Spanish · Main · From the menu Sobremesa

Confit suckling pig, heritage potato, apple, thyme

Cochinillo confitado, papa antigua, manzana, tomillo

Suckling pig shoulder cooked seven hours in fat at a very low temperature, pressed, then blasted skin side down so the crackling shatters. The centrepiece of the Sobremesa menu.

Serves
Six
Prep
30 min
Cook
420 min
Cuisine
Spanish

Roasting a whole suckling pig in a villa kitchen is a gamble on somebody else's oven. Confit is not. The meat cooks gently in fat overnight, which is forgiving, and the only fast, risky part happens in a pan minutes before service where I can watch it.

Ingredients

  • 1 suckling pig shoulder and belly, about 2.5 kg, skin on
  • 2 tbsp coarse salt
  • 1 head garlic, halved
  • 6 sprigs thyme, 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 1.5 kg pork fat or mild olive oil, enough to submerge
  • 800 g papas antiguas
  • 3 firm apples
  • 1 tbsp cider vinegar
  • 50 g butter
  • Sea salt

Method

  1. Rub the meat with the salt and leave it in the fridge for six hours. Rinse and dry it very well.
  2. Sit it in a deep dish with the garlic, thyme, bay and peppercorns, and cover completely with melted fat or oil.
  3. Cook at 120C for six and a half to seven hours. It is done when the bones lift out clean with no pull.
  4. Lift it out while warm, remove all bones and cartilage, then lay it flat between two trays, skin side up, with weight on top. Refrigerate overnight.
  5. Reserve the fat: strain it and keep it, it is better than what you started with.
  6. Peel and chop two apples, cook them down with the vinegar and a splash of water, then blend with the butter and a pinch of salt. Boil the potatoes and crush them coarsely with some of the reserved pork fat.
  7. Cut the pressed pig into six portions. Put them skin side down in a dry, very hot pan and leave them without moving for four to six minutes. The skin will bubble, spit and go glassy. Turn briefly, then rest two minutes.
  8. Serve on the apple purée and crushed potato, with matchsticks of the third apple raw, thyme leaves and sea salt on the crackling.

Serve it with. Something acidic to cut it. A cold, sharp cider, or a red with no oak.