Roast Suckling Pig

January 14, 2019  •  Meat & Poultry

This is not something you are going to make all the time, or even very often, mostly because it’s tough to get a suckling pig to roast. I was lucky enough that a Colorado rancher had two little piggies he couldn’t raise over the winter and asked if I wanted one for Christmas dinner. How would I ever say no to that?!The hardest part about roasting the pig – besides finding one – is figuring out how to fit it in your oven. Mine was just about 20 pounds, which is about as small as they come, and yet he didn’t fully fit into the roasting pan as you can see. I seasoned the pig inside and out with salt and pepper, then stuffed the cavity with some aromatics (parsley, sage, rosemary, garlic). I let his head hang over the edge and put a pan underneath to catch the drippings. Then it’s easy peasy – roast low and slow at 300 degrees until the internal temp reaches about 160 degrees (about 4 hours for this guy) and then crank the heat to 450 or 500 degrees for 20-30 minutes to make sure the skin is nice and crispy.We chose to put the whole pig on a cutting board at our table and let people go at it. In hindsight, I think it would have been easier to cut the pig into large chunks and serve them on a platter – and possibly less intimidating for folks that don’t want to look him in the eye while they are eating him. This pig fed 7 adults for dinner, plus I had about 8 cups of shredded pork left over to use in my green chile posole for New Year’s Eve. The bones went into a large pot with onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, and bay leaves and simmered for hours to make a rich pork stock that I can use for ramen or other dishes. Thanks to SkyPilot Farm for the pig!

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