How to Cook Suckling Pig British Style

Serves: 10

Preparation time: overnight

Cooking time: 5 hours

Ingredients needed to make Suckling Pig British Style:

• 1 suckling pig, weighing around 7 kg
• 1 clementine
• Few celery stalks, trimmed and chopped into small dices
• 3 red onions, peeled and quartered
• 3 carrots, scrubbed and chopped into chunks
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 recipe English Christmas rub(recipe below)
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 200 ml red wine
• 340 gm marmalade
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the British Christmas rub:

• 1 lemon, peeled
• 1 orange, peeled
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves picked
• 4 fresh bay leaves
• 2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 nutmeg
• One 1’’ cinnamon stick
• 4 allspice berries
• 8 tbsp sea salt
• Salt to taste

Cooking instructions for Suckling Pig British Style:

• To make the rub, toss the allspice berries, bay leaves, fennel seeds and cinnamon stick into a mortar and sprinkle a pinch of salt into it.
• Bash them for several minutes, until they grind into a powder, with few chunks of whole spices.
• Throw in the fresh herb leaves and pound further, along with rest of the measured salt until they form a smooth paste.
• Grate the nutmeg into it and stir it into the rub.
• Make 1 cm deep cut around the neck of the suckling pig, using a sharp knife and slash all over the pig, spaced 2 cm apart and deep enough to cut through the fat only.
• Rub the prepared paste all over the pig and set aside in the fridge overnight to marinate.
• Next day, warm up your oven to the maximum temperature setting and insert a clementine within its mouth.
• Wrap the ears and tail with two layers of aluminum foil and place it into a roasting pan.
• Lower the temperature of the hot oven to 350 degrees F and roast the pig for 4 ½ hours.
• Scatter the veggies around the pig, after 1 ½ hours of cooking time is over and continue to roast for rest of the specified cooking time.
• Brush the marmalade all over the surface of the pig and season with ground black pepper generously, about 10 minutes before the cooking time gets over.
• Pop it back into the oven and complete the roasting.
• Set aside to until cool enough to handle and transfer it onto a chopping board.
• Wrap it up loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil and set aside while you cook the gravy.
• To make the gravy, skim off most of the fat from the pan drippings and tip rest of its contents into a saucepan.
• Cook it over moderately high heat and whisk in 2 tbsp flour until they blend together to form a smooth sauce.
• Cook the sauce for a  couple of minutes and mash up the veggies, using a potato masher.
• Add a splash of red wine, followed by a good lug of chicken stock and give it a nice stir to mix well.
• Bring the gravy to a simmer and continue to cook likewise until it thickens considerably.
• Tip it into a fine mesh sieve to strain into a serving bowl.
• Chop the pork meat into fine shreds and serve alongside a bowl of hot gravy.

 Image credit: Wikimedia Commons