Roast suckling pig
A piglet of about three weeks roasted in a wood-fired oven until the skin crackles. In Segovia it’s cut with the edge of a plate to show how tender it is.
Ingredients
- 1/2 suckling pig (about 2.5 kg), butterflied
- 100 g lard
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 head of garlic
- Water
- Coarse salt
How to make it at home
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Salt the meat side of the piglet and rub it with lard.
- Place it skin side down in an earthenware dish with a glass of water, the bay leaves and the garlic. Roast for 1½ hours.
- Turn it over, prick the skin in several places with a cocktail stick so it doesn’t puff up and rub it with lard.
- Turn the oven up to 210 °C and roast for another hour, basting with its juices, until the skin is golden and crisp.
- Serve with its juices and a lettuce salad.
The trick: Don’t baste the skin in the last half hour: that way it turns glassy.