Hot dinner: Clare Smyth's suckling pig

 
17 August 2012

Suckling pig recipe from Clare Smyth, head chef at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay

Take one whole suckling pig about 6/7kg and butcher it into 5 cuts: head and feet, loin, belly, shoulder, leg.

Spiced shoulder sausage

Pork shoulders minced

1 hog casing

250g of smoked pork belly

2tsp ground white pepper

3tsp ground nutmeg

2 medium onions finely chopped

2 leeks finely chopped

3tsp sea salt

2tsp butter

Method:

Cook the onions and leeks in the butter until completely soft then chill. When cold mix them together with all of the ingredients (mix well) Take a small piece of the mixture and cook it in a frying pan. Taste it just to check the seasoning. If you are happy then start to fill the hog casings to make the sausages. Twist them into the desired length and then blanch them in boiling water for 10 seconds then chill. Cook in a frying pan when ready to serve.

Stuffed cabbage

Head and feet of the pig cooked with 1 carrot, 1 onion, leek, 10 pepper corns , 2 bayleaves, 4 sprigs of thyme for 4/5 hours until completely soft. Then remove the meat and discard the bones.

1 savoy cabbage

1 carrot (finely diced)

1 shallot “

¼ celeriac “

2 tbsp chopped flat parsley

1tsp Dijon mustard

Splash of white wine

Salt & pepper

Method

Separate the leaves from the savoy cabbage and then blanch them in boiling salted water until soft , refresh in iced water. Drain off the water and dry the leaves well using kitchen paper.

Mix all of the other ingredients together well and check the seasoning. Form the mixture into balls the size of a golf ball and chill. Take a sheet of cling film lay one cabbage leaf on the top and place a ball in the centre. Gather up the edges of the cling film so that the cabbage wraps around the mixture twist to form a tight ball and then tie an knot. Repeat process until all mixture is gone. To cook place the ball into boiling water for 5 minutes then remove the cling film.

Ham and pineapple

Legs of the pig boned out and cut into ham shaped pieces by following the seams in the flesh.

Brine: 10 parts water to 1 part salt, 10 cloves, 2 bay leaves.

Glaze: 500ml pine apple juice, 10 cloves, 2 tbsp honey

1 pineapple cut into mini rings

Method

Soak the hams in the brine for 1 hour then remove. Then cook them sous vide at 63oc for 36 hours. When cooked chill well.

For the glaze put all ingredients in a saucepan and reduce until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Pass through a strainer to remove the cloves.

Before serving take the hams and the pineapple rings, fry lightly in a pan until golden then add a few spoonful’s of the glaze.

Crispy pork belly

Pork belly brined for 30 minutes in same brine as above and cooked sous vide as above.

Then remove from the bag and dry well on kitchen paper. Before serving fry skin side down with a weight pressing the belly flat to the pan. Fry until crispy.

Pork loin

Simply fry in a pan until cooked, rest, carve and serve.

Garnish suggestions

Crushed potatoes with spring onions, warm apple sauce and salad.

Clare will be cooking in the Chef's Theatre on Saturday August 18 at 2pm at Battersea Foodies Festival, Battersea Park

Latest from the Hot Dinner column:

For more food ideas, click here.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in