Does such a thing exist? The 'Mad Romanians' want to make brawn and need a 50 litre cooking pot. I have no idea what the largest cooking pot available would be, whether to buy or hire. Help???

You'd probably find one in a kitchen that regularly serves up hundreds of people at once, like in an army kitchen. I only know this from watching MasterChef Oz. Did you see it the other night? That's the sort of pot you are looking for.

I made brawn a short while ago. A whole pig's head cost only 50c and I got the butcher to cut it into quarters, from snout to the back of the head and then each piece crosswise. The butcher also gave me 4 fresh (not pickled) pigs trotters for another 50c. I cooked my brawn in two batches using half a head and two trotters each time (froze the other half and made it another day) and cooked it in my 15ltr stock-pot. If you haven't got one, you're welcome to borrow mine but you'll have to come and visit me in Whitianga to get it. Payment would be a small amount of brawn, enough for one person. Do I feel another Foodlover's Lunch coming on in Whitianga?

I have to confess I have never watched Masterchef at all Lorna!! My only tv consists of Coro (taped and I usually watch back to back episodes either Thursday or Friday nights), and movies.

Have had the offer of a loan of a pot, which is fantastic. I just never realised they came in such large sizes - although it's not every day one thinks.. now where did I put my 50 litre pot, unless I look down at my own. Ha, in my cupboard space I am struggling to store a stockpot !!

The recipe the guys want to use is 5 pigs heads. I might see if I can pinch a bit of cheek off one. When we were in Italy last time, we visited friends and she had raw pigs cheek as part of lunch, and it was beautiful. I didn't find out what it was until after I ate it (their English is as limited as my Italian, and we only found out through lots of gesticulations). - Sorry if I have turned vegans/vegetarian stomachs here.

The mind boggles at 50 litres. I have learnt something new this week

One more consideration, Irene - would your kitchen range be big enough to use a 50ltr pot? I know my 15ltr is almost too big for mine.

haven't looked that far down the road. George just asked me to suss out if such a size was available.

Now I have visions of George and his compatriots cooking his pigs heads in a cauldron over an open fire in the backyard. What a party could be made of such an event!!

Lorna, that reminds me of that song Melting Pot...

Take a pigs head
and we need a pot we can borrow
we will return it tomorrow
you know you can always believe what we said oh yeah oh yeah

boil it up forever
you can be outside depending on the weather
maybe a nip of vodka or gin
and then we can let the party begin, oh yeah oh yeah

what we need is a 50 litre pot
big enough to take the heads and all we've got
we will stir it up and make some brawn
and I promise you will get your pot back in the morn

oh yeah oh yeah

what we need is a 50 litre pot



normal transmission will resume in 10, 9, 8....

RAW pig's cheek. Irene? How was it served?

You definitely need a copper and a log fire!
Regards,
Dawn.

just little chunks with fat on the edge, but no skin/rind on. A rectangle say about 1 inch long (still can't get my head around cms and what they look like sorry!!) Boy they were nice. Rosalba just purchased the cut pieces from the butchers and they were part of an antipasto platter before lunch. If I had known what they were I wouldn't have tried them, ignorance is bliss !!

I ate raw (uncured) pork sausages in Italy. Very nice too.
50 litre pots are available- from a commercial kitchen supplier, but as others have pointed out it will be too large and too heavy for a domestic stove when filled with water and pig. If you get the head sawed into sections you could probably do it in a much smaller pot. If you can actually find a pigs head!

Wow 5 pigs heads definitely a big boil up and that amount would feed the army or you 2 for a couple of years.
I usually do a half head at a time and have a 12L stock pot. Used to have a bigger one but it was a bit big for the stove top elements and got a bit battered over the years..
Here is a hire 36L one [www.carltonpartyhire.co.nz]
You might have to see if you can go to the local Marae as they are likely to have a big pot as well as a big stove to cook on.
Perhaps you could go to the beach for the weekend and take everything with you including a good supply of fire wood and use one of the big solid beach BBQs (could help you with the fire wood)
Maybe there is a suitable stove for hire as well.
Perhaps everyone involved could cook a head each and portioning the other ingredients and when all the bones have been removed you might get it in a couple of smaller stock pots to finish. or the hire one.
Welcome to borrow my one and another next size down.
Might be easier to downsize the recipe


Jean

Irene, also contact Hamilton party hire.. they might be able to steer you in the direction you need.

OR do 2 lots of 25 litres...

What about a 10 gallon drum (ca 45 litres) halved lengthways? They make great bbq's and you could light the fire underneath with some gas gizmos while the half drums are suspended above on bricks. In the olden days we bought them to use as an incinerator and they lasted for years.

I've been nagging mastah to buy me one for yonks as I love cooking on them.

the guys are meeting to work out the logistics this weekend. Or as I said to Geo last night.. why so much? Time will tell, but I have had an offer of a loan of a 50 litre pot thanks.

Buy mastah one for Christmas, Kerry.

He has a horror of me and my bbq's Stephanie. My last craze was a sandpit one as when I came back here and he was still in Spain, the house didn't have any cooking facilities other than a clapped out stove, or any furniture, other than a puffer bed, but it was a wonderful late October (what? we had one of those? yes we did in 1997) and at the back of the house by the clapped out shed was a tiny sandpit. I went and bought myself a lovely crystal glass for my lovely wine and in the evening I cooked out there in my sandpit over charcoal,with fire bricks to prop up a rack from the clapped out oven. Heavenly blisskins. I soaked up the sun and the wine and tottered off to bed one happy, worn out woman for two months.

All I want is a sandpit or a 10 gallon drum. It's not too much to ask for is it? Eh??? I'd prefer the sandpit as the drum would probably end up as an incinerator or smoker. The sandpit would doubtless find favour with the fur boys and their offerings though, so it's a lost cause which ever way I look at it. It doesn't pay to look at something from all angles I'm beginning to believe. Tunnel vision has its uses.

we actually have converted one of the drums into a smoker. Hasn't come home yet as its having multiple cleanings in acid baths etc at Geo's work. But we don't want another drum, as we have no space to store one, and the other people are moving. A cooking pot it has to be. Will most probably be on a gas plate thing (can't think what they are called right now duh)