About aVermonter Enterprises - catering BBQ and pig roasts

This custom roaster can easily handle two pigs and more! The gas fired unit has a smoker box, perfect for low, slow cooking. It also has two burners at the rear of the unit.

Fraternity alumni pose during the presentation of pig at a recent reunion

Terence begins to cut a pig - that pig roasted for 15 HOURS!

Close up shot of smoked brisket before saucing and wrapping

Beginning stage of cooking the brisket - still has ten hours to go and the award winning BBQ sauce has yet to be added!

Terence Lernihan of aVermonter Enterprises

Terence Lernhihan of aVermonter Enterprises

My name is Terence Lernihan, owner of aVemonter Enterprises. Today that encompasses my growing Pig Roast and BBQ catering business. While vermontpigroasts.com features Pig Roasts and generally caterings to weddings and larger events, this site caters to gatherings both large and small!

I've always enjoyed cooking and constantly running between the kitchen and guests at family events. A little over 20 years ago, I started doing pig roasts. The first ones were for family functions, but word spread and I began doing pig roasts for others. In the early days, I'd be tending the coals in the pre-dawn hours, on location, with a small motorized rotisserie that fit in the back of the pickup. Since then I've utilized a variety of rotisseries, grills, roasters, and smokers and am constantly improving my equipment and methods. Today I favor the customized unit pictured at left, but continue to utilize many of the aforementioned items.

When I do a pig roast, I don't just cook the pig. I present it. If people are arriving and I'm outside with the smoker going and the smell of freshly cooked pork filling the air, people have to stop, look, ooh, ahh, and if they're lucky I might even give them a taste!

You can see our references here!

A few years ago a good friend of mine was performing at a Memorial Jam for the drummer of his band who had recently passed away, and everyone was to bring a dish. I was cooking brisket that weekend, and suggested we go in on one to bring to the event.

It was the first really beautiful day of spring, and I really wanted to ride my motorcycle, but first I had to get the brisket to the Memorial Jam. So I got in the truck, delivered it to my friend who got it set up with all of the other food, and went back home to get my bike. By the time I got back (about 40 minutes), my friend met me at the door saying, "I hope you didn't plan on eating any of the brisket you brought because it's gone already"! I had to go see for myself and indeed, it was all gone while everything around it looked untouched by comparison.

I hear many compliments from my customers (and really appreciate them!), but when I'm with friends and family, in a more intimate setting where I'm eating and speaking with people I know and respect, I feel I get the best and most honest input. While I didn't get to eat with anyone that day, I did get valuable feedback from my peers!

In recent years, I've really stepped up the BBQ. Whether chicken, BBQ ribs, BBQ brisket, or even large succulent shrimp "on the barbie"... whatever I cook is good! I have been particularly happy with the evolution of my smoked, slow-cooked, Texas style BBQ beef brisket. Everyone raves, and it's the hit of any party it appears at. Well, maybe it's tied with BBQ sausage! The sausage, an appetizer, always runs out. It's a blend of sausages, spices and other ingredients that only I know and you can't just bite once! Still, I have to respect the brisket, because it's a much less forgiving dish to make!

In winter, interest in pig roasts wanes and in the winter of 2013 - 2014 I began catering barbecue for private gatherings in the greater Rutland/Killington region. This website was developed in support of that effort and I have continued to serve smaller groups in the winter months ever since.

You can see our references here!

Terence Lernihan poses with a roasting pig