Maialino al Mirto Sardo con Patate Arrosto

Ingredients

• 1 (under 8 kg) suckling pig, skin scored in a diamond pattern
• 6–8 large branches fresh myrtle, divided: half for cavity, half for roasting pan bed
• 1 lemon, halved
• 1.2 kg floury potatoes, cut into wedges
• 30 ml olive oil, to dress potatoes
• 20 g fine sea salt, for the skin; applied 2 hours before roasting
• At the table
• 30 ml mirto liqueur, drizzled over carved meat

Method

1. 1
   Two hours before roasting, score the skin of the pig in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, cutting through the skin but not into the fat beneath, so the salt can draw moisture out of every panel of skin rather than pooling only at the surface. Rub fine sea salt evenly across the entire scored surface and place the pig uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator for 2 hours. At the end of this time the skin will appear visibly dry and matte — that dull, papery look is the condition you are after for crackling.
2. 2
   Remove the pig from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature, so the sudden heat of the oven reaches the meat evenly rather than leaving the centre raw while the skin over-colours. Pack the cavity generously with fresh myrtle branches and the halved lemon, then lay the remaining branches in a single layer across the base of a large roasting pan. Set the pig on top of the myrtle bed, skin side up, lying flat and clear of the pan walls so the heat circulates without steaming any part of the skin.
3. 3
   Place the roasting pan in an oven preheated to 230 °C and roast for 25 minutes without opening the door and without basting, because any interruption lets steam back onto the skin at the moment it is trying to blister and set. At the end of this phase the skin will have bronzed across the scored diamond pattern and will sound audibly crisp when pressed gently with a spoon.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: reduce the oven immediately to 180 °C, toss the potato wedges in olive oil and a pinch of salt, and arrange them around the pig so they sit in the path of the dripping fat and grow golden rather than pale and steamed. Do not baste the pig at any point from here — a brush of liquid on skin that has just set its crust will turn it rubbery rather than crackling — and roast for a further 90 minutes. The potatoes should be golden and yielding; the skin of the pig deep mahogany and rigid to the touch.
5. 5
   Remove the pig from the oven and lay a fresh bed of myrtle branches on a carving board or serving platter, then set the pig directly on top so the volatile oils of the raw branches rise into the hot skin during the 15-minute rest, establishing the characteristic perfume of the dish that roasting alone cannot give. Do not tent the pig or cover it in any way, or the skin will soften in the trapped steam.
6. 6
   Carve the pig at the table — the skin must shatter cleanly under the knife, and any flex or give tells you the crackling did not fully set. Drizzle the mirto liqueur over the carved meat immediately before serving, and transfer the potatoes from the roasting pan alongside.