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A Sucking Pig

A whole pig roasted on a spit after brining and stuffing with bread crumbs, sage, butter, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

A Sucking Pig

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Brine the pig in a mixture of water and salt for 2 days, changing the brine occasionally.

  2. Soak the pig in cold water for 2–3 hours before use, then dry it thoroughly.

  3. Stuff the pig with bread crumbs, sage, butter, salt, and pepper.

  4. Truss the pig securely.

Roast

  1. Place the pig on a spit over a strong fire, keeping it at a moderate distance.

  2. Rub the pig with butter tied in cloth while roasting.

  3. Catch the dripping gravy in basins.

  4. Hang a large flat iron in the center of the grate to ensure even cooking.

  5. When the pig is amber brown and steaming, wipe it dry.

  6. Rub the pig with cold butter.

Serve

  1. Remove the spit.

  2. Split the body in two.

  3. When ready, place the pig on a hot 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. Bread + sagetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

  5. Sage + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,312 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Pig inner fat
Provides fat that bastes the meat and keeps it moist during roasting.
Salt
Seasons the meat and, in the brine, helps it hold moisture as it cooks.
Bread-crumbs
Soak up juices and fat in the stuffing, keeping it moist and tender.
Butter
Adds fat that browns the skin and enriches the meat's flavour.
Sage
Adds a herbal, aromatic flavour that suits the rich pork.

The step that matters

Wiping and rubbing the pig when amber brown. Browning comes from surface sugars and proteins reacting under dry heat. Drying the skin before rubbing in butter helps it crisp rather than steam, so timing this step matters.

Swap the sage

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

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Sagethe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

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