Why it works: Butter and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,912 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Sucking Pig, Roast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the onion forcemeat and stuff it inside the pig, closing the opening with a trussing needle and string.
Brush the pig's surface with salad oil or warmed butter, wrap it in several layers of greased paper, and tie the legs back.
Roast
Roast or bake the pig for 2 to 3 hours, basting it frequently.
One hour before serving, remove the paper and brush the pig with thick cream or salad oil to enhance color and crisp the skin.
Serve
Before serving, cut off the head and split the pig down the center of the back, placing the halves on a dish with the head divided at each end.
Serve with brown and apple sauces, and reheated hot currants.
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.
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sucking pig
- Provides the main meat; its young age gives tender meat and thin skin.
- Onion forcemeat
- Stuffing that flavours the pig from inside and keeps the cavity moist as it roasts.
- Butter or salad oil
- Fat for basting that helps the skin brown and crisp in the oven.
- Thick cream (in the method)
- Brushed on near the end to add richness and help the skin colour and crisp.
The step that matters
Removing the paper and brushing the skin before serving. Thin skin browns and crisps only when it is dry and coated with fat near the end of roasting. Brushing with cream or oil one hour before serving promotes browning and crispness, while basting throughout keeps the meat moist.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.