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Austrian Roast Pig

A roast pig prepared with a savory stuffing of liver, pork fat, truffles, mushrooms, garlic, capers, hazelnuts, thyme, parsley, salt, and red pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Truffle and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,900 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Austrian Roast Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Kill the pig.

  2. Soak it in cold water for 15 minutes.

  3. Plunge it into boiling water.

  4. Scrape off the hair.

  5. Clean it thoroughly.

  6. Cut it open.

  7. Remove the entrails.

  8. Wash with clear water.

  9. Wash with soda and water.

  10. Wash with salt and water.

Make and stuff

  1. Make stuffing with the pig's liver, fat pork, truffles, mushrooms, garlic, capers, hazelnuts, thyme, parsley, salt, and red pepper. Fry the mixture.

  2. Stuff the pig with the prepared stuffing.

  3. Sew it up.

  4. Truss it.

  5. Bend the forefeet backwards.

  6. Bend the hind feet forwards, close to the body.

Roast

  1. Cut the skin of the pig in a diamond pattern.

  2. Rub it with melted butter or oil.

  3. Place the pig in a roasting pan with a little hot, slightly salted water.

  4. Roast for two hours.

  5. Baste with butter and water.

  6. Rub with oil to crisp the skin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Truffle + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Garlic + caperstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together834 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,700 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Capers + hazelnuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pig's liver
Adds rich, savoury flavour and a soft texture to the stuffing.
Fat pork
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the stuffing from drying out during roasting.
Truffles
Contributes a strong, earthy aroma to the stuffing.
Mushrooms
Add savoury depth and moisture to the stuffing.
Hazelnuts
Add crunch and a nutty flavour to the stuffing.
Melted butter or oil
Conducts heat to the skin, promoting browning and crispness.

The step that matters

Rub with oil to crisp the skin. Skin only becomes crisp when its surface is dry and fat-coated enough to brown at high heat. Scoring and oiling help, but the skin must be dried well first, since surface moisture steams the skin instead of crisping it.

Swap the hazelnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, pork, truffle, mushroom, clove, garlic, capers):

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Hazelnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, pork, truffle, mushroom, clove, garlic, capers. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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