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Roast Pig (To be roasted whole should not)
A pig to be roasted whole should not be over six or seven weeks old. As soon as the pig is killed, put it in a vessel of cold water (as this makes it tender); when cold throw into hot boiling water, but do not let it remain any time; whirl it over quickly and draw out by the hindlegs; shake well and rub the hair off by the handful. Then scrape and wash until very white; take out the entrails; wash well, and let the pig remain hanging an hour or more. Wrap the pig in a large towel or cloth and put on ice in summer, or in a very cool place; it should not be cooked the same day that it is killed. Stew the liver and haslets of the pig and chop fine; to this add equal quantity of bread crumbs, a large spoonful of butter, two or three hard-boiled eggs; chop fine and season with parsley, thyme, pepper, salt and a very little sage. Mix together well, rub the inside of the pig with a little pepper and salt, and fill with the dressing, sewing up securely. Bend the forelegs under the body, the hindlegs forward, under the pig, and skewer to keep in place. Put the pig in a baking pan and pour over it a quart of hot water. Rub the pig all over with butter, then sprinkle with salt and pepper, putting in the pan a bouquet of herbs and a piece of butter; turn a pan over the pig and let it cook slowly until done. Remove the pan, rub with butter and baste often. When nicely browned, sift over the pig powdered cracker; place the pig kneeling in a large dish, garnished thickly with curled parsley. Place in its mouth an orange. If eaten hot, serve with gravy, but makes a better dish eaten cold, with grated horseradish.
This is a whole suckling pig from slaughter onward; nearly everything before the stuffing is butchery you can now skip by ordering a dressed pig. What remains is a straightforward slow roast whose one real difficulty is skin.
- Start with a dressed pigOrder a scalded, dehaired, eviscerated suckling pig from a butcher or a Latin or Chinese market, usually 12-20 lb. The scalding-and-scraping passage describes work usually done with water around 145-150F and a great deal of space, and it is not something to attempt in a kitchen.
- Size and yieldSix or seven weeks probably puts the animal somewhere around 15-25 lb dressed, enough for ten to fourteen. Measure your oven before you order: a pig this size with legs tucked will still want a pan of roughly two feet.
- HasletsThe haslets are the heart, liver and lungs. Lungs cannot legally be sold for food in the United States, so build the stuffing from the liver and heart alone, or from liver plus a little ground pork.
- "Cook slowly until done"Read this as 300-325F for about 15 to 20 minutes per pound, until the thickest part of the shoulder reads 160F. The inverted pan is a lid; a foil tent does the same job of trapping steam for the first two-thirds of the roast.
- The hinge: skinEverything depends on getting the skin dry and crisp after the covered stage. Uncover, wipe off condensation, then butter and baste as directed; a final 15 to 20 minutes at 425F finishes it. Shield the ears, snout and tail with foil early, as they scorch long before the shoulders are done.
- Powdered crackerFinely crushed plain soda or water crackers, sifted over the browned skin as a coating. It browns quickly and can be skipped if you want bare crackling.
- The water in the panThe quart of hot water keeps drippings from burning during the long covered roast. Check it once an hour and top up; if it dries out the fond will scorch and the gravy will be bitter.
- Resting and servingRest the pig 30 minutes before moving it, and move it on a board or two spatulas, not by the legs. The suggestion to serve it cold with grated horseradish is sound and makes carving far easier.
Roasting a whole suckling pig is an old set piece in European cookery, and by the time this book appeared it had become largely a display dish for Christmas, weddings and civic dinners rather than everyday food: the point was the intact animal carried to the table kneeling, garnished with parsley, with fruit in its mouth. Recipes of this era often begin at the moment of slaughter, because many rural households still killed and dressed their own pig, and the instructions about cold water, quick scalding, hanging and keeping the carcass cool overnight are practical butchery rather than flourish. The stuffing built from the liver and haslets bound with crumbs and hard-boiled egg belongs to the same economy, using the offal that had to be dealt with at once. The orange rather than the more familiar apple is a small period touch, and the note that the pig makes a better dish cold with horseradish suggests such a roast often served a buffet or a second day's table.