Little pigglies

My recent trip to Saarland was primarily for my dad's birthday; given a party with lots of hungry & thirsty people, there needs to be some good substantial food at hand. Spanferkel, a whole roasted suckling, likely filled with onions, majoram and good things like that, is a great center piece, makes lots of happy kids petting the piggy snout and coming back for little meat pieces that my dad slices of for them, and lots of happy adults eating this young and tasty, locally bred and totally beautiful "little" animal.

In this case, it was served with various sides that go traditionally with pork, like Krautsalat (salad from white cabbage, typically with a vinaigrette with caraway, bacon crumbles, onions, and beef stock), Bohnensalat (green beans salad, with onions), and some sort of potato dish, such as Kartoffelgratin (potato gratin, for example baked with a milk-egg mix with nutmeg and gruyère, one of my most favorite cheeses).

More modern and creative dishes such as Fenchel-Orangen-Salat (salad of fennel and oranges, with a vinaigrette based on orange juice) actually work really great with the roasted pig as well. The fruit especially helps with its acidity lightening up the heavy side of pork and potato; anis-tasting fresh fennel is adding contrast to the nuttiness of the pork, while the orange-sweetness puts the porks own sweetness on a little pedestal - very interesting how contrasts and similarity both can increase the saliency of a flavor. All that makes it easier to enjoy more, eat more and feel phantastic about it ... :)