Crispy Skin Roast Suckling Pig
A classic Cantonese dish prepared by roasting suckling pig, featuring a bright, glossy red appearance, crisp skin, and tender meat. It is renowned both at home and internationally.
Ingredients
Cleaned whole suckling pig (slaughtered and cleaned, approx 15 kg total weight)
1 (approx 15 kg)
Thousand-layer pancake
130 g
Scallion balls
150 g
Sweet and sour pickled vegetables
150 g
Vegetable oil
25 g
Charcoal (for roasting)
7-8 kg
White sugar (part for marinating, part as condiment)
65 g
Fermented soybean paste (for marinating the pig cavity)
100 g
Sesame paste (for marinating)
25 g
Sweet bean sauce (as condiment)
100 g
Fenjiu liquor (for marinating)
7 g
Roast piglet sweet and sour sauce (for brushing on pig skin)
150 g
Red fermented tofu (for marinating)
25 g
Five-spice salt (for marinating the pig cavity)
65 g
Minced garlic (for marinating)
5 g
Instructions
1
Split the piglet and remove organs
Place the suckling pig on a cutting board with the chest facing up. Split it along the sternum midline from the mouth, through the neck, to the end of the spine. Remove the internal organs, leaving the kidneys inside.
2
Trim the piglet body
Rinse the inside and outside of the suckling pig thoroughly and drain water to flatten the pig carcass. Remove the pig brain. Cut a slit on each side of the jaw joint to separate the upper and lower jaw. Remove the third rib, cut open the fan-shaped bone joint to take out the fan-shaped bone, and make shallow cuts on the nearby thick meat and the thick meat on the hindquarters.
3
Marinate with five-spice salt
Evenly coat the inside of the pig cavity with five-spice salt. Hang the meat with an iron hook and marinate for about 30 minutes, then air-dry the moisture.
4
Marinate with sauce mix
Evenly coat the inside of the pig cavity with a mixture of fermented soybean paste, sesame paste, red fermented tofu, Fenjiu liquor, minced garlic, and 25g of white sugar. Marinate for about 20 minutes. Insert a special roasting fork from the hindquarters, pass through the fan-shaped bone joint, and finally out through the cheek. After skewering, tilt the pig upward with the head facing up. Rinse the oil stains on the skin with clean water, then pour boiling water all over the pig skin, and finally brush the skin with sweet and sour sauce.
5
Pre-roasting preparation
Put charcoal in the roasting oven and light it. Place the suckling pig inside and roast over low heat for about 15 minutes. When it is 50% cooked, take it out. Use wooden strips to prop open the cavity into an I-shape to stretch the pig body outward on all sides. Tie the front and rear trotters with straw, and use wire to hook the front and rear legs symmetrically.
6
Roasting
Push the charcoal in the roasting oven into two piles at the front and back. Roast the head and hindquarters for about 10 minutes until they turn bright red. Then evenly brush the entire pig skin with vegetable oil. Push the charcoal into a line to roast the pig body for about 30 minutes until the skin turns deep red. During roasting, turn the roasting fork quickly and rhythmically to ensure even heat. If small bubbles appear on the pig skin, gently pierce them with a small iron needle to release the internal gas.
7
Slice skin and arrange on plate
Remove the tying materials from the front and rear trotters of the roasted suckling pig. Make a horizontal cut at the spine below each ear and at the end of the tail, then make a vertical cut along the spine midline to split the pig into two halves. Make another cut along the midline of each half to get four pieces of pig skin. Cut each piece of pig skin into 8 small pieces, totaling 32 pieces. Arrange them back in the original pattern on the back of the pig for the first serving.
8
Serve condiments
Portion the thousand-layer pancake, sweet and sour pickled vegetables, scallion balls, sweet bean sauce, and 40g of white sugar into two small plates each, and serve them alongside the pig skin as condiments.
9
Slice remaining parts and arrange on plate
After all the pig skin is eaten, take back the remaining pig, remove the wooden supports, and slice the other parts of the meat. Remove the pig ears and tail, take out the pig tongue, chop off the front and rear trotters, cut the meat from the forehead, then slice the meat from both sides of the cheeks, cut the kidneys into thin slices, and slice the meat from both sides of the belly. Arrange all these sliced meats on small plates, stacking them skin-side up in the shape of a pig for the second serving.
