A Pig in Pictures

Christmas was bountiful in many ways this year. We have much to be thankful for in our family. But this year's Christmas dinner will most likely be remembered by our time spent planning for, preparing, and eating this little guy:

But I'm getting ahead of myself. As I have mentioned before, the inspiration for this project came from my cousin Bill, who saw the suckling pig recipe in April Bloomfield's book A Girl and Her Pig and wanted to give it a shot. This is a very simple recipe, something that appealed to Bill because as a purist, he really wanted to be sure to focus on cooking the meat just right and teasing out the best natural flavor of the pig. Other recipes we saw called for filling the cavity of the pig with a mix of seasoned bread and certain organs (from the same pig) and then roasting it, kind of like a stuffing you might make for a Thanksgiving turkey. But April's recipe is mind-numblingly straightforward: Season with salt. Roast for 3 hours. Enjoy.

Unwrapped suckling pig after a couple days of defrosting. This 15-pound, organic pig was a special order from Erstwhile Farm near Columbus, Nebraska.

Bill rinsing the pig

Removing the eyes. This was not in the recipe but Bill heard this was a good idea. I don't think any of the dinner guests regretted it.

Bill makes slits in the skin all around the pig to allow better penetration of the salt and promote maximum crispiness of the skin during roasting. The recipe says be sure to make shallow cuts, not cutting into the flesh. 

Hanging out in the fridge for a day after salting.
Bill doesn't drink, of course. The fancy beers in the background are just for show  ;) 

45 minutes into the roasting process (350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours).

The foil on the ears, snout, and tail protects them from burning.  

Done and resting for 15 minutes before we dig in. The last half hour of cooking, we "blasted" it with heat by turning the oven up to 450 degrees. This gives the crispy factor one last little boost before serving. The ears were eaten by tasters who shall remain anonymous.

Proud parents!

Bill samples, just to be sure it's edible :)
By this time, my husband Kyle had put two olives where the eyes used to be, for aesthetics.

Bill's favorite part of the recipe is the last sentence: "Go at it with tongs." So we had several small pairs available and people used them to pick small pieces of meat and skin off the pig. It was ready before dinner, so it wound up being kind of like a fun hors d'oeurve. We highly recommend trying it if you're looking for a show-stopping conversation piece. It was all people were talking about. Bill described a perfect bite as the crispiness of the skin, the stickiness of the fat right underneath, and the sweetness of the meat and the fat together. 

Going...

going...

going...

Gone.
A ringing endorsement.

Bill used what was left to make a stock. The remaining meat he said he planned to use to make a couple of pork pies.