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Roast Pig

A whole pig roasted with a breadcrumb and herb dressing, baked until the skin is crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and sage match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,485 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Roast Pig

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mix bread crumbs, salt, melted butter, pepper, parsley, thyme, sage, egg yolks, sherry wine, and lemon juice to make a dressing.

  2. Season the inside of the pig with salt and pepper.

  3. Fill the pig with the dressing.

  4. Bend the pig's legs under so it kneels.

  5. Place the pig in a pan lined with greased paper.

  6. Rub the pig's surface with melted butter.

  7. Dredge the pig with flour to prevent cracking.

Roast

  1. Add hot water and some butter to the pan.

  2. Place the pan in a 350°F (175°C) oven.

  3. Baste the pig with hot water and butter every 10 minutes until the skin is brown.

  4. Stop basting the pig.

  5. Rub the pig's surface with a cloth dipped in melted butter frequently to keep the skin crisp.

  6. Cook the pig for 3 to 4 hours if it is a month-old pig, or 6 to 8 hours if it is a three-month-old pig.

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. Thyme + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Fine bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the dressing, absorbing the butter and liquids to give the stuffing body.
Egg yolks
Bind the dressing together and add richness as they set during roasting.
Melted butter
Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the skin brown and crisp.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the dressing.

The step that matters

Stop basting the pig. Frequent basting with hot water and butter browns and softens the skin, but once the skin is brown, further wetting keeps it from crisping. Stopping at the right moment lets the surface dry and crisp, while a cloth dipped in butter keeps it from drying out too far.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper, parsley, thyme, egg, sherry):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Sagethe original
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Winter savoryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper, parsley, thyme, egg, sherry. 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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