Parboil a leg of pork, take off the skin, and then put it down to roast; baste it with butter, and make a savoury powder of finely minced or dried or powdered sage, ground black pepper, salt, and some bread crumbs rubbed together through a colander; you may add to this a little very finely minced onion; sprinkle it with this when it is almost roasted; put a half pint of made gravy into the dish, and goose stuffing under the knuckle skin, or garnish the dish with balls of it, fried or broiled.

245. Spare rib: when you put it down to roast, dust on some flour, and baste it with a little butter; dry a dozen sage leaves, rub them through a hair sieve, put them into the top of a pepper box, and about a quarter of an hour before the meat is done baste it with butter; dust the pulverised sage, or savoury powder, in, or sprinkle it with duck stuffing; some people prefer it plain.

246. Loin of Pork, of five pounds, must be kept at a good distance from the fire, on account of the crackling, and will take about two hours - if very fat, half an hour longer: stuff it with duck stuffing (252 and 270;) score the skin in stripes about a quarter of an inch apart, and rub it with salad oil. You may sprinkle over it some of the savoury powder recommended for the mock goose (244.)

247. Sucking Pig should be about three weeks old, and it ought to be dressed as quickly as possible after it is killed; if not quite fresh, the crackling can never be made crisp. It requires constant attention and great care in roasting. As the ends require more fire than the middle, an instrument called the pig-iron has been contrived to hang before the latter part. A common flat iron will answer the purpose, or the fire may be kept fiercest at the ends. A good stuffing may be made as follows: - Take five or six ounces of the crumb of stale bread; crumble and rub through a colander; mince very fine a handful of sage, and a large onion; mix with an egg, pepper, salt, and a piece of butter about the size of an egg; fill the belly, and sew it up; put it to the fire, and baste it with butter tied up in a rag, by applying it to the back of the pig. Kitchiner recommends basting it with olive oil till it is done. It should never be left. It should be placed before a clear brisk fire, at some distance; and great care should be taken that the crackling should be nicely crisped, and delicately browned. It will require from an hour and a half to two hours, according to the size of the pig. When first put to the fire, it should be rubbed all over with fresh butter, or salad oil; ten minutes after this, and when the skin looks dry, dredge it well with flour all over. Let this remain on an hour, and then rub it off with a soft cloth. A sucking pig being very troublesome to roast, is frequently sent to the oven. A clever baker will do it so as to be almost equal to roasted; he will require a quarter of a pound of butter, and should be told to baste it well. (See 284.) Before you take the pig from the fire, cut off the head, and part that and the body down the middle; chop the brains very fine with some boiled sage leaves, and mix them with good veal or beef gravy, or what runs from the pig when you cut the head off. Send up a tureen full of gravy besides. Currant sauce is still a favourite with some of the old school. Lay your pig back to back in the dish, with one half of the head on each side, and the ears at each end, which you must take care to make nice and crisp, or you will get scolded, and deservedly. When you cut off the pettitoes, leave the skin long, round the end of the legs.