Easter Bunny? No, Easter Pig

Today we went over to the house of your friend, Carter. Her dad, Michael, who is also a budding chef likes to cook outrageous things. This Easter he wanted to cook a suckling pig. Basically a baby pig. We used a Julia Child recipe called Cochon de Lait ("Pig in Milk").

Mommy is away on her solo 40th birthday getaway and ironically Carter's mom is away on a similar trip so it was just daddies and kids. We headed over early on Sunday because it was a whole day affair to cook this thing.

Michael had picked up the pig and had done some of the prep work for the stuffing. The pig was already cleaned by the butcher. It was just a matter of making the stuffing which had liver, rice, apricots, onions and a few other ingredients, and putting it into the pig. Once stuffed we had to sew the gut up to keep the stuffing in. This was harder than you'd expect. The pig skin is incredibly resilient. We had to improvise but it eventually was sewn up. Then we had the problem of keeping the pig upright. This was a problem because the pig wanted to tip over sideways and because the legs were quite stiff from rigor mortis. We eventually worked the pig into a squatting position and propped it up with crushed up tin foil. Then we roasted at 450 Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and 350 Fahrenheit for about another 3 hours.

In between we took breaks like having an easter egg hunt. You guys made a incredible amount of noise, Caden got bonked a few times, and it was generally chaotic. But you had fun.

When the pig was done we served it with mashed potatoes and broccoli and a sauce made from the pan drippings. Both you and Caden seemed to like the pig quite a bit. It was somewhat unusual. The meat was very tender, pale, and soft but it hadn't been cooked to the point where it fell off the bone. I might lower the temp next time and roast it for 6 hours or so. Also the skin which was so tough to pierce had become very brittle. I think it's called crackling and it almost like a chip. It was probably the best part of the meal. Both of you liked it a lot.

Soon after we finished, we cleaned up a bit and had to head home. Unluckily we headed out just as it started to pour. I went to pick the car up and pull around and dropped you both off near the apartment so you wouldn't get too wet. It was a fun day. Oh yea. You had tons and tons of chocolate!