Sous vide suckling pig, honey and mustard, salt baked swede, golden enoki mushroom

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This dazzling sous vide suckling pig recipe from Michael Wignall is a celebration of the whole piglet, making use of the belly, loin, rack and leg, as well as the bones and trimmings that go into the fabulously meaty sauce. There are some advanced butchery skills involved in this recipe, so ask your butcher to do it for you if you are unsure.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Suckling pig

Brine

Pig sauce

Salt baked swedes

Mustard sauce

Honey and mustard pak choi

To plate

Equipment

  • Blender
  • Sous vide equipment
  • Butcher's string
  • Muslin cloth
  • Hand blender
  • Blowtorch

Method

1
First make the brine. Place all of the dry ingredients (except the salts) into a blender and blitz until powdered. Bring the water to the boil with the white salt and spices then leave to cool. Add the pink salt when cool
2
To prepare the pig, singe any remaining hair with a blowtorch and wipe away with a damp cloth. Remove the head, legs and shoulders. Split the trotters from the legs and reserve for sauce
3
Brine the legs for 36 hours, then soak in iced water for a further hour
4
Preheat a water bath to 68°C
5
Seal the legs in a vacuum bag and cook in the water bath for 36 hours. After this time, carefully remove the bone from the leg and place into a tray skin-side down. Place another tray on top and press with a weight. Reserve in the fridge for at least 4 hours
6
Preheat a water bath to 75°C
7
Remove the belly from the pig, season with salt and five-spice then roll tightly and tie with string. Seal in a vacuum bag and cook for 12 hours in the water bath. After this time, remove from the bag and wrap tightly in cling film. Transfer to the fridge to set
8
Split the rack from the loin halfway down the spine and take the loin off the bone. Preheat a water bath to 58°C
9
Place the loin into a vacuum pack bag with a little extra virgin olive oil and cook in the water bath for 45 minutes
  • extra virgin olive oil
10
Leaving the skin intact, trim away the meat from the bones on the racks until clean then tie twine around the meat so that it retains its shape while cooking. Cook the rack at 58°C for 28 minutes
11
Next, make the pig sauce. Roast the bones from the piglet until golden brown then transfer to a deep pan. Cover with chicken stock and add the carrot, celery and onion. Simmer very gently for 4 hours, then pass through a fine sieve
12
Chop all of the trimmings from the piglet into small pieces. In a heavy-bottomed pan, colour the trimmings then add the shallots, garlic and thyme. Add the cider, reduce by ¾ then add the pork stock
13
Cook for 1 hour then pass through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Reduce to sauce consistency, pass through muslin cloth and reserve
14
For the salt baked swedes, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6
15
Mix together the flour, salt and water to form a dough. Roll to a thickness of 0.5cm, then cut the sheet in half, leaving enough room to wrap each swede individually. Wrap the dough tightly around the swedes, making sure there are no cracks, and cook in the oven for 2 hours
16
Remove 1 swede from the pastry and add to a blender. Blitz with the butter until completely smooth, then pass through a fine sieve and reserve. Leave the other swede to cool in the pastry before tearing into rough pieces
17
To make the mustard sauce, sweat the shallot, garlic and thyme in a little oil then add the wine and mustards. Reduce by ¾ then add the whipping cream and reduce by 100ml. Pass through a fine sieve and season to taste
18
For the pak choi, place the honey, mustard and vinegar in a bowl and using a hand blender, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until emulsified. Just before serving, very gently sweat the pak choi in a frying pan then dress with the dressing
19
Portion the legs into 6 and allow for 2 bones per person for the rack. Slice the belly into 6 rounds
20
Just before serving, heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and cook the legs and racks skin-side down until crispy - you will need to do this in batches to ensure the heat is kept in the pan. You may also need to cover the pan as the skin will spit
21
Sear the loin in the pan until caramelised, then fry the belly in the same pan. When crispy, glaze with a little pork sauce
22
Sweat the enoki mushrooms in a little butter and season with salt. Blowtorch the pieces of swede until charred
23
To plate, arrange one piece of each pork cut on each plate. Pipe a large dot of swede purée onto each plate and add a piece of swede. Drape around a couple of pak choi leaves and a few enoki. Add a piece of cheese to each plate and sauce with the pig and mustard sauces
First published in 2015

Michael Wignall could have been a professional BMX biker. It was a fortunate day for foodies everywhere when he decided instead to work under legendary Northern chef Paul Heathcote.

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