43, invited me  to take part in Pig Island, his yearly paean to pigs, hogs, swine, pork or whatever you call the animal that yields what can be the most succulent meat, it never occurred to me to break down the 200-pound specimen I would be getting from one of our New York special pig farmers . I decided to prepare a stuffed whole pig in the style of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca but where and how to cook it became the issue. We first thought of splitting the pig into two halves and cooking it in a caja china, letting the drippings fall onto the fruit and vegetable stuffing but that would not be as dramatic and, more importantly as good and easy to control.   It could burn or become too greasy. But event planner,. Lauren McGrath, liked the idea of  the whole hog and would not be defeated. She came up with the brilliant idea of pairing me off with Tyson Ho, the Carolina Whole Hog BBQ man, who knows a thing or two about cooking whole hogs.

Besides having the know how, Tyson has the rig and what a rig it is!

The Rig photo by Josh Bousel, www.bousel.com

So here is our plan and schedule:

Tuesday, September 3: First drive two hours and back to Greenpoint to see my adored grandson, Yuma. While I’m gone, the mise-en-place for 10x  the marinade or adobo will be prepared. i will come back and make it! That’s my preferred way of cooking. it’s an old chef trick: have someone do the difficult part and then, and only then, come in and put it all together into the wonderful concoction this recipe given to me by Venancia Toledo of  Ixtepec, Oaxaca

Wednesday, September 4- Press Event: Pick Up Your Pig in Union Square Market, East Side near 16th Street; shop for ingredients for stuffing. Take pig to East Village Meat Market and slather it with marinade.

Thursday: Prepare stuffing with the help of volunteers Davide and some students from the FCI and ICE

Friday: Get pig to Long Island City where rig is.; stuff it sew it up and let it star cooking for 4 hours

Saturday: Pig  up pig take to IKEA lot in Red Hook and start serving. 11:30-4:30

Recipe: