Suckling Pig with Trotter

To reduce the apple juice: Place the apple juice in a non-aluminum pan over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup in volume. Set aside and let cool.

To prepare the meat: Separate the front legs, back legs, and head from the carcass. Remove and set aside the loins. Set aside the head, belly, and shoulder. Remove the meat from the front legs by slicing around the ankle, then cutting straight up the inside. Cut the meat from the skin and open out the skin. Break the carcass apart into separate bones. Wrap the meat, head, belly, skin, and shoulder and refrigerate until ready to use.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Place the loins in the marinade. Cut the remaining meat into large pieces. Place in the marinade, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Chop the bones and place in a roasting pan. Roast for 45 minutes, until dark brown. Remove and put on top of the stove. Add 2 cups of water and boil to bring up the browned bits from the pan. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a little less than 1 cup. Discard the bones; save the roasting pan with its browned bits and juice.

To make the farce: Leave the loin in the marinade. Remove the remaining meat and cut into small pieces. Reserve half for the trotter. Place the remaining meat, shallot, garlic, and Poitin in a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend well. Add the eggs and blend for 1 minute. Remove and press through a tamis or other fine sieve. Place the farce in a clean bowl and press plastic wrap on the surface. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the confit: Preheat the oven to 275 F. Remove all the meat from the pig’s head. Cut the belly meat and fat and the shoulder into large chunks. Line a roasting pan with foil and place the pig meat and fat, duck fat, garlic, peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaf in the foil. Fold in and seal, making a packet. Cook 3 to 3-1/2 hours. Remove and allow to cool in the packet; when cooled, open the packet and remove the meat from the other ingredients.

To prepare the trotters: Cut the confit meat into small pieces and place in a large bowl. Add the foie gras, apple, chives, truffles, and apple juice and mix gently. Add the farce and stir together. Season to taste. Place the mixture in a large piping bag with no tip. Spread out the reserved skins from the legs on pieces of plastic wrap; they will be roughly rectangular. Pipe half the meat mixture along one long edge of each skin, making a thick log of filling. Starting with that edge, use the plastic wrap to roll up each skin and filling into a cylinder. Wrap each in plastic wrap, twisting the ends closed. Wrap each cylinder again in foil, sealing well. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and place the wrapped trotters in the water. Boil for 20 minutes, remove from the water, and let rest for 15 minutes. Unwrap.

To braise the loins and trotters: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Unwrap the loins. Season with salt and pepper. Film a saute pan with olive oil. Place over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, sear the loins on all sides until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side; add more olive oil as needed. Avert your face, add the Poitin, and shake the pan until the flames die down. Add the mirepoix and cook for 2 minutes. Put the pan juices, loin, and mirepoix into the roasting pan with its juices. Add enough stock to cover the meat. Cover with a circle of parchment paper and cover again with a lid of foil. Place in the oven for 2 hours. Baste with pan juices every 30 minutes. At the end of 2 hours, remove from the oven. Wrap the loins in caul fat. Return them to the pan and add the precooked trotters to the pan at the same time. Put the shallots in one corner of the pan. Baste with the braising liquid, and cook for 30 minutes more, basting frequently. Remove and keep warm. Line a strainer with two layers of cheesecloth and strain the pan liquid through the cheesecloth into a warmed bowl; set aside and keep warm.

To make the potato galettes: Slice the potatoes very thin on a mandoline or V-slicer. Brush clarified butter inside two 5-inch round ring pans or molds. Overlapping the slices, circle potato slices around the bottom of each mold. Place a small spoonful of truffles in the center of each. Place a second layer of overlapping slices over the truffles and the first layer. Brush with clarified butter and season to taste. Place in a large iron skillet over medium-high heat. Put the galette pans into the skillet and cook until the bottom layer is golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Invert with a spatula and brown the other side, 3 to 4 more minutes. Remove and set aside; keep warm. The galettes may also be baked in the oven with the meat for 30 minutes, then browned quickly in a saute pan.

To cook the rutabagas: Place the rutabagas and butter in an ovenproof skillet or saute pan and brown on all sides over medium-high heat, about 45 seconds per side. Place in the oven with the meat for 15 minutes to finish.

To serve: Place a potato galette to one side on each warmed serving plate. Slice each trotter into medallions and reassemble across the plate from the galettes. Spoon pan juice around the galettes and over the trotters; drizzle some of the juice over the remaining empty portion of the plates. Place three rutabaga cubes on each plate, and place a roasted shallot quarter on each.