I read about an “unsettling” photo on YumSugar, the object of much discussion, consisting of a roasted pig’s head being served at a buffet. That same weekend, I was snapping pics at my local market, of something I can see every Tuesday and Saturday.
Porchetta Maremmana.
Porchetta is a young pig, left with the head intact, that is de-boned and stuffed with spices such as rosemary and garlic, and sometimes even lard, then roasted in a wood-burning oven for hours. It can then be sliced and eaten or used to fill sandwiches.
My neighbors growing up often roasted a pig in the ground, so seeing a pig’s body like this is not so surprising to me. For others, it might be. I’m assuming I have a slightly more varied and international readership than YumSugar (who seemed heavily weighted towards vegetarians and Americans), but I actually have no idea. I’m curious about your feelings…
So, fill in the blank: When I look at these pictures, I ……….
Original YumSugar post here.
When I see these pictures I think OMG this is pure goodness! I love porchetta and I wish I had that pig on my kitchen table right now! This is what I think.
This is bad. I’ve been attempting to go vegetarian. This is so so bad. Hahaha.
When I see this I think…. 25 Euros a kilo?!? That seems a bit high for this type of porchetta but it does look yummy!
~Lewis
TableBread
When I look at these pictures, I… wonder why there isn’t an apple stuffed in it’s mouth?!
I’d love a taste please! You’d never see this in the US just because food here is never served “whole”, head, tails and all. However, it is common in the rest of the world. As a matter of fact, in Chinese culture, fish, poultry or duck dishes are served the the head and tails, etc because then, people will perceive it to be more fresh!
Adding to what maria said above…at traditional Chinese wedding banquets, a whole roast suckling pig is served as a “gift” from the groom’s family to the bride’s family. I’ve seen them and all I thought was “yummy!”
Looks delish … it’s the Filipina in me. One can get whole roasted sucklings at the Chinese BBQ houses here, but I haven’t seen one that was already boned out like this. It’s a great idea.
Yum, yum and yum!
I love porchetta! When the Superquinn (a local upmarket foodstore) upgraded the branch in my area they added a deli counter at which a whole porchetta took pride of place. I was their best customer until they ran out of pig, which sadly has never been replaced…
It reminds me of when I was little. It was about this time of year, when it gets dark early. I had to go to my grandparents house for one reason or another. I knocked at the door and entered. The lights were out and I saw that they were in the kitchen eating by candlelight. I walked in smiling, ready to share my day and saw something on the table. Was that a sheep’s head? What the…?
My grandmother, seeing the look on my face seemed concerned. I left pretty quick because in my childs mind I didn’t know these people anymore. Were they really witches? haha
It took awhile to get that out of my brain. As you see I still haven’t forgotten.
My neighbors here in the U.S roasted a pug in their backyard. Frat guys. Lot’s of beer and food. If you dig into Real barbecue and beyond the fancy grocery stores and markets, I’m sure you’ll discover all sorts of things being whole like this pig.
In Sweden, where I’m from, I can’t say I’ve ever seen a pig being roasted in the backyard, but I recall my mom cooking pigs feet. She bought a whole pig and I don’t know what happened to it, but the ham on the Christmas Smörgåsbord was delicious.
“YUM! Must have some!”
YumSugar needs to avoid my town of Memphis, TN during the month of May when the World Championship BBQ is held. Whole adult hogs are sloooowly cooked in large smokers all week long. Christina, BBQ in Memphis is the real thing and there are so much more too it than anyone could ever imagine!
“SUUUIUIIIIEEEE! HERE PIG, PIG, PIG!”
(Yeap, my Southern heritage is shining through!)
I think “Can I have the head? Puh-leeze…”. I just love the crunchier bits. A bunch of years ago, I was invited to a Sardinian new year dinner in Milano. We had culurgiones (thats where I learned how to close them) and roasted suckling pig. In the end, it turned out that I was the only Milanese at the party eating the skin and the head bits. Most of the others, removed skin and head bits and only ate the meat, which in a suckling is not much.
I think ….I really love ham, bacon, porchetta, etc. (sorry pig)
YUCK! I grew up in a family that had all sorts of animal parts hanging arond the house: goat’s heads in the freezer, pig’s feet in the fridge along with skinned rabbits, and whatnot. That’s probably why I became I vegetarian as soon as I was “free” to pick what I wanted to eat. I’ll pass on the roasted pig thanks.
…get a little bit hungry!
Verrrry scarrrry! UGH!
Yikes! I’m still not used to that image.
Jason — You have a World Championship BBQ??? I think I’ll need to start prepping the family about a tour south. A whole field full of slow cookers, pulled pork and BBQ sauce … Oh, my …
And this little piggy went to the market!Delicious!
I wish I had a porchetta sandwich right now – haven’t had one in so long!! My favourite sandwich by far!!!
Those pictures sure got me hungry, too bad I am thousands of miles away!
Not my cup of tea. I’m a veg. But, in all honesty I think this is a much more honest way of eating/respecting the pig. When I see the packages of meat in the super market and people mindlessly buying it -that offends me more than these photos. If you are going to eat meat be honest about where it comes from -even if that means seeing it eye to eye.
The piggly wiggly is fat!
…just love the last one: it’s so snouty!
Interesting reactions – a majority of pro-porchetta comments! I think it helps that this guy isn’t burned like the YumSugar pic.
I really enjoyed hearing about all of the other cultures that roast pigs, too! I didn’t know about the Chinese wedding gift.
I love porchetta, I make a mini version of it in my home oven. One of the highlights of my last trip to Italy was finding the porchetta truck at the local market. My husband and I had porchetta panini for dinner that night. Delicious! There’s nothing like the real thing.
Was Googling around to see some other recipes because I did this about 10 yrs ago, but with a little twist. I removed the meat and ground it with some lamb and veal. Put a layer of that, topped with a layer of spinach, and then laid a length of kielbasy down the center with a row of pimiento on top. When folded up everything was concentric and it appears like a wreath when sliced. The roast looked exactly like your pictures, but I placed marachino cherries in the eyes and a holly crown on the head, because it was Christmas dinner. Still have the pictures and still getting comments on it. Delicious and fun to do.
when I see these pictures I…. wonder what temperature it is being stored at…. Its in a market …. is it cold enough… (i came from australia… its never cold enough to not have it in the fridge)