A milk-fed piglet, a few weeks old, roasted whole in a wood oven until the skin is glassy and crackling and the meat soft enough to cut with a plate.
What makes it cochinillo asado
A milk-fed piglet of a few weeks, split and roasted whole.
A wood-fired oven and an earthenware dish.
Skin crisp enough to crack, meat soft enough to cut with a plate.
Where it comes from
Segovia has roasted suckling pig for a very long time, and its restaurants make a show of it: the roast is carved at the table with the edge of a plate, which is then smashed on the floor — a flourish usually credited to one of the city's best-known restaurants.
The pig is only a few weeks old and fed on its mother's milk, and little is added — water, salt, lard, sometimes a bay leaf or garlic. The oven does the rest.