The season is now in full swing with bookings flying in, dates full and pigs are flying. Is this where the phrase comes from ?
The weekend of 23rd/24th of July was probably the halfway point and possibly the busiest. We had seven events over the weekend, which in itself is not too arduous, but still attention to detail. It was a tougher than usual with one in particular catering for about 4,500 in Stafford . The hog roast Hopton menu was one of pulled pork and as before had to be served in the Parade arena of the Staffordshire Agricultural Ground. This meant that everything had to be ready by 4.00 pm on the Sunday and service had to be finished by 6.00pm. I popped up on the Friday to receive deliveries and equipment and to check the area out again. It was all simple enough since we had use of a kitchen with ovens and a large walk in fridge. This was going to make life a lot easier. At least that is what we thought. It turned out that the kitchen had to be shared with someone else preparing a multitude of other dishes for the helpers/ staff. After a short chat we discovered that it was workable, although could be a little testing. We would find out as time progressed.
We set off early on Saturday to set up and start the first batch of cooking. We had just over 800 kilos of pork shoulder to prepare with smoked paprika rub. It took most of the day and we all admitted it was shattering.
The next day we set off early again and started cooking at 7.00 am. This time we had the kitchen to ourselves and so life was a lot easier. We prepared the special barbecue sauce and added a smokey mixture. Service arrived quicker than we thought, but we were ready to start at just before 4.00pm. By 4.45 pm some 45 minutes later we had done the last punters. We watched the revelers singing and dancing to a ‘pulled pork’ song. It’s got to be a first, very happy and clapping away.
All went well and who knows we might be needed again .. It was the third time that we have done this one.
Hog Roast Buckinghamshire