524745 Sun Jun 01 19:47:26 -0700 2008 6 31 Home Cooking 0 3740278 I'd like to cook a whole pig at a gathering for about twenty people. I'm not sure whether to cook it in the oven or over a grill. I know the latter requires some extra planning, which I'm happy to do. What size pig do I need? Any suggestions, recipes, or advice on the preparation? Sun Jun 01 19:47:26 -0700 2008 122941 barnrust 1 3740320 I apologize if I am making poor assumptions but are your oven and grill of a conventional size? If so, suckling pig is more in order for size. A whole adult pig is a big thang. Ossabaw pigs are quite tasty as a breed, I must admit. Not that there aren't plenty of other good ones. Also, not sure if they sell Ossabaws in small versions. Ask some butchers where they get their whole pigs unless you are going to make a trip somewhere for one. Sounds like a good time. Enjoy it. http://foodonlymatters.wordpress.com/ Sun Jun 01 20:10:02 -0700 2008 3740278 194862 foodonlygood 2 3744780 The oven and grill are conventional size. Thanks for the tip on the breed of pig...I had no idea and will ask my butcher about it. Tue Jun 03 08:36:04 -0700 2008 3740320 122941 barnrust 3 3744806 If you want to serve it Philly style, you need to have sharp provolone, greens (i.e., broccoli rabe) and rolls to accompany. Boy is that good! Tue Jun 03 08:41:36 -0700 2008 3744780 19599 susan1353 1 3745357 Depending on where you are and how much room you have, you might want to consider a China Box. These are very common and very popular in South Florida. www.lacajachina.com/ There are also some recipes on the site. --Lisa Tue Jun 03 10:35:24 -0700 2008 3740278 166380 ldkelley 2 3745575 We roasted a big over Memorial day. Yo will need to plan about 1 lb per person. I am concerned that you will be able to do one in a regular oven.The grill will proabbly be a better idea. The pig we roasted we did in the box from florida it worked great. We frist the day before injected it with salt water then we rubbed it with our favorite barbeque spice rub. We cooked it about four hours we kept a meat themoniter in it until it reached 160. It was fantastic. I served it with sweet cream corn mashed sweet potatos water melon tomato basil mozzarella salad black-eyed pea salad and fried apricot pies. Tue Jun 03 11:22:35 -0700 2008 3745357 103546 Analisas mom 2 3745644 The caja china would definitely be a good investment if you want to simplify things. Otherwise a suckling (which denotes the age, not breed of pig) is probably the biggest you could do in an oven. Tue Jun 03 11:35:31 -0700 2008 3745357 68363 JungMann