Sucking pig
Encyclopedia : S : SU : SUC : Sucking pig
This article can apply to the broader pig genus. For the most familiar species, see domestic pig.
Sucking pig is a young
pig that has only fed on its mother's milk. The term
suckling pig is often used but this is incorrect usage of the term. The mother pig is suckling her young while the young suck from her hence, sucking pig or piglet. The young pig is killed between the ages of two to six weeks and traditionally roasted. Usually reserved for special occasions it is a popular dish in many
Asian cultures in particular
Chinese while the
European cultures of
Spain and
Portugual favor it highly as well. However, sucking pig's popularity has declined in the
United States and the
United Kingdom. The flesh of the sucking pig is pale and tender and roasting produces a crispy skin (crackilings) that are highly valued. The texture is somewhat gelatinous due to the amount of
collagen in the young pig. There are many recipes found for sucking pig from both the ancient world e.g., ancient
Rome,
China to the present day spanning cultures and centuries.
Reference
Davidson, Alan. Oxford Companion to Food (1999), "Sucking Pig", p. 761.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
