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Sucking Pig, Baked

A roasted suckling pig wrapped in buttered kitchen paper, seasoned with herbs, and served with gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and thyme 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 ↓

Sucking Pig, Baked

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the pig for roasting and wrap it in kitchen paper soaked in butter or salad oil.

  2. For stuffing, mince the heart and liver, mix with bread crumbs, egg, butter, salt, pepper, and herbs.

  3. Fill the pig with the stuffing mixture and sew the pig closed.

  4. Place the pig on a meat stand in a baking tin with legs bent under the breast.

Roast and serve

  1. Moderate the heat and baste frequently to keep the paper from drying out.

  2. Before serving, remove the paper and let the pig crisp before the fire.

  3. Optionally, rub cream or buttermilk over the pig ten minutes before serving.

  4. Bake the pig.

  5. Serve the pig with gravy made in the pan.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,485 recipes

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

  2. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Sage + basiltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together223 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 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

Sucking pig
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole so its meat stays moist inside.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and bind the stuffing so it holds together while roasting.
Egg
Binds the stuffing mixture, helping it set as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the paper and skin brown and taste savoury.
Mild onions
Add sweetness and aroma to the stuffing as they soften.

The step that matters

Keeping the paper moist while roasting. The paper soaked in butter or oil protects the skin from drying and burning, and frequent basting keeps it moist, letting the fat carry heat so the skin can later crisp.

Swap the basil

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Basilthe original

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