The basting sauce is applied with a homemade sauce mop. The handle is black with one notch cut for each year of the PR. The mop is changed annually using an appropriate towel or equivalent material from the selected motel or hotel. Coincident with the new Millennium, the 2000 PR introduced an unexpected contingency when "the handle" was unavailable due to an absent member and no towel was secured. Adjusting, as always, to critical circumstances, the Committee pressed a worn T-shirt into service on a broken tree limb and the process continued. Even more astounding, as the day progressed, it was determined that while using the new "state-of-the-art" cooker and using Boston Butts, the sauce could be adequately applied using a ladle. The resulting meat was proof positive that while earlier designs taken from tried-and-true techniques were adequate, new technology could almost instantly push the envelope and raise pork-cooking to another level. Currently, a basting sauce mop may look more like a floor mop. When a full pig is involved, this mop is extremely helpful. When only a Butt is involved, the "mop" may take different forms. And also currently, the tradition of using hotel mop gear and historical wooden handles is not a mandatory requirement. Cooking thermometers are used in the shank and butt end of the pig to monitor the temperature. A general rule is to attain a reading of 160-170 degrees. The time for cooking will vary; however, a pig of 150-175 pounds (dressed weight) will require in the order of 7 - 8 hours. A water hose or spray bottles should be available from the start of the project. This is needed to diminish the flames as the grease falls on the fire. It is also smart to plan (and have available) a tarpaulin to rig over the pig. Late summer showers are sudden and unpredictable and will dampen a good fire in seconds if allowed to fall on the coals. Tables covered with polyethylene should be set up for carving the pig. Several wooden chop blocks are also helpful in this process. A couple of electric knives also speed up the work, although some hard-core cookers feel the artificial use of electricity contaminates the meat. As with the insertion of the portable cooker, the 26 th gathering of the PR in 1998 introduced a new, and somewhat controversial, element. For the first time the pig was replaced with Boston Butts. It should be noted that certain assumptions are inherent with this choice. Included are: 1) The Butts are not a replacement for the pig, merely a placeholder, 2) The Butts, while politically correct, should not be discussed when referencing the meat available at the PR. (This element is strictly transparent to the typical attendee.) And 3) the use of the word Butts is acceptable for this publication as family fare and as endorsed by the Committee. As noted above, the pig was reinstated in 2001. Since that time the Butts have reappeared and the Committee says emphatically that either option is acceptable. It is unlikely, however, that a permanent trend back to the full pig will occur. The Butt will likely prevail!
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