Iberico Suckling Pig Confit with Shallot and Orange Sauce
Chef Joan Roca of El Cellar de Can Roca – Girona, Spain
Adapted by StarChefs.com
Yield: 6 Servings

INGREDIENTS
Suckling Pig Confit:
1 7½ to 8½-pound suckling pig
Salt
¾ cup olive oil
24 black peppercorns

Shallot and Orange Sauce:
14 ounces shallots
2 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 2 oranges
1 tablespoon cloves
½ cup Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

To Assemble and Serve:
Elderberry flowers
Maldon sea salt

Method
For the Suckling Pig Confit:
Cut the pig into 6 pieces: 2 shoulders, 2 legs and 2 rib sections. Salt the pieces and vacuum seal individually with a few black peppercorns and 2 tablespoons olive oil in each bag. Cook at 70°C/158°F for 12 hours in a bain-marie or steam oven. (Once cooked, you can store the product: cool rapidly in a blast cooler or ice water bath; refrigerate.) Before opening the bags, warm in a 60°C/140°F bain-marie (this facilitates deboning process). Upon opening bags, save the juices for the shallot and orange sauce, and then debone the pieces.

For the Shallot and Orange Sauce:
Preheat the oven to 149°C/300°F. Roast shallots until tender and peel them. Meanwhile, make a caramel with the sugar in a saucepan. Add the orange juice and cloves; then stir in the reserved pork cooking juice and vinegar. Reduce the liquid by half; then strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Caramelize the shallots with a quarter of the sauce in a saucepan over low heat; set aside. Add the olive oil to the remaining sauce and emulsify with a mixer.

To Assemble and Serve:
In a preheated non-stick pan or on the grill with a little oil, put the suckling pig skin-down to brown the skin and raise the internal temperature of the meat. Cook until the skin is nicely golden and crispy. Drizzle the sauce in a circular pattern in the middle of the plate. Put the shallots in the middle and top with the suckling pig, skin side up. Garnish with a few elderberry flowers and a sprinkling of salt.