Anyone here ever spin a whole pig/piglet?

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Retired Spook

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jun 28, 2022
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I just bought a Titan Outdoors 25-watt rotisserie for my fire pit - I hope its not junk. Specs say it is capable of spinning a 125-pound pig but I can't imagine ever cooking a pig that large because I don't know enough people to eat it. I'll be using it for whole chickens, maybe a turkey, large beef roasts and 20 to 50-pound piglets.

Anyone here have any experience spinning a small pig or other? If so, any advice?
 
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I just bought a Titan Outdoors 25-watt rotisserie for my fire pit - I hope its not junk. Specs say it is capable of spinning a 125-pound pig but I can't imagine ever cooking a pig that large because I don't know enough people to eat it. I'll be using it for whole chickens, maybe a turkey, large beef roasts and 20 to 50-pound piglets.

Anyone here have any experience spinning a small pig or other? If so, any advice?
That is pretty neat, looking forward on how it works. I imagine there will be several people chiming in on your question.
 
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Don't do it. Yes, really.
We did whole hog roasts for my children's parochial school spring fund raiser.
It is glamourous for whole hog, but much better to break the hog and do the front and rear for longer and pull the ribs and belly when done.
I guess the middle section of a piglet cooks faster than the head and tail sections - I can see how that could be a significant problem.

There's always turkeys, chickens and large beef roasts! :emoji_wink: I betcha a rotisserie turkey over some pecan coals is pretty tasty...

I did see a YouTube where the piglet was stuffed with apples, onions and garlic and then sewed shut after it was skewered. Maybe the moisture from the apples and onions swirling around inside helps a little.

I guess its something I always wanted to try, so, we'll see what I learn!
 
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If you do it, make sure to take some photo’s!
Al
It might be a while for that; I have a lot of learning to do! I'm going to start with a small - 20-pound - piglet and see how things go.
 
What a nice rotisserie - I have been watching it for a long time and when the price went down to half-price includes shipping, I took a chance. Much much better than I expected - very sturdy, all stainless steel, very easy to setup and now I can't wait to figure out what to cook on it first - though I do need to order more forks because it only comes with one, plus the accessories for securing a whole hog to it, that are not in the photo.

I can't wait to cook something on it! I'll probably start with a chicken (which would work with one fork - its a large fork!) to get a feel for it.

Merry Christmas to me man! 😎

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There are some YouTube videos about how they spin pigs in the Philippines called Lechon. Might give you some ideas. Gooood stuff.
Wow - I watched a few YouTube Lechon videos and all they did was make me hungry as a bear.

I lived in Hawaii for a while and, of course, had many Filipino friends while living there, and I ate a few questionable things :emoji_laughing: and other things that tasted great!!! I do recall hearing about whole roasted suckling pigs but never had the opportunity to taste one.

I am most certainly looking forward to roasting a piglet once I figure out where to get one and what to stuff it with!
 
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I know you were talking about only 1 set of forks, but didn't it come with both a single and double u-joint leg brackets? Those seem like a better way to hold foul legs or back legs of the piglet than another set of forks?
 
I know you were talking about only 1 set of forks, but didn't it come with both a single and double u-joint leg brackets? Those seem like a better way to hold foul legs or back legs of the piglet than another set of forks?
Yes it did come with those accessories I just did not attach them for the photo. I'm planning on the extra forks for 2 or 3 chickens at a time and for beef roasts.
 
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I've done small 50 lb pigs and lambs on a spit several times, maybe 5 times I guess. This was a couple decades ago. It was a home made deal. I used a lawn mower tractor with a couple gear reduction transmissions and also pulleys to get it to a slow speed. Never did bigger than 50 lbs. You need a nice strong spit and you need to be sure there is nothing that wants to flop around including the torso itself which gets loose when it gets hot. You want to be sure it's secure on the spit, like rock solid secure because, again, it will loosen up when it gets hot. When the pig flops around, it's very hard on the motor. And finally, you want the entire thing to be BALANCED. That's the most important thing. If you can spin the spit with your fingers before connecting the motor, that would be good. So you'll need counter-weights. The 4 rpm speed on that Titan surprises me - I have a HD motor from Onegrill which is 27 watts and it only spins at 2 RPM which provides much more torque, and yet they only rate it at 85 lbs. Mine has a built in fan to keep it cool. I paid $160 for it, which was a sale price, and that was just for the motor alone.

