Suckling Pig Image Used Under Creative Commons License From innatthecrossroads.com
Citizens, TFD is attending a secret conclave of the world’s true leadership Cabal here in Stuttgart, Germany, and has been asked to prepare a feast worthy of the powerful attendees gracing the table this evening.
What better and more appropriate dish could I, the almighty Food Dictator, serve than an entire roast suckling pig, prepared in true Bavarian style?
This is a version that any home cook can prepare – no rotisserie or fire pit needed! Just a good oven, a large pan, a piglet of suitably noble provenance and breeding and you’re off!
Presented in honor of the organizer of this weekend meeting, my friend Sebastian who is himself a master of this style of cooking! Herr Sebastian, my brother, this one is for you! 🙂
Roast sucking-pig is known in German, Austrian and German-Swiss cuisines as gebratenes Spanferkel. It is often served at festive occasions such as the Oktoberfest. Rheinisches Spanferkel (Rhine sucking-pig) is roast, basted with beer, and served with a stuffing of butter, veal, bacon, liver, bread, onions, eggs, and herbs, flavored with nutmeg and Madeira – a recipe I hope to add someday to my repertoire!
Bavarian cuisine (Bavarian: Boarische Kuche; German: Bayerische Küche) is a style of cooking from Bavaria, Germany. More than 285 typical Bavarian products have been recorded in the Bavarian specialities database ‘GenussBayern’ since the 1990s. Recipes and museums can also be found there. With a total of 54 specialities protected under European law, Bavaria is the No. 1 speciality region in Germany.
Bavarian products such as ‘Bavarian beer’, ‘Nuremberg bratwurst’, ‘Allgäu mountain cheese’ and ‘Schrobenhausen asparagus’ are just as much a part of the official EU list ‘eAmbrosia’ of prestigious regional culinary specialities as the protected names “Champagne” and ‘Prosciutto di Parma’. Bavarian specialities, which are protected as geographical indications, are deeply rooted in their region of origin, important anchors of local identity and also tourist flagships – they are therefore at the heart of Bavarian cuisine.
Restaurants that carry the ‘Ausgezeichnete GenussKüche’ award (recognizable by a sign near the door) are known by locals for their certified, authentic Bavarian cuisine.
The Bavarian dukes, especially the Wittelsbach family, developed Bavarian cuisine and refined it to be presentable to the royal court. This cuisine has belonged to wealthy households, especially in cities, since the 19th century. The (old) Bavarian cuisine is closely connected to Czech cuisine and Austrian cuisine (especially from Tyrol and Salzburg), mainly through the families Wittelsbach and Habsburg. Already in the beginning, Bavarians were closely connected to their neighbors in Austria through linguistic, cultural and political similarities, which is also reflects in the cuisine.
Cooking traditions of Bavarian cuisine date back to medieval times, where people brought different cuisines to Bavaria along with their conquerors, including Charlemagne.
Beer was known to have been brewed since the Bronze Age. The ancient Germans were probably the first Europeans to have brewed beer. According to the Reinheitsgebot of 1516, introduced by Wilhelm IV, Duke of Bavaria, the only ingredients used to make beer included barley, hops and water, and including yeast. An earthenware amphora, discovered in a Celtic chieftain’s burial mound in Kasendorf dates back to 800 BCE and considers to be the oldest evidence of beer-making in Europe. Bavarian beer is nowadays a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI).
Nürnberger Bratwurst PGI (Nürnberger Bratwurst) was first mentioned in a document in 1313 when the council of Nuremberg described the recipe as a special product. There is rumor which has it that noodles were brought to Bavaria by Marco Polo, after returning from his journey in China while the Romans were gone. The Napoleonic Wars marked the time with the occupation of Bavaria, the French influenced everything in their own way of life, mainly Haute cuisine.
Rub the inside of pig with ½ the mixture of the salt, marjoram and caraway seeds. Add herbs into cavity, then stuff the cavity with crumpled aluminium foil to prevent the meat from collapsing during coking.
Place the front legs forward with the feet under the head, position the rear legs and tie with string.
Rub the outside skin of the pig with the remaining seasonings, then cover the ears and tail with foil to prevent burning.
Prop the mouth open with a stick or raw potato so that you can stuff it with an apple later.
Pierce the skin all over with a fork so that the fat will drain off. Lay pig on a rack in an open roasting pan and pour in just enough stock to cover the bottom of the pan.
Begin by searing the piglet in a very hot oven, then roast in a moderate oven as follows: preheat oven to 220°C/425 fahrenheit, put piglet in oven for 20 min and then reduce heat to 180°C/350 fahrenheit.
To keep the pig well-basted as it cooks, brush it with butter and bacon fat mixture every 15 min.
Add more stock as needed and pierce the skin with a fork at each basting.
Alternatively start in an oven pre-heated to 180°C for a moister pig with a less crispy skin. Allow 30–35 min per kg of cooking time; by the end the meat should be white with no pink juices but not dried out.
If the meat browns too quickly cover with foil except when basting. For the last half hour, remove the foil from the ears and tail. Towards the end baste frequently with beer for a browned crispy skin.
Pour off pan juices, make a gravy in a hot pan by combining pan juices, roux and optional sour cream.
To serve, cut the trussing away from the legs and place the pig on a large platter. Remove the wood block or potato in the pig’s mouth and replace with an apple. You can further garnish by cutting a circle around the neck and covering it with a wreath of leaves or [at Christmas] holly.
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That roasted suckling pig looks AMAZING!