Julia Child's Roast Suckling Pig + An Autumn Dinner Party

I love the ritual of traditions. In some ways its a very romanticized ideal for me. There is something so sacred about pausing time to come together at regular intervals to celebrate with ones we love. In many ways this is becoming a thing of the past as the value of tradition has become lost because we are just "too busy." When Ian and I married I knew I wanted our family to have traditions that were fun, meaningful and joyous. The thing is though, that you can't just force a tradition into existence, they just kind of form on their own in an unspoken sort of way. Our first tradition as our own little family was born during the week of our first Thanksgiving together.
Ian had to work and was mentioning how he was sad to miss Thanksgiving meal. As a surprise, I cooked us a Thanksgiving dinner the day before so we could still celebrate together, and have leftovers of our very own. We had Cornish game hens and all the classic staples you would expect to see. Since then we made it a tradition to have our own Thanksgiving dinner together. Rather than cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal each time, we pick a "theme" and each meal centers around that. It's a fun exercise for me to stretch myself as a cook as I learn new techniques and cuisine. In 2016 I made duck a l'orange for our French themed Thanksgiving. This past year Ian requested we roast a suckling pig. My first thought was "There is no way I could do that. Also, where on Earth does one acquire a whole pig?!"

We talked about it more and I started doing some research, in which I discovered it is actually possible to not only acquire a suckling pig, but also roast one in a conventional oven. I called our local specialty butcher who told me that I needed to place an order at least a month in advance, and that they cost around $100 each. When ordering the pig you ideally want something between 10-20 pounds, which will serve 6-12 people, depending on the size. I made sure to request that the the pig arrive on Friday so that they could properly thaw it for my pickup on Wednesday (you can opt to thaw out the pig yourself, but I did not want that happening in my fridge).  I read four or five recipes online from food blogs which gave me good direction, but all had mixed reviews. I decided to do a search to see if the queen of all things, Julia Child, had a sucking pig recipe. Sure enough she did! However, it was featured on her TV show, and not anywhere else. I watched it on YouTube twice, and wrote it out completely at the bottom of this post so scroll all the way down to find the juicy details. 

After months of planning (and making trips to what seemed like every grocery store within a five mile radius), the morning of the party finally came. I ventured out at 7:30 a.m. to pick up my pig from the butcher. Harmony Farms is a local specialty meat store that sells great quality meats, and where you can order just about anything under the sun. The head butcher is so friendly, I just had to snap a picture of him with he brought the pig out.

I brought it home and dove right in to food and party prep. Roasting a suckling pig takes a lot of prep, but actually is quite hands off when it comes to the cooking aspect. The first step is to inspect and clean the pig. This includes removing any extra hair and rinsing the ears, nose, and yes, brushing the pigs teeth. 

After I have finished cleaning the pig, Julia recommends you soak the pig for two to three hours. This allows the skin to freshen up, as well as softening any tough parts, like the ears. Fill a tub with water and add 1/4 cup vinegar and two tablespoons of salt per gallon of water. I let the pig soak and then rinsed and dried him thoroughly. From there I decided to fully prep and stuff the pig, so that he could be ready to go well ahead of time. There are many options for stuffing, but I went for one of my favorite combinations - citrus, aromatic herbs, salt, pepper and allspice. The citrus adds bright flavor and acid to balance the fat in the meat, while the herbs and spices give depth of flavor to the meat. I was so pleased with how this tasted, and highly recommend it for any meat stuffing. 

Next, I trussed the pig (sealing the cavity). I was most nervous about this, as I had never trussed an animal this big. Usually people use a trussing needle, but Julia also mentioned you could use 2 inch finishing nails to hold the skin shut, and then "sew" it shut by tying it together with bakers twine. I pinched the skin together and pierced it with nails about every half inch or so. Then I crisscrossed the twine how you would tie shoes. It's hard to explain but I took a photo to hopefully help with a visual. This method held up exceptionally well, and I was pleased with how simple it was. Plus, I didn't have to worry about puncturing my hand with a needle.  

At this point the pig was complete! I put him in the fridge for a few hours. If you do prep before you want to cook, be sure to remove the pig at least an hour before you plan to start roasting. 

With the pig finished I was free to focus on making the rest of the food I had on the menu.

