Suckling Pig Recipe

One of the special dishes on menus, in restaurants in Spain, is Roast Suckling pig. Generally you have to order this in advance… but it’s also something you can easily cook at home. Most butchers now have whole piglets available… or they will order you one in if you ask. Here’s a nice tasty variation on simply roasting the piglet.

Yes, we know they’re cute (see picture) but they really are tasty too! Most of us drool at the thought of a bacon sandwich… so leave your sensitive side outside, and bring your tastebuds in for this beauty of a recipe!

Ingredients

• One piglet (buy it already boned or ask your butcher to gut, clean and bone it)
• 1kg oranges – halved
• Water
• Half a litre of sweet wine
• 2 garlic bulbs
• Half a dozen bay leaves
• A small bunch each of rosemary and thyme
• A cake ring or high oven rack (this is to keep the pig out of the tray containing the juices)
• Olive oil

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
• Slice the pig lengthways along its belly, and open up so that you can get to it easily.
• Clean it thoroughly inside and out, and dry as much as you can (drying it properly increases the chances of the skin going crispy)
• Brush the skin all over with olive oil and rub in well
• Close the piggie up, and place it belly side down on top of the cake ring or rack, and place into a fairly deep baking tray
• Bash the garlic bulbs up enough to open them up, and place into the bottom of the baking tray with the orange halves, rosemary, thyme, and enough water to come up about an inch high
• Every 15 – 20 minutes, take the tray out and baste the pggie with the juice from the tray
• After an hour and a quarter, add the wine to the tray
• Keep basting every 15 – 20 minutes until the piggie is golden and crispy (takes about an hour and a half)
• Carve up, and serve with Papas Arrugadas and seasonal vegetables
• You can make a light orangey gravy from the juices from the tray if you wish. Add the juice of an extra orange if you do… for extra tang.

Disfruta!

(I didn’t put a photo on this one… because pigs look so cute, and you’d never get around to cooking it otherwise)

Elle Draper

Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business - Gandy-Draper. Born a "Norverner", she then spent most of her life "Dann Saff" before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle's loves are Alan, the internet, their three bouncing dogs, good food, and dry white wine - although not necessarily in that order.