Porcetto Sardo — Whole Spit-Roasted Suckling Pig over Myrtle

Ingredients

• 1 (8–10 kg) whole young pig (maialetto), dressed, milk-fed; skin intact and unblemished
• 80 g coarse sea salt, for seasoning inside and out; no other seasoning is used
• For the spit and resting bed
• sufficient to sustain 4–6 hours of embers Sardinian holm oak (leccio) logs, burned down to white-ash embers before cooking begins; never used as open flame
• 4–6 large bundles fresh wild myrtle (Myrtus communis) branches, enough to make a thick bed beneath the pig and a covering layer above it

Method

1. 1
   Burn the holm oak logs down to white-ash embers before the pig is mounted, so that no residual flame or rolling smoke touches the skin during the cook. The fire is ready when a hand held 30 cm above the ember bed can remain for a count of three to four — no more, no less. Flame must be absent; radiant heat from white ash is the only acceptable source.
2. 2
   Season the pig thoroughly inside the cavity and across the entire exterior with coarse sea salt. No other seasoning is applied; the myrtle provides all aromatic character. Secure the pig on the spit, binding the legs firmly so the carcass turns as a single rigid unit.
3. 3
   Mount the spit over the ember bed and begin continuous rotation, turning without pause so that no single face of the skin sits long enough in the heat to tighten and colour ahead of the rest. Maintain the embers at consistent moderate heat for four to six hours, feeding fresh oak and allowing it to reduce to ash before it reaches the pig — never adding raw wood that produces flame or heavy smoke. The skin will progress from pale to gold to a deepening amber; the dripping fat should sizzle gently, not flare.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies: the embers must be maintained at an unwavering moderate heat for the full duration, because heat too fierce chars the skin before the interior is cooked, while heat too faint renders the skin without colour or structure. The correct signal is a slow, steady sizzle of fat on the embers and a skin that deepens to lacquer-bronze without blistering or blackening. Probe the thigh at the thickest point — the internal temperature must reach 75 °C.
5. 5
   Remove the pig from the spit and lay a thick bed of fresh myrtle branches on a flat surface, then place the pig on top and cover it entirely with a second layer of fresh myrtle branches, so the residual heat of the carcass draws out the volatile oils of the myrtle and the skin absorbs their resinous fragrance as it rests. Rest, covered, for 30 minutes. The myrtle resting is not optional — without it, the preparation is spit-roasted pig; with it, it is porcetto sardo.
6. 6
   Remove the myrtle covering. The skin should be lacquer-bronze, taut, and dry to the touch. Serve the pig directly on the myrtle bed; the skin is done when it shatters cleanly and without grease on the first bite.