I've bought several items from Titan in the past and I have no complaints. In fact, I think I've gotten some crazy good deals from them.

But I've never used my Onegrill motor to spin a pig. I now cook pigs with a La Caja China box which does a MUCH better job cooking a pig, and much easier. The whole pig is perfect and moist from end to end and you get perfect cracklin' too. It's just not as much fun to look at because you can't see it while it cooks! Good luck.
 
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I've done small 50 lb pigs and lambs on a spit several times, maybe 5 times I guess. This was a couple decades ago. It was a home made deal. I used a lawn mower tractor with a couple gear reduction transmissions and also pulleys to get it to a slow speed. Never did bigger than 50 lbs. You need a nice strong spit and you need to be sure there is nothing that wants to flop around including the torso itself which gets loose when it gets hot. You want to be sure it's secure on the spit, like rock solid secure because, again, it will loosen up when it gets hot. When the pig flops around, it's very hard on the motor. And finally, you want the entire thing to be BALANCED. That's the most important thing. If you can spin the spit with your fingers before connecting the motor, that would be good. So you'll need counter-weights. The 4 rpm speed on that Titan surprises me - I have a HD motor from Onegrill which is 27 watts and it only spins at 2 RPM which provides much more torque, and yet they only rate it at 85 lbs. Mine has a built in fan to keep it cool. I paid $160 for it, which was a sale price, and that was just for the motor alone.

I've bought several items from Titan in the past and I have no complaints. In fact, I think I've gotten some crazy good deals from them.

But I've never used my Onegrill motor to spin a pig. I now cook pigs with a La Caja China box which does a MUCH better job cooking a pig, and much easier. The whole pig is perfect and moist from end to end and you get perfect cracklin' too. It's just not as much fun to look at because you can't see it while it cooks! Good luck.
Thanks Mark - all great info and much appreciated!

I have no intention of ever cooking anything much over 20 to 30-lbs - I don't know enough people to feed that much food! I only purchased the larger version of the rotisserie because it was on sale for half price including shipping. I haven't used it yet but from what I can tell it is rock solid - the spit rod itself is serious rigid and heavy.

As mentioned, I plan on buying additional forks, and if I can find a 20-pound pig to buy I will be sure to get a couple extra u-bolts and tighten them up real good. I will be starting with some less expensive roasts and chickens to get a feel for how to use it, this way if I ruin anything I wont feel so bad tossing it in the garbage.

Anyways, that's the plan, for now!
 
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Wow I just read the reviews on the Titan site - 4.6 stars and people have been cooking pigs on it and are very happy! One guy did a 100# pig, another did a 70# pig. Now I'm tempted to get one for myself haha.
 
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Wow I just read the reviews on the Titan site - 4.6 stars and people have been cooking pigs on it and are very happy! One guy did a 100# pig, another did a 70# pig. Now I'm tempted to get one for myself haha.
I think it is a great deal for the price!
 
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Hi ya, done quite a few, this is the smallest, but have had this whole spit full from tail to snout with a pig big enough for 70-80 people at our wedding, with a temp control and gas controls, it does make it easy to go low n slow till she’s done.
 

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Had a pig roaster built from a 280ga oil drum. Direct heat with charcoal. (Lots of flare ups, needed a bunch of water
Washing machine motor driving a right angle drive. 1.5” spit with three cross skewers. Wrapped the pigs (usually 150# on the hoof with head on, or 200# with head off and feet removed)in chicken wire and tensioned everything with bailing wire.
Made a fair bit of money doing weddings etc
 
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