Chef Isabel
Baifo Asado Canario
Baifo Asado Canario is kid goat barrado, rubbed with garlic, pimentón, vinegar, cumin, and oregano, then roasted gently before a sharp red mojo browns the edges and wakes the pan juices.
Culinary Explorer
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Porcella Rostida Mallorquina
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Porcella rostida is Mallorca's Christmas roast: a small milk-fed pig sharpened with lemon, garlic, black pepper, and island herbs, then roasted patiently so the meat turns tender and the skin crackles.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Christmas
Special Occasion
Celebration
45 min
Active Time
4 hr 30 min cook•29 hr 15 min total
Yield8 to 10 servings
Porcella rostida is Mallorcan, the Balearic roast suckling pig that comes to the Christmas table bronzed, lemon-sharp, and rich with lard, garlic, black pepper, bay, rosemary, and moraduix, marjoram. It is not any old roast pork. The animal is small and milk-fed, the seasoning is plain, and the crackling carries the dish before anyone carves.
The method that decides it is the full day's adobo, the lemon-garlic seasoning, followed by drying the skin before the oven. Lemon and salt season the meat deeply, but wet skin will never crackle. Pat it dry, leave it uncovered for the last hours, and roast slow until the fat renders. Then raise the heat only at the end. Rush the heat early and you scorch the outside while the shoulders stay stubborn.
If you're far from Mallorca, ask for a whole or half suckling pig from a good butcher, split so it fits your oven. A half pig, 2.5 to 3kg, works better than a cramped whole one. If that is impossible, a skin-on fresh pork shoulder makes a good roast, but it is not porcella; it cooks longer and tastes fuller, less milky. You deserve to know that before you shop.
My Margin note on this one is short: dry the skin again. Then do it once more. Con buenos ingredientes y paciencia, with good ingredients and patience, the dish behaves.
Porcella rostida belongs to Mallorca and the wider Balearic feast-day table, especially Christmas and the winter matances season, when the household pig supplied both celebration and the preserved larder. Porcella is Mallorcan Catalan for a young female pig, and the island seasoning of lemon, garlic, black pepper, lard, bay, rosemary, and moraduix keeps the roast plain enough that the sweetness of the milk-fed meat remains the point. In village life, the largest roasts were often carried to a baker's oven, because a home hearth could not always hold the animal whole.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
whole suckling pig
Quantity
1 (4.5-5.5kg)
cleaned and split through the backbone so it lies flat
fresh lemon juice
Quantity
120ml
pork lard
Quantity
140g
softened, divided
fine sea salt
Quantity
45g
35g for the pig, 10g for the potatoes
freshly cracked black pepper
Quantity
10g
garlic cloves
Quantity
30g
crushed to a paste
fresh rosemary leaves
Quantity
8g
finely chopped
fresh thyme leaves
Quantity
6g
fresh marjoram or moraduix
Quantity
5g fresh or 2g dried
finely chopped
bay leaves
Quantity
4
dry white wine or water
Quantity
150ml
small waxy potatoes or patato mallorqui
Quantity
1.5kg
scrubbed and halved if large
lemon (optional)
Quantity
1
cut into wedges, for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| whole suckling pigcleaned and split through the backbone so it lies flat | 1 (4.5-5.5kg) |
| fresh lemon juice | 120ml |
| pork lardsoftened, divided | 140g |
| fine sea salt35g for the pig, 10g for the potatoes | 45g |
| freshly cracked black pepper | 10g |
| garlic clovescrushed to a paste | 30g |
| fresh rosemary leavesfinely chopped | 8g |
| fresh thyme leaves | 6g |
| fresh marjoram or moraduixfinely chopped | 5g fresh or 2g dried |
| bay leaves | 4 |
| dry white wine or water | 150ml |
| small waxy potatoes or patato mallorquiscrubbed and halved if large | 1.5kg |
| lemon (optional)cut into wedges, for serving | 1 |
Equipment Needed
- •Large roasting tray, at least 45 x 35cm for a half pig or 60 x 40cm for a small whole pig
- •Wire rack that fits inside the tray
- •Instant-read thermometer
- •Pastry brush
- •Sharp carving knife or poultry shears
Instructions
- 1
Make the adobo
Mix the lemon juice, 90g of the softened lard, 35g salt, the black pepper, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram into a rough paste. Pésalo, no lo adivines, weigh it, don't guess. A roast this large needs proper seasoning, not a nervous pinch.
