To do the hog roast it usually takes around 6 hours to cook the pig. You may be wondering why a hog roast should take so long to cook, especially when compared to other catering solutions that you may (or more likely may not) have enjoyed in the past. Well, there are very good reasons for this so it may be worth taking a few moments to try and explain why this is the case.
Let us start by stating that a hog roast London catered event is very different to the catering solutions that you will have encountered many times in the past because this is not some prepacked, frozen solution that requires the minimum amount of cooking expertise. I think that we have all attended an event at some point in our lives where we have been let down spectacularly by the sheer awfulness of the food on offer. The lack of anything remotely tasty, wholesome or imaginative can be a major let down, especially if it is something that you have been looking forward to for so long. Why people think that guests will seriously enjoy such uninspiring food is anyone’s guess, but what it does mean is that more and more people are turning to hog roast as their special, event catering option, and that is good news for everyone who cares about great food.
The first very obvious reason why a hog roast takes so long to cook is the sheer size of it. It can come as a bit of a shock when you see a whole pig up close and roasting for the very first time as they are quite an imposing sight, but one that is also very impressive. When you see how big a piece of meat we are talking, it all starts to make perfect sense why it should take a lot longer to cook than a few cheese and tomato pizzas that need 20 mins at 200 in the oven. A big pig is bound to need more time to cook than that, but it is of course a little more complicated than that. If you know anything about slow roasting then you will understand why.
Slow roasting is what helps bring out the very best flavours in the meat. It is not rocket science but it is the chef’s secret weapon for delivering amazing flavours every time, and it is why the caterer spends time carefully selecting a pig with the right levels of fat, because this is very important when cooking your London pig. Over six hours, the meat cooks away slowly but that layer of fat is actually serving a dual purpose. Not only is it adding to the incredible flavour of the meat but it is also preventing the meat from drying out. This is so important as the succulent taste of hog roast is what makes it so incredibly tasty. Of course, diners may not really appreciate that all this painstaking work goes on for their benefit, but without those six hours hard work, the meat would not taste anywhere near as good as it does.