641. ROAST SUCKING-PIG, A L'ANGLAISE.

The modern cook · Charles Elmé Francatelli · 1846
Source
The modern cook
Time
Cook: 120 min Total: 120 min
Status
success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (19)
Stuffing
Roasting
Garnish
Sauce
Instructions (19)
  1. Prepare the pig for dressing by scalding, drawing, and cutting off the potatoes.
  2. Fill the paunch with the prepared stuffing.
  3. Sew up the paunch with twine.
  4. Spit the pig for roasting, fastening it securely with small iron skewers through the shoulders and hips.
  5. Roast the pig for about two hours, basting frequently with salad oil.
  6. When done, remove the pig from the fire.
  7. Cut the head off with a sharp knife and place it in the hot closet.
  8. Divide the pig in two by cutting down the back to the spine with a sharp knife, then use a meat-saw.
  9. Hold a large dish under the pig while dividing it, so it falls onto the dish when completely cut through.
  10. Place the two sides back to back on the dish, without disturbing the stuffing.
  11. Split the head in two.
  12. Place the brains in a small stew-pan.
  13. Trim off the snout and jaws, leaving only the cheeks and ears.
  14. Place the cheeks and ears at each end of the dish.
  15. Surround the remove with a border of small potatoes fried in clarified butter until lightly colored.
  16. Pour some rich brown gravy under the pig on the dish.
  17. Prepare the sauce: to the brains in the stew-pan, add parsley, pepper, salt, glaze, butter sauce, and lemon juice.
  18. Stir the sauce mixture well over the fire until hot.
  19. Send the sauce to the table separately in a boat to be handed around with the sucking-pig.
Original Text
641. ROAST SUCKING-PIG, A L'ANGLAISE. In selecting a sucking-pig for the table, those of about three weeks old are generally preferred, their meat being more delicate than when allowed to grow larger. Let the pig be prepared for dressing in the usual way, that is, scalded, drawn, &c.; potatoes cut off, and the paunch filled with stuffing previously prepared for the purpose as follows: chop two large onions and a dozen sage-leaves, boil them in water for two minutes, and after having drained the sage and onion on to a sieve, place it in a stew-pan with a pat of butter, pepper and salt, and set the whole to simmer gently for ten minutes on a very slow fire; then add a double handful of bread-crumbs, two pats of butter, and the yolks of two eggs; stir the whole over the fire for five minutes, and then use the stuffing as before directed. When the sucking-pig is stuffed, sew the paunch up with twine, spit the pig for roasting, carefully fastening it on the spit at each end with small iron skewers, which should be run through the shoulders and hips to secure it tightly, so that it may on no account slip round when down to roast. The pig will require about two hours to roast thoroughly, and should be frequently basted with a paste-brush dipped in salad oil. (Oil is better adapted for this purpose than either dripping or butter, giving more crispness to the skin: when basted with oil, the pig will, while roasting, acquire a more even and a finer colour.) When done, take it up from the fire on the spit, and immediately cut the head off with a sharp knife, and lay it on a plate in the hot closet. Next, cut the pig in two by dividing it first with a sharp knife straight down the back to the spine; finishing with a meat-saw. A large dish should be held under the pig while it is thus being divided, into which it may fall when completely cut through; place the two sides back to back on the dish, without disturbing the stuffing; split the head in two, put the brains in a small stew-pan, trim off the snout and jaws, leaving only the cheeks and ears, place these one at each end of the dish, surround the remove with a border of small potatoes fried of a light colour, in a little clarified butter; pour under some rich brown gravy, and send to table with the following sauce: to the brains, put into a small stew-pan as before directed, add a spoonful of blanched chopped parsley, pepper, and salt, a piece of glaze the size of a large walnut, some well-made butter sauce, and the juice of a lemon; stir the whole well together over the fire, and when quite hot, send it to table separately in a boat, to be handed round with the sucking-pig.
Notes
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