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Roast Pig

A whole pig roasted on a spit with a breadcrumb and spice dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 887 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Roast Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the pig by cutting off the feet, cleaning the head and ears, and removing the tongue and eyes.

  2. Wash the pig thoroughly and dry it.

Stuff and season

  1. Make a dressing by mixing bread crumbs, chopped onion, salt, pepper, sage, and enough butter to bind the mixture.

  2. Rub the inside of the pig with salt, cayenne pepper, and sage.

  3. Fill the pig with the dressing.

  4. Sew the pig up.

  5. Rub the outside of the pig with salt, cayenne pepper, and sage.

Roast

  1. Place the pig on a spit before a clear fire, ensuring it is not too hot.

  2. Moisten the skin with melted butter using a sponge tied to a stick as it dries.

  3. Roast the pig for 3 to 4 hours.

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. Sage + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  4. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  5. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Pig
Main meat that becomes tender and juicy during slow roasting.
Bread crumbs
Soak up juices and give the dressing a moist, binding texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the skin brown as it is brushed on.
Onion
Adds aroma and moisture to the dressing as it cooks inside the pig.
Sage
Adds a savoury, herbal aroma to the dressing and the outside of the pig.

The step that matters

Keep the fire clear and not too hot. High heat chars the outside of the skin before the thick meat and stuffing cook through. Gentle, steady heat over the 3 to 4 hours lets the pig cook evenly and stay juicy.

“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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