French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [210]
Next day remove the fat from the stock, which should have set to a jelly; to serve the meat, remove string, carve into thin slices; turn out the jellied stock; chop it finely and arrange round the meat.
Serve with a potato salad, or a straightforward green salad. There should be enough for ten people.
If you happen to have a little white wine to spare, use it instead of a proportion of water.
COCHON DE LAIT RÔTI AU FOUR
ROAST SUCKING PIG
For the stuffing for a sucking pig weighing within the region of 12 lb., mix together lb. of fine dry breadcrumbs, a big bunch of parsley (about 2 oz.) finely chopped with 2 or 3 shallots, and a clove or two of garlic; add the grated peel of a whole large lemon and of 1 orange; add the juices of both. Mix in 6 oz. of softened butter, about a teaspoon of salt, plenty of freshly-milled pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Finally stir in 3 whole eggs well beaten. Taste to see if there is sufficient lemon, for sucking pig is a rich meat and the stuffing for it should provide a mildly acid counteracting flavour; for this reason sausage meat, chestnuts, prunes, and other such rather cloying ingredients are not so suitable for stuffings as the simple fines herbes and lemon mixture.
Having stuffed your pig, give it a generous coating of olive oil, and if possible cook it, lying on its side, on a rack placed in the baking dish so that the underside does not stew in its own juices. Put it in a moderate, preheated oven at Gas No. 4, 350 deg. F., for 2 to 2 hours altogether. From time to time baste it with its own juices, or with more olive oil, and at half-time turn the animal over with great care so as not to damage the crackling. When it is ready to serve transfer it to a hot dish and keep it in a low oven while you pour off from the baking tin as much as possible of the fat, transferring the gravy to a small pan. To this add a little glass of white wine and, if you have it, an equal quantity of clear veal or beef stock. Give it a quick boil and serve it separately.
Many modern domestic ovens are too small to take a whole sucking pig, although the length of the animal depends, of course, upon the breed of the pig. Should it be found that the piglet has to be cooked in two pieces, the best plan is to get the butcher to divide it in two and to roast the whole of the back and the hindquarters, the head and neck being kept for a separate dish such as the galantine described on page 222. In this case about half the quantities of stuffing will be sufficient.
ROGNONS DE PORC AU VIN BLANC
PIG’S KIDNEYS IN WHITE WINE
Pig’s kidneys are cheaper than those of lamb or veal and are quite good provided they are given a preliminary soaking and blanching to rid them of their rather acrid smell.
Remove the skin of 2 kidneys, therefore, and soak them in warm salted water for a couple of hours. Cut them transversally in slices about inch thick. Put them in a saucepan covered with cold water and bring slowly to the boil. Let the water boil not more than a minute and then drain it off. In a clean frying-pan melt an ounce of butter for 2 kidneys. Add a little fat bacon cut in very small dice—2 small rashers is enough. Put in the kidneys. Let them cook gently for a minute. Add 3 or 4 mushrooms cut in quarters, then a small glass, about 4 tablespoons, of white wine. Let it bubble. Turn the flame low, put in a little bouquet of parsley, bayleaf and thyme, season with salt and pepper, add 4 tablespoons of good meat stock and simmer gently with the cover on the pan for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve sprinkled with parsley and accompanied by little triangles of bread fried in butter, or a mousseline of potatoes (page 272). Enough for two.
If it