The flavour and succulence you experience from outdoor reared pigs seems intensified in the younger meat, with added tenderness. We believe you’ll never have tasted such delicate, crisp crackling. Guaranteed to wow!

Ingredients

This recipe is based on an 8-10kg Suckling Pig.

• 1 x Suckling Pig
• 4 heads of garlic, separated into cloves and peel
• 4 Shallots, peeled and halved
• 4 dried red peppers
• 8 sprig thyme
• 8 bay leaves
• 4 lemons, sliced
• olive oil

For the Olive Mash

• 4kg King Edward Potatoes
• 800ml single cream
• 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 650g unsalted butter
• 175ml extra virgin olive oil

For the spinach, pine nuts and raisins

• 70g rasins
• 7tbsp sherry vinegar
• 7tbsp olive oil
• 100g pine kernels
• 5-6 small shallots, peeled and finely diced
• 3 1/2 kg spinach leaves, washed and well drained

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C/gas mark 4.Step three- Lift up the pig and scatter the garlic, shallots, dried peppers, thyme, bay leaves and lemon slices underneath it. Rub the skin all over with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

Lay the pig, belly down on a large board with the legs layed out to the sides.
Push down hard on the backbone to open up the rib cage and flatten it down on the board. If the pig is too big to fit in one large roasting tin (we usually find it is), cut it in 2 across the middle, using a sharp heavy knife. You can ask your butcher to do this first if you plan ahead.

Put the head and shoulder end in one roasting pan and the leg and tail end in another. Pat the meat dry with kitchen paper.

Put the roasting tins in the oven and roast for 1 hour. Swap the roasting tins around (to ensure even cooking) and cook for another hour. Swap the roasting tins again and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Now check to see if the skin is wonderfully crisp and deep brown. If so, transfer to warm platters and set aside to rest in a warm place until ready to carve. If not, return the pig to the oven for 20-30 minutes.

For the olive oil mash: cut the potatoes into even-sized pieces, boil in salted water until tender and drain. Slowly heat the cream in another pan, removing it from the heat just before it comes to the boil.

Crush the boiled potatoes through a potato ricer or a mouli-legumes into a warm, large mixing bowl and add the garlic and hot cream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add the butter and continue stirring, then add the olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

For the spinach, pine nuts and raisins: put the raisins into a small dish, add 5 tsp sherry vinegar and set aside to soak for 10 minutes.

Heat a large, heavy based frying pan over a medium heat add the olive oil and heat until smoking, fry the pine nuts, shallots and raisins for 2 minutes. Add the spinach leaves, immediately remove from the heat and stir for 15 seconds – just so the spinach wilts a tiny bit.

Tip into a warm bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste, drizzle with the remaining sherry vinegar and serve.

To carve the pig, firstly remove the legs and shoulder and carve the meat from them, taking care that each slice of meat has a portion of crisp skin attached. Next, carve the meat from the saddle and the ribs, again keeping the skin attached to the meat. If you are squeamish about the other bits, sprinkle what you have carved with plenty of salt and serve at once.

The post Suckling Piglet appeared first on Taste Tradition.

Porchetta is a speciality from the Umbrian region of Italy. It is a whole suckling pig boned, rolled and stuffed with fresh herbs and a little garlic. Porchetta is a unique product and makes an excellent centrepiece.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 3kg Unstuffed Porchetta
• Salt & Pepper

For the stuffing

• 2 onions, peeled and finely diced
• Olive oil
• 200g chicken livers, cleaned and chopped
• 200g pork mince
• 75g pine nuts
• 100g raisins
• ½ bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked and chopped
• ½ bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
• 1 glass red wine, plus a bit extra for the stuffing
• 8 carrots

Method

Preheat your oven to 200C. Lay the porchetta on a board, skin-side down, and season well with salt and pepper. Massage this seasoning all over the meat.

Put a large pan on a medium heat and fry your diced onion with the olive oil for about 10 minutes and when it’s softened but not coloured, turn the heat down to low and add the chopped chicken livers and pork mince. Use a wooden spoon to break the mince up and mix everything together. Add the pine nuts, raisins, chopped sage and parsley, then season with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour in the red wine, give everything a good stir then take your pan off the heat. You don’t want to cook the meat now, you just want to get a good mix of flavours going so you have a delicious stuffing.

Put the stuffing in a bowl and put it to one side to cool down. Once your stuffing has completely cooled, spoon all of it down the middle of the opened shoulder. Roll the meat up quite tightly then tie it up as tightly as you can with 4 or 5 pieces of string. Drizzle all over with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and rub the seasoning all over the skin to help it turn into delicious crackling. Lay your carrots across the middle of the roasting tray and put the meat on top. Pour your glass of red or mulled wine and a glass of water in the bottom of the tray then put your meat in the oven.

The post Stuffed Porchetta appeared first on Taste Tradition.