MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
Title: Whole Roast Suckling Pig
Categories: Pork, Fruits, Herbs
Yield: 12 Servings
20 lb Suckling pig
20 cl Garlic; peeled
1/2 c Oil
Coarse salt
1 sm Potato
1 sm Apple
1 bn Fresh rosemary
1 bn Fresh sage
1 bn Fresh bay leaves (still
- on the branch if you can
- manage it); as garnish
Set oven @ 300 F/150 C.
Prepare The Pig:
Wash it, including the cavity, under cold running water, and
towel-dry thoroughly, the way you would dry a small child after a
bath--ears, armpits, chest cavity, face, legs, backs of knees.
Sometimes there are imperfections remaining after the slaughtering
and processing of the animal. Use dish towels or sturdy paper
towels to rub away any dark spots on the ears, any little bit of
remaining bristles around the mouth. Like that yellow, papery
flaking skin you sometimes find on chickens, which can be peeled
off to reveal tender, fresh skin underneath, a similar bit of crud
can remain on pigs' chins and under their belly flaps. Clean this
little cutie as if you were detailing your car! The purple U.S.D.A.
stamp, however, is indelible. But not inedible.
Piquer the pig with all 20 garlic cloves, making deep incisions all
over with a thin filleting knife and shoving the cloves into each
pocket; include the cheeks and the neck and the rump and the thighs
and the loin down the back and the front shoulders, all areas of
the small creature that have enough flesh to be able to receive a
clove of garlic. (Sometimes I find I have to slice the larger
cloves of garlic in half to get them to slide into the incision.)
Rub the entire pig in oil exactly as you would apply suntan oil to
a sunbathing goddess of another era, when people still were
ignorant of the harmful effects of the sun. Massage and rub and get
the whole creature slick and glistening. I do this directly in a
very large roasting pan.
Wash and dry your hands. Take large pinches of kosher salt, and
raising your arm high above the pig, rain down the salt in an even,
light dusting all over. You can start with the pig on its back and
get the cavity and the crotch, and then turn it over and get the
back and the head and flanks. Or vice versa. But in the end, the
whole animal is salted evenly and lightly, snout to tail.
Arrange the pig in the roasting pan, spine up, rear legs tucked
under, with feet pointing toward its ears and its two front legs
out ahead in front. Sometimes the pig needs a sharp, sturdy,
confident chiropractic crack on its arching spine, just to settle
it in comfortably to the roasting pan, so it won't list to one side
or topple over.
Put the potato deep into its mouth, and place in the oven, on the
bottom rack, and roast slowly for about 4 to 5 hours, depending on
the size of your pig. (Plan 15 minutes of roasting time per pound
of pig; for a 20-pounder, you'll need about 5 hours total cooking
time.) Add a little water to the roasting pan along the way if you
see the juices are in danger of scorching, and loosely tent the
animal with aluminum foil in vulnerable spots--ears, snout, arc of
back--if you see them burning. For the last half-hour, raise the
oven temperature to 450 F/232 C, and cook until the skin gets crisp
and even blistered, checking every 10 minutes.
Tap on it with your knuckle to hear a kind of hollow sound, letting
you know the skin has inflated and separated from the interior
flesh; observe splitting of the skin at knuckles--all good signs
the pig is done. Or use a meat thermometer inserted deep in the
neck; the pig is ready at 160 F/71 C. Let rest 45 minutes before
serving.
Remove the potato, and replace it with the apple.
Transfer the pig to a large platter; nestle big bouquets of herbs
around the pig as garnish. Save pan juices, and use for napping
over the pulled meat when serving.
Recipe by Gabrielle Hamilton
Recipe FROM:
https://cooking.nytimes.com
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