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To Roast a Sucking Pig

A method for roasting a suckling pig with a bread and herb stuffing, finished with a crisp egg‑white coating.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Roast a Sucking Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pig

  1. Kill the pig by sticking it above the breast bone into the heart.

  2. Plunge the pig into cold water for 1–2 minutes.

  3. Rub the pig with finely beaten resin or its blood.

  4. Dip the pig into scalding water.

  5. Rub off all the hair quickly.

  6. Wash the pig in warm water, then in cold water, and wash the pig well in cold water.

  7. Cut off the feet at the first joint.

  8. Remove the entrails.

  9. Dry the pig thoroughly.

Stuff and sew

  1. Make stuffing with grated bread, butter, minced onion, minced sage, pepper, and salt.

  2. Stuff the pig.

  3. Sew the pig up.

  4. Brush the pig with beaten egg white.

  5. Do not flour the pig.

  6. Ensure the pig is well covered with egg white for crispiness.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the pig before a very hot fire.

  2. Place a basin underneath to catch the gravy.

  3. Roast for 1–2 hours until done.

  4. Skewer the legs back to ensure the under part is crisp.

  5. Cut off the head.

  6. Split the body down the middle.

  7. Mix chopped brains with minced boiled sage and melted butter, adding the collected gravy.

  8. Place the shoulder next to the hind quarter.

  9. Serve the pig on a dish.

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 + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Onion + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg white
Forms a glossy coating that helps the skin brown and crisp in the oven.
Grated bread
Bulks out the stuffing and absorbs butter and juices, keeping the filling moist.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the stuffing and the brain sauce, carrying flavour and moisture.
Sage leaves
Adds a savoury, aromatic herbal flavour to the stuffing and the brain sauce.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma to the stuffing as it softens and flavours the filling.

The step that matters

Brush the pig with beaten egg white and cover it well. Egg white forms a thin protein coating that dries and browns in the heat, giving the crisp skin the dish depends on. Gaps left uncovered will roast pale and tough.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, pepper, bread, butter, egg. 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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