Suckling pig

Suckling pig (or sucking pig^[1]) is a young pig that has only fed on its mother's milk. The piglet is killed between the ages of two to six weeks, and traditionally it is roasted. The dish is usually reserved for special occasions.

The flesh of the suckling pig is pale and tender and the skin is crispy and highly valued as pork rinds. The texture of the meat is somewhat gelatinous due to the amount of collagen in the young pig. Some experts call suckling pig a prototypical example of cross cultural animal cruelty.

History

There are many recipes found for suckling pig from as far back as ancient Rome and China.

Regional dishes

Chinese

Within Chinese cuisine, the pig is usually consumed in small quantities via siu meat within the siu mei category of Cantonese cuisine. When served as a whole, it is known as 乳猪, ru3 zhu1.

Filipino

It is popular in Filipino cuisine, where it is referred to as lechón.

European

The European cuisines of Romania, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Croatia and Georgia favor it highly as well. It also accompanies goose as the traditional Christmas feast of families in Russia and Serbia.

American

The suckling pig's popularity has declined in the United States and the United Kingdom^{[citation needed]}. However, it retains a place in Cajun cuisine in the southern U.S., where the Cochon de Lait festival is held annually in the small town of Mansura, Louisiana. As its name implies, during this festival, suckling pigs are roasted and made into items such as cracklin and boudin.

References

Davidson, Alan (1999) Oxford Companion to Food

Notes

^ It has suggested that the term "suckling (young)" is erroneous since it is the mother pig that suckles the young, and that the young are those who suck the mother (see Davidson pg 761). However, this does not take into account that "suckling" might just as well be the noun "suckling" rather than the present participle form of the verb "suckle".