Who would have thought I’d be spending part of the Bank Holiday weekend cooking up a feast for both astronauts and aliens? Don’t worry, though – we haven’t been invaded by visitors from another planet! Our team just catered a fantastic space-themed birthday party for a 9-year-old and his friends and family and we showed those extraterrestrials how to enjoy an earth party in style by roasting a lovely, juicy hog.
The birthday boy, Jay, told his parents he couldn’t decide between having a hog roast in Cooksbridge party (which had been his dream for a while now) and having a space party, seeing as he had always wanted to be an astronaut. They decided he could just combine the two and called us to arrange the food catering for the occasion. At The Spitting Pig, we love a good themed bash, and couldn’t wait for the day to come around.
We arrived at the family home at the weekend to cook up a storm (a geomagnetic space storm!) armed with a medium-sized hog that would more than accommodate the 35 guests. We had a gazebo to shade us from the sun and to act as the serving area and one of our own professional hog roasting machines, as well as the serving table and extras like bread rolls, sauces, and homemade stuffing. To prepare the pig for roasting, an experienced chef like myself will score it in diamond shapes, cover it in water and then smother it in salt. Then on goes the machine for a good few hours while we keep watch over it.
As the pig cooked thoroughly, the garden was decorated by the party organisers, and I was transported to another world with the planet decorations, rocket ship sweet station and moon landing play area. There was even a solar system bingo game! While we were there to provide our sumptuous hog roast Cooksbridge rolls and a side salad, Jay’s parents had organised the tasty dessert of intergalactic cupcakes. Jay joined his party dressed up as a spaceman and then his friends started to arrive in their outfits too and it was nearly time to serve up a supernova of a hog roast!