There are many variations in Western and Asian cuisines:
Europe, except Iberia In his
366 Menus and 1200 Recipes in French and English (1884) the French gourmet
Baron Brisse includes " – roast sucking-pig". He suggests stuffing the piglet with fresh butter seasoned with chopped herbs, salt and pepper or with chopped liver, bacon, mushrooms, capers, mixed herbs, salt and pepper. Other French versions of sucking-pig are: • (stuffed with a mixture of liver and sausage meat); • — (
Alsatian style) – stuffed with pork sausage meat mixed with braised
sauerkraut and the diced sautéed pork liver, roasted • — (
Bavarian style) – brushed with oil and roasted,
deglazed with thick veal gravy and served with potato dumplings and
coleslaw made with diced bacon • — (English style) – filled with sage and onion stuffing, roasted; apple sauce mixed with blanched currants served separately • — (German style) – stuffed with apple slices and currants, roasted; (Italian style) boned, stuffed with
risotto mixed with grated
Parmesan and diced
salami, roasted • — (with liver stuffing) – stuffed with a mixture of butter, eggs, soaked bread and the piglet's boiled chopped liver. seasoned with nutmeg and roasted • — (
Piedmont style) – stuffed with risotto mixed with grated
white truffles, roasted; served with a light tomato sauce • — (Polish style) – stuffed with braised shredded cabbage mixed with diced ham and roasted • — (with prunes) – stuffed with stoned half-cooked prunes mixed with
marjoram and roasted • — (Russian style) – roasted unseasoned and basted with sour cream; carved and served on buckwheat sauce mixed with the cooked diced liver and diced hard-boiled eggs.
Anne Willan writes that cooks in
Alsace generally serve sucking pig hot, those in the adjoining
Lorraine tend to braise it and serve it chilled in a clear jelly flavoured with white wine. French cuisine also includes a recipe for sucking-pig's
trotters ( – Czech style) in which the trotters are cooked in beer with
caraway seeds.
Elizabeth David records as "one of the best dishes of its type I have yet tasted" a
galantine from Lorraine, consisting of a whole sucking-pig chopped up with white wine, vegetables, spices and herbs. She mentions also "the famous , an elegant
brawn of sucking pig which makes a fine hors d'œuvre ... in which pieces of pork lie embedded in a crystal clear jelly". In Italy there are several terms for a sucking-pig: , or . is a creamy
Carnaroli risotto with
sucking-pig and
Parmesan. Roast sucking-pig is known in German, Austrian and German-Swiss cuisines as . It is often served at festive occasions such as the
Oktoberfest. (Rhine sucking-pig) is roast, basted with beer, and served with a stuffing of butter, veal, bacon, liver, bread, onions, eggs, and herbs, flavoured with nutmeg and
Madeira. Hungarian cuisine includes not only roast sucking-pig () but sucking-pig soup () and sucking-pig jelly (). Until the mid-20th century (roast stuffed sucking-pig) was a traditional Polish Easter dish, which might be stuffed with liver (),
buckwheat () or raisin and almond (). Roast sucking-pig is known as Пeчeно прасe in Bulgaria, and in Romania. The Greek version is γουρουνόπουλο γάλακτος . In Sweden sucking-pig is called ; it is usually cooked in the oven, or sometimes roasted directly over a fire. It is often stuffed with various fruits such as apples and plums, together with butter and breadcrumbs. Russian recipes for sucking-pig include braising Estonian-style in a mixture of
sherry and broth, roasting Russian-style, stuffed with
giblets and buckwheat, and stuffed with apple and served with a buckwheat and
horseradish sauce.
Spain, Portugal and former colonies '' (Spanish, ; from
leche "milk" + -ón), (Spanish, literally "sucking pig"), or (Portuguese; from
leite "milk" + -ão) is a pork dish in several regions of the world, most specifically in
Spain (in particular
Segovia), Portugal (in particular
Bairrada) and regions worldwide previously colonized by the
Portuguese Empire or
Spanish Empire.
Lechón/Leitão is a word referring to a roasted baby pig (piglet) which was still fed by
sucking its mother's milk. Lechón/Leitão is a popular item in the cuisine in
Los Angeles (in the United States), Spain, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Honduras, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the
Philippines and other former
Spanish colonies, as well as in Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique and other former
Portuguese colonies. The dish features a whole roasted suckling pig cooked over charcoal. It has been described as a national dish of Cuba, the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, and Spain. In most of these regions, lechón/leitão is prepared throughout the year for special occasions, during festivals. It is also the centerpiece of the traditional
Christmas Eve dinner (
Noche Buena) in Cuba, and the Philippines.
Colombia Lechona, also known as
lechón asado, is a popular Colombian dish. It is similar in style to many preparations made in other South American countries, consisting of a roasted pig stuffed with
yellow peas,
green onion, and spices, cooked in an outdoor brick oven for several hours. Yellow rice is sometimes added, especially in Bogotá. It is mostly traditional to the
Tolima Department in central Colombia and is usually accompanied by
arepas, a corn-based dough.
Philippines () in a traditional Filipino
noche buena (Christmas Eve) dinner. Unlike the Hispanic
lechón, it uses
weaned pigs and is pre-colonial in origin. The pig-roasting traditions of the Philippines (similar to other
Austronesian regions) have native pre-colonial origins and is cooked with native methods and ingredients. Native ingredients unique to the Filipino lechón include
stuffing like
lemongrass,
batuan fruits, and
citrus or
tamarind leaves. The meaning of
"lechón" in Filipino has diverged from the original Spanish to become an umbrella term for "
roasted pig" and spit-roasted dishes in general (otherwise known as or ). It is used more commonly for
weaned or adult roasted pigs rather than to suckling pigs, with
Cebu being asserted by American chef
Anthony Bourdain as having the best pigs. When suckling pigs are used in Filipino cuisine, it is known by the redundant name and roasted in native style. The Spanish-introduced is differentiated under the name (spelled in
Filipino) or (literally "piglet lechón").
Puerto Rico The dish has been described as a national dish of Puerto Rico. The name of the dish in Puerto Rico is
lechón asado.
East Asia Suckling pig dishes in parts of Southeast Asia, like Singapore and Vietnam, are influenced by ethnic Chinese cuisine. Roast suckling pig is eaten in Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants for important parties. It is also a popular dish at wedding dinners or a party for a baby's completion of its first month of life.
United States The suckling pig is used in
Cajun cuisine in the southern US, where the
Cochon de Lait Festival is held annually in the small town of
Mansura, Louisiana. During this festival suckling pigs are served. ==See also==