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Suckling Pig, Apple Sauce
Place in a large roasting pan half a very small suckling pig. Dredge one tablespoon salt and one teaspoon white pepper over it; spread three tablespoons melted lard over the surface, pour one gill cold water into the pan. Set in the oven to roast for one hour and fifteen minutes, turning it over once in a while and basting it with its own gravy quite frequently. Remove from the oven. Dress on a large hot dish, decorate with a little watercress and send to the table with an apple sauce separately.
A plain roast that assumes a butcher who will sell you half a milk-fed pig and an oven you know by feel. Two things the original leaves out: the temperature and any doneness test.
- Oven temperatureThe book gives none. A roast of this kind belongs at 350F for most of its time, with the last 15-20 minutes at 425-450F to blister and crisp the skin. If the skin colours too early, tent it with foil.
- A gillHalf a cup. It is there to keep the drippings from scorching, not to steam the meat; top it up with a spoonful or two of water if the pan runs dry.
- What "a very small suckling pig" meansSuckling pigs are generally sold somewhere between about 10 and 20 lb whole, so half a small one is likely to be in the region of 5 lb of bone-in shoulder-and-loin. Order it split lengthwise, skin on, well ahead.
- Timing and donenessAn hour and a quarter may serve for a thin split side but will be short for a heavier piece; judge by a thermometer in the thickest part of the shoulder away from bone: 145F for pink loin, closer to 160-165F for shoulder that pulls cleanly. Skin crisps best if the surface is dried uncovered in the refrigerator overnight before the lard goes on.
- LardThree tablespoons melted lard is a rub, not a fat for frying. Unsalted butter or a neutral oil works; lard gives the driest, crackliest skin.
- SaltA full tablespoon over a 5-7 lb piece is reasonable seasoning, not a cure. Apply it with the fat and rub into the scored skin.
- Basting and turningTurning "once in a while" is awkward with a split pig and works against crisp skin. Roast skin side up throughout and baste the exposed meat and cut edges instead.
- The apple sauceNot given here. Tart cooking apples, a little water, sugar to taste, cooked down and served warm or cool alongside; the point is acid against the fat.
- Yield and restingServes 6-8. Rest the roast 15-20 minutes before carving, and carve the crackling off in strips first so it stays crisp.
Whole or split suckling pig was the standard festive centrepiece across Europe long before it became a restaurant showpiece, and it appears in a book like this one as a set piece: the pig dressed on a large hot dish, watercress at the edge, sauce sent separately in its own boat. The pairing with apple sauce is northern European and English in habit, the sharp fruit cutting rich fat, the same logic that puts apple with goose and gooseberry with mackerel. The instruction to cook only half a pig is a practical note.