Leitao da Bairrada
A suckling pig rubbed with garlic, lard and pepper and roasted for 4 hours until the skin is crisp, the Bairrada roast.
Photograph credit: Leitão à Bairrada (lead image of the pt.wikipedia article on leitão da Bairrada) by Adriao · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Method for Leitao da Bairrada
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Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Mix the garlic, pepper, salt and half the lard and rub it over the pig, inside and out. Set on a rack in a tin.
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Brush the skin with the remaining melted lard. Roast for 3 hours, basting every 30 minutes.
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Add the potatoes tossed in the oil for the last hour.
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Turn the oven to 220°C / 430°F for 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes, until the skin is crisp.
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Rest for 15 minutes, carve and serve with the oranges.
Keep an Eye on These
- Rub the pig the night before if you can.
- Baste with lard to crisp the skin.
- Finish at a high heat.
If You're Missing Something
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
About This Recipe
Compare it to the Segovia roast and you find a different method: a rub of garlic and pepper, and a dry roast without water. Leitão da Bairrada is the suckling pig of central Portugal, roasted in a wood oven in restaurants along the old road from Lisbon to Porto, and the skin comes out thin, brittle and the colour of amber.
A young pig has little fat, and the skin must be kept moist at first. Rub the pig inside and out with a paste of crushed garlic, black pepper, salt and lard, and leave it in the fridge overnight if you can. Brush the skin with lard before and during roasting, as this is what makes it blister and crisp. Lay the pig on a rack in a large tin, and roast at 160°C / 320°F for 3 hours.
Raise the heat to 220°C / 430°F for the last 40 minutes and baste with the pan fat every 10 minutes until the skin is golden. Rest for 15 minutes. Carve into pieces with the skin on. Serve with sliced oranges, which cut the richness, and roast potatoes. The classic accompaniment is a glass of sparkling Bairrada wine.
What to Serve It With
Orange slices · Roast potatoes · Sparkling red wine
Keeping Leitao da Bairrada
Keeps for 3 days in the fridge.
Quick Answers
How long does Leitao da Bairrada take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 4 hours of cooking, plus 15 minutes of resting, so allow 4 hours 35 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Leitao da Bairrada Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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