- 2
Season the pig
Pat the suckling pig dry. Rub the paste all over the meat side, into the shoulders, belly, legs, and inside the cavity, then rub a thin film over the skin. Tuck in 2 bay leaves. Set it skin side up on a rack in a large tray, cover loosely, and refrigerate for 20 hours.
Ask the butcher to split the pig so it lies flat. A whole pig that cannot sit flat in the tray cooks badly at the shoulders and dries at the ribs. - 3
Dry the skin
Uncover the pig for the last 4 hours in the refrigerator. Before roasting, scrape any wet herb paste from the skin and pat it dry again with paper towels. This is the step that decides the crackling: lemon seasons the meat, but wet skin will not crisp. Dry it, then dry it once more.
- 4
Start the roast
Take the pig from the refrigerator 1 hour before cooking. Heat the oven to 160C. Put the wine or water and the remaining 2 bay leaves in the roasting tray, keeping the liquid below the rack so it never touches the skin. Roast skin side up for 2 hours, brushing the meatier edges once with pan juices but leaving the skin alone.
- 5
Add the potatoes
Toss the potatoes with 40g of the remaining lard and 10g salt. Lift the rack carefully, spread the potatoes in the tray around the pig, and return everything to the oven. Roast for another 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, turning the potatoes once, until the thickest part of the shoulder and ham reaches 74C and the meat gives easily when pierced.
- 6
Crisp the skin
Brush the skin with the last 10g lard and raise the oven to 220C. Roast 15 to 25 minutes, watching closely, until the skin is blistered, deep gold, and crisp under a knife tip. If one part colours faster, shield only that spot with foil. Do not cover the whole pig, or you soften the skin you worked for.
- 7
Rest and carve
Rest the pig uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes. Move the potatoes to a warm platter, then carve the shoulders, legs, ribs, and belly so every plate gets tender meat, a little crackling, and potatoes glossed with the roasting fat. Serve with lemon wedges if you like the sharpness. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Order the suckling pig from a butcher. Ask for 4.5 to 5.5kg whole, or a 2.5 to 3kg half if your oven is small, and have it split through the backbone. No hace falta haber pisado Espana, but you do need the right animal.
- •Use pork lard if you can. In Mallorca, saim, lard, belongs to this kind of roast and gives the skin its proper gloss. Olive oil works in a hard place, but the flavour changes and the skin is less lacquered.
- •Do not baste the skin with pan juices. Baste the meatier edges if they look dry, but keep the skin dry from the last hours in the refrigerator through the final blast of heat.
- •The potatoes go in after the pig has begun rendering. Put them in too early and they drink too much fat before they cook through; too late and they miss the point of being there.
- •Leftover porcella is good cold the next day, with bread and a sharp salad. Reheat pieces uncovered in a hot oven so the skin has a chance to crisp again.
Advance Preparation
- •Order the suckling pig 3 to 5 days ahead and confirm the size against your oven tray before the butcher prepares it.
- •Season the pig 24 hours before roasting: 20 hours covered, then 4 hours uncovered so the skin dries.
- •Scrub and halve the potatoes the morning of cooking. Keep them covered in cold water, then drain and dry them well before they go into the roasting tray.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 440g)
Calories
1100 calories
Total Fat
77 g
Saturated Fat
28 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
44 g
Cholesterol
250 mg
Sodium
2200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
33 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
68 g
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