Pit roasting is cooking meat in a large, level hole dug in the earth. A hardwood fire is built in the pit, requiring wood equal to about 2 1/2 times the volume of the pit. Hardwood fuels are recommended because they burn clean and give hotter coals.
The hardwood is allowed to burn until the wood reduces and the pit is half filled with burning coals. This can require 4 to 6 hours burning time. Cooking may require 10 to 12 hours or more and is difficult to estimate.
Pit-roasting is carried out for meat that has a relatively high lipid-to-protein ratio.
Fatty meats may be pit-roasted in a moist environment for several different reasons, the primary of which is likely the ease of preparing of a large piece of meat. That is, the fat enables heat to permeate the tissues very rapidly and the protein is thereby quickly denatured.
When pit cooking, extreme care must be taken to prevent the pig from being contaminated with dirt or sand. Cooking in a pit works best for boneless cuts of wrapped meat.
When roasting boneless roasts in a pit, it will take 6-7 hours to prepare a proper bed of coals. For roasts weighing 10-14 pounds, allow 8-10 hours for the meat to cook.
Pit Roasting
