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Galantine of Sucking Pig

A galantine made from a young pig, forcemeat, truffles, ham, tongue, and seasonings, simmered in broth and served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Galantine of Sucking Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Bone the young pig or have the butcher do it.

  2. Lay the pig flat on a table, back down, and spread alternate layers of forcemeat, truffles, ham, and tongue.

  3. Season each layer with salt and pepper, then roll the pig tightly and bind it with tape.

  4. Attach a few slices of fat bacon to the outside for added succulence.

Simmer and serve

  1. Wrap the pig in a pudding cloth and simmer gently in veal broth with the pig bones, carrot, mace, peppercorns, and sweet herbs.

  2. Cook for about 3 hours until sufficiently tender.

  3. Let it cool in its own broth, then press it under a weight and serve cold.

  4. Garnish with aspic jelly made from the cooking liquid.

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. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Truffle + vealtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together815 recipes

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

  3. Truffle + hamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together516 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Carrot + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,592 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Veal + carrottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Forcemeat
Forms the moist, savoury filling that binds the layers together as it sets.
Truffles
Adds a rich, earthy aroma to the filling.
Lean ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour and a firm texture to the layers.
Tongue
Adds richness and a tender, meaty texture to the filling.
Fat bacon slices
Adds fat that keeps the outside moist and succulent during simmering.
Veal broth
Gently cooks the pig and gives the meat flavour and gelatin for the aspic.

The step that matters

Simmering gently. Holding the liquid at a gentle simmer cooks the meat evenly and makes it tender without breaking the pig apart or making the meat tough and dry. A hard boil can toughen proteins and loosen the roll.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (truffle, ham, pepper, veal, carrot):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against truffle, ham, pepper, veal, carrot. 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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