Every year, when I went back to the UK for Christmas, I would buy a frozen Cochinillo, what you might know as a Suckling Pig, from one of the better stores and pack it in my carry-on suitcase. It came vacuum sealed. All curled up it looked rather sweet and cosy.
At Spanish airport security I’d dash through to try and catch my little chum in the case on the x-ray scanner. I was rather hoping that it would look like a small child. I never did see him but nobody stopped me. Why would they? A man taking a pig home to his family is perfectly natural here in Catalonia.
And perfect for Christmas it is too. Does anyone really like a dry old bird like turkey; there is a good reason they are served but once a year. Just the sight of a whole golden roasted pig brought to the table aloft brings sleigh-bells a-ringing.
What size to buy involves a bit of guesswork. It needs to fit in your oven but you want enough to feed the table, Luckily the meat is so rich then you don’t necessarily need much for each guest but you can guarantee that there won’t be any left. Simply put, get the biggest that you can wedge in your oven. If it is a small one (about 50 l) then 4/5 kg, for a huge oven (90 l) a beast of 8/9 kg should feed a large gathering. If you can only fit a baby then jam a load of sausage stuffing surrounding a pork loin inside and sew it up with butcher’s string.
As grand as it looks it really is quite difficult to cock up cooking a cochinillo. It is barely worth a recipe but try this.
Allow your little feller to warm up out of the fridge then generously grease him all over with butter or lard and rub in coarse salt. If you are going to stuff it then now is the time. I won’t give a recipe here as everyone has grandma’s own, but make it sweet and boozy by including rum soaked apricots and raisins.
Tightly wrap the tail, ears and snout in tin foil. Stick a tangerine in his mouth.
Lay him out in an oven dish, longways or on his side. If he’s a really big bugger then you’ll just have to cram him in the oven alone and put a dripping tray below. Turn the oven to about 140°C and go to the pub for a few pints.
Give it about 4 hours, you can’t really bugger it up, then pull all the tin foil off the ears etc and crank up the volume to 250°C for half-an-hour to really crisp up the skin. If you have a temperature probe it should be about 72°C deep in the front shoulder.
Take the boy out and lay him on a large serving dish or a wooden board. Trying not to break up the meat, gently remove the stuffing and set aside. At this stage grab at least one of the ears for yourself: Chef’s treat!
Let him rest for 5/10 minutes then ceremonially march him to the table. It is said that, if done right, you can cut it up with a plate. Personally I prefer either a hefty cleaver to portion it out or just let everyone roll up their sleeves and start ripping at the beast with their hands like vultures at a carcass.
Bones Festes