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In every country there are typical Christmas festive dishes. In Czech Republic it’s carp, in States — turkey, in Russia — «Olivie» (Russian salad) and vodka.
In Spain suckling pig is more common.
Unlike in Eastern European countries the suckling pig is roasted without any stuffing, theoretically in grill over a roaster, so that the meat might soak with a trickling down fat and get saturated with the Pyrenean grass flavors and the smoke of oak and apple trees.
But there’s no place for rush in good cuisine.
First the pig should be rubbed with coarse salt and left in fridge for a night. Meanwhile we prepare brushing mixture.
- Sunflower oil (pasteurized) 0.5 liter
- Fresh parsley — a big bunch
- Garlic 5 cloves
- Thyme 1 teaspoon
- Rosemary 1 tea spoon
- Black ground pepper 1 tablespoon
- Smoked paprika 1 tea spoon
All the ingredients are mixed and well beaten in blender over high speed. After that, the mixture is left in room temperature to get saturated with flavors.
In the morning we spread the mixture over the pig (not necessary to wash off the salt) and leave it in a cold place for 2−3 days, continuously turning it upside down and giving it a good massage.
Before cooking it’s better to warm up the pig up to room temperature and then hang it over a roaster into the grill (oven) like we did. I’d recommend to roast it at 120−140C and at the final stage increase the temperature up to maximum to create a tender crispy crust.