One of the enjoyable things about a Christmas away from home, other than the actual being away from home itself, of course, is that different celebratory food items become available. Francine and I did spend Xmas 2008 in Spain and we stumbled, quite by chance, upon a suckling pig in a supermarket. Well, to be perfectly accurate, what Francine stumbled upon was a vacuum-packed half suckling pig – the left half, if memory serves. ‘T was Francine who had to do the stumbling ‘cos I was temporarily back in the UK on a classic family emergency, returning just in time for our Xmas together on Xmas Eve. It seems that suckling pig is quite popular in Spain over Christmas. I’d been salivating at the prospect of a repeat gastronomic experience this time since leaving Luton airport.
I had not been looking forward to the rather rainy conditions that we’ve experienced since arriving but at least wet weather makes scouring the supermarkets an enjoyable experience. First, we checked out the Masymas supermercado in Jalon. Nada, nichts, nothing. Darn, I hope the Spanish haven’t gone off suckling pig. The following day found us in the local Masymas again and lo, cutely curled up on the meat counter, its little trotters curled appealingly beneath it, was a whole suckling pig. Francine thought of two reasons not to buy it:
- it was too big for two;
- it looked too much like Scamp (our charge for the season).
Well, Scamp does curl his paws under him in much the same fashion but really, some people have no sense of fun.
Finally, today on Saturday morning prior to an evening dinner party Francine and I hit the Mercadona supermercado in Benissa for some supplies. Ever alert, though our personal needs weren’t our prime requirement, we wandered past a chiller cabinet filled with halves of suckling pigs. The expiry date was 25th December and, having been invited out on Christmas Day, we’d have to freeze our booty but it was too good an opportunity to miss so we bagged €25 worth.
This year’s acquisition is the right hand side of the piglet so we’ll be able to do a taste comparison. 🙂
When was the last time you saw a suckling pig in a British supermarket?
Why do I find posts about food so much more fascinating than posts about dragonflies!
There’s nothing wrong with ruled by your stomach. I’ll try to take a piccie when the little half-beast is cooked. 🙂