This year's meal was a little different, in that we had other people join us. Since we were living with Ian's parents, we were able to have both our parents join us as well as my uncle from Arizona who happened to be in town, which made it extra special. Keeping in mind this was a meal for eight, I started brainstorming a menu that would compliment the suckling pig, but also allow it to remain the center of the meal. I ended up opting for this delicious Autumn Kale Salad for the first course. I also decided to make roasted broccoli and creamy polenta to go along with the pig. For dessert, I made a homemade lemon raspberry tarte. I love the way a homemade tarte crust looks when its fresh out of the oven, too.  

The table was set, and I put the pig into be roasted at 2:30 pm. All in all It took about 3 1/2 hours to roast my 17 pound pig, which allowed me 30-40 minutes of resting time, to allow all the flavors to meld and settle while people were arriving. Everyone was at the house by 6 p.m. and we sat around the table to start eating at 6:30 pm. Like I mentioned above, I started with a salad that was preset on the table to make serving easier. 

At this point I presented the pig on the platter - to allow people to see it in all its glory, before I took it back to the kitchen to cut out the meat. Sadly, I didn't get many other pictures of our meal, because I was too busy enjoying it :). I did manage to snap some of the finished pig and lemon tarte tho :)

It was a lovely evening, and we all enjoyed the experience. It was a fun learning experience for me to conquer a new dish, but at the end of the day, we decided it's not so outstanding from regular pork to warrant making one again, although I would be much less intimidated to do so. I think I enjoyed the ornamental factor of this meal the most, and definitely think it is something everyone should do once, just for the experience of making a whole animal, and all that goes around with it.

PREPARATION: 

12 pound pig (give or take a few) - specify milk fed suckling pig 

Ask butcher to thaw it for you

Order well ahead because it may take time to acquire one

Will serve 8-10 people

remove excess hair if any is remaining on the pig

Soak the pig in a tub of cold water for 2-3 hours

1 gallon -> 1/4 c vinegar -> 2T salt

freshens up pig. softens ears

clean ears,nostrils and brush its teeth

dry thouroughly

can be stuffed with a classic turkey stuffing. but flavoring is preferred

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix the following ingredients together to make a rub for the inside cavity of the pig:

1 t salt

1/2 t thyme and sage

6-8 peppercorns

3-4 allspice berries

optional stuffing:
6 whole peppercorns
4 oranges; quartered
2 lemons: quartered
5-6 sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme
3-4 allspice berries
salt and pepper

Next, truss the pig. Use either a trussing needle and twine, or 2" finishing nails and twine to sew the cavity shut. 

Place pig in a roasting pan. Have a roasting rack on the bottom of the pan,so that the bottom of the pigs skin will crisp up as well. Place the pig in a crouching position. Legs straight forward.

Oil the pig thouroughly - all over the back and underside, as well as inside the ears and around the snout.

If you prepare the pig several hours before hand, make sure to let it get to room temperature before roasting, which will take approximately 1-2 hours. Place a tight ball of foil in the pigs mouth to prop it open. This allows you to insert the apple in the mouth when finished roasting - the traditional presentation. Tent the ears with foil so they do not burn during the roasting process. 

Preheat 450 degrees.

Place pig in oven and roast for 30 minutes. Baste one time with cooking oil after 15 minutes of roasting. Lower oven to 350 and continue to roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes

40 minutes before the end of your roasting period - begin to baste with glaze. all over. Do this every 10 minutes until pig is done.

To make glaze combine: 

1/4 c dry mustard

1/4 c soy sauce

1T Worcestershire sauce

1/3 c honey

can thin out with water (2-3T)

When pig reaches 185 degree temperature reading it is done, Remove the ear tents. Insert small apple into the mouth of the roasted pig. Let pig rest at least 30 minutes, and up to two hours. Arrange on a decorative platter and present to guests at the table. Move back to kitchen for carving

CARVING:

Place pig on a platter or a large cutting board.

Using a carving knife or electric knife - cut through the skin down the entire backbone. Next, make two square cuts to remove the front legs and shoulders. Cut around and down through the thigh to remove the back legs. The leg is attached at a ball joint like a chicken, so use a similar technique to separate the thigh and leg. Cut down the sides of the back to remove the remaining back meat. Use a carving fork to remove any remaining meat left on the pig. Carve off the cheek meat.

Arrange meat on platter and serve!

Use kitchen shears to cut off piece of the skin.

Lastly, as Julia would say, Bon Apetit !