If You Can Roast a Turkey for Thanksgiving, You Can Roast a Pig
Shout out to the home cooks who present a well-roasted turkey at Thanksgiving. But there’s an easier option.
(Bloomberg) -- Shout out to the home cooks who present a well-roasted turkey at Thanksgiving. It’s no small feat to prepare a bird that’s juicy, from breast to drumstick, with golden, crackly skin. And then there’s turkey burnout: As comforting as the centerpiece dish might be, a lot of Americans just see it as a gateway to leftovers. (Anthony Bourdain had this to say: “A good turkey sandwich, enhanced with a layer of stuffing and gravy, eaten in peace after your guests have gone, is the whole point of hosting Thanksgiving in the first place.”)
There’s another, easier option, says Joey Baldino, chef, owner, and president of South Philadelphia’s 100-year-old Palizzi Social Club. Anyone who can roast a turkey can roast a pig, he maintains, with as good or better results—including the leftover sandwiches. Baldino features the recipe in his new cookbook, Dinner at the Club (Running Press; $35), written with Adam Erace, a sometime Bloomberg contributor.
The book chronicles the stories and best recipes from the Palizzi. Hidden behind an unmarked door up a flight of stairs, the members-only place is a time-traveling experience with a decor that includes a cigarette machine and Formica-topped tables, and specials like stromboli stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella, sausage with sweet fennel, and spumoni. All those recipes are in the book. So is a chapter of cocktails named after past Social Club presidents, like the Mezzaroba, an aged rum and ginger mix, that’s an ode to Ernest Mezzaroba, who ran the club for more than 40 years and was also Baldino’s uncle.
“Any big celebration at the Club automatically meant a pig,” remembers Baldino in the book, of being a child and thrilled to see the pork arrayed on the platter. It’s still a Palizzi mainstay for special events, but the chef also sees it as a Thanksgiving game changer.
“My family has an entire Italian-American Thanksgiving meal before the traditional American stuff: antipasto; escarole soup; gravy with meatball and sausage; and pasta, be it stuffed shells, manicotti or ravioli.” Take it a step further and a whole suckling pig would serve as a perfect stand-in for a turkey, he says. “It’s a great way to change things up this holiday season.”
The process of pig vs. bird is almost identical in terms of brining, marinating, roasting, and the size of the animal, he says.
The price of suckling pigs is comparable, too, especially when you’re talking premium turkeys. A whole suckling pig, weighing 11 pounds, will cost around $115 from a high-end butcher shop like Florence Prime Meat Market in New York’s West Village. The buzzed-about KellyBronze turkey goes for $13.35 a pound; an 11-pound bird would cost almost $150.
Chef Andrew Carmellini, whose New York-based empire includes Locanda Verde and Lafayette, agrees. “It’s 100% true that if you can roast a turkey, you can roast a pig. In fact, pigs are more foolproof. You just put them in the oven and cook. Meanwhile, there’s no good way to cook a whole turkey.”
Tester’s note: The most daunting thing about a roasted suckling pig isn’t the long ingredient list; everything is readily available. It’s that unroasted baby pigs are very recognizable as the animals they were not so long ago. You might make this suckling pig, marvel at the tenderness and crispy skin, the citrus and anise taste that perfumes the fork-tender meat—and decide that next time someone else will roast it, and you’ll show up to the party.
Whole Roasted Suckling Pig
Adapted from Dinner at the Club (Running Press) by Joey Baldino and Adam Erace
Serves 12
Brine
4 cups kosher salt
2 cups sugar
2 oranges, halved
¼ cup toasted fennel seeds
10 rosemary sprigs
10 parsley sprigs
2 Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 dried Chiles de árbol or Thai bird chiles
2 garlic heads, halved
1 yellow onion, halved
3 Tbsp. honey
2 cups dry white wine, such as Chablis
2 qts. water
6 qts. ice water
One 10-15 lb. suckling pig (see Note)
Marinade
1 cup chopped parsley
1 fennel frond, chopped
2 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 Tbsp. ground fennel
1 Tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
Roast
½ bunch sage
1 fennel bulb, halved
1 onion, halved
1 garlic head, halved
1 orange, halved
10 fresh parsley sprigs
10 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 dried Chile de árbol or Thai bird chile
1 qt. water
In a medium pot, combine all the ingredients except the ice water and pig. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved, about 10 minutes. In a container large enough to hold the pig and all the liquid, mix the brine with the ice water. Add the pig so it’s completely submerged in liquid. Cover with cheesecloth and weigh down with plates so the pig is below the surface. Cover container and refrigerate for 2 days.
Marinate. Discard the brine and let the pig come to room temperature. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the marinade all over the pig, inside and outside. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 day.
Roast. Preheat oven to 325°F. In a very large roasting pan, combine all the ingredients. Set the unwrapped marinated pig on top. Cover the pig with a piece of parchment paper and wrap the top of the pan in foil. Roast for about 3 to 3½ hours, until the meat is fork-tender and pulls away from the bone; the skin should also start to split. Remove the foil and parchment and increase the heat to 350°F. Roast for about 20 minutes longer until the skin is golden. Let the pig cool in the liquid for an hour and serve.
Note: Suckling pigs are available at many butcher shops; they need to be ordered ahead. They’re also available by mail order from places like Stryker Farm in Pennsylvania and the specialty meats purveyor D’Artagnan.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net
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