FoodNetArchive

Cassell's dictionary of cookery

1892

Page 1178 · 2 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
(see Potato Stuffing for Goose and Sucking Pig). Pig, Sucking, Boast.— Wipe the pig thoroughly, stuff it, and sew up the slit securely with soft cotton. Truss it like a hare, with the fore-legs skewered back and the hind-legs drawn forward. Rub it over with clarified butter, or fresh salad-oil, and put it down, not too near, before a clear brisk fire. Baste con- stantly, or the crackling will be blistered and burnt, instead of crisp and brown. As the middle part requires less roasting than the ends, it is usual, when the pig is half done, to hang a flat iron from the spit in such a position that it will shade the heat of the fire from the middle. It is well to tie some butter in a piece of muslin, and rah the pig over with this two or three times whilst it is roasting. When it is done enough, cut oS the head before the pig is taken from the fire, take out the brains, and chop them up quickly with the stuffing ; add the gravy which has dropped from the pig, and, when it can be obtained, a cupful of good veal or beef gravy, together with a little cayenne, lemon-juice, and grated nutmeg. To dish it, cut the pig open, and lay the sides back to back, lengthwise, upon the dish, -wdth one half of the head at each end and the ears at the sides. If preferred, the brains may be stirred into melted butter instead of gravy. Rich brown sauce, tomato, poivrade, piquant, proven^ale, bread, apple, and the old-fashioned currant sauce, are all served with sucking-pig. Time to roast, according to size : a three weeks' old pig, two hours. Probable cost, 6s. to 12s. Suffi- cient, a three weeks' old pig for eight or nine persons. Pig, Sucking, Roast (Dr. Kitchener's recipe) . — A sucking-pig is in prime order for the spit when about three weeks old. It loses pai-t of its goodness every hour after it is killed ; if not quite fresh, no art can make the crackling- crisp. To be in perfection, it should be killed in the morning to be eaten at dinner; it requires very careful roasting. A sucking-pigGalantine of Sucking Pig, like a young child, must not be left for an instant. The ends must have much more fire than the middle ; for this purpose is contrived an ir«n to hang before the middle part, called a pig iron. If you have not this, use a common flat-iron, or keep the fire fiercest at the two ends. For the stuffing, take of the crumb of a stale loaf about five ounces ; rub it through a colander ; mince fine a handful of sage {i.e. about two ounces), and a large onion (about an ounce and a half) ; mix these together with an egg, some pepper and salt, and a bit of butter as big as an egg ; fill the beUy