After removing your pig from the packaging, pat dry and bring
to room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 140C for fan assisted or 160C for ovens
without a fan (gas mark 3).
Choose a large, heavy based roasting tray, with deep sides and
handles for easy movement.
Massage the pig with a little peanut butter or light olive oil
then season with good quality fine sea salt all over just prior to
cooking. Make a trivet by roughly chopping equal amounts of onion,
carrot and celery (or our preferred choice of celeriac, the root of
the celery) plus a bay leaf, sprig of rosemary and a few black
peppercorns.
Sit the pig onto the trivet which should line the base of the
tray then cover the ears and tail with foil.
Place in the centre of the oven and roast for 3 1/2 hours, the
meat should be tender when pierced with a skewer with a core
temperature of 70C.
Increase the oven temperature to 210C for fan assisted or 230C
for ovens without a fan (gas mark 8), and continue to roast
uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the skin is crisp and
rich golden brown.
Remove from the oven, put onto a clean tray and keep warm by
covering with a sheet of foil.
Rest for a minimum of 30 minutes before carving, leaving the
roasted vegetables in the tray for the gravy.
For the gravy, make up 1 litre of chicken stock, tip away
excess fat then deglaze the roasting tray with the stock stirring
in all the caramelised juices from the tray. Bext, pass through a
fine sieve pushing all the juices from the vegetables into a clean
saucepan. Bring to a simmer and thicken if required by whisking in
a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a little cold water and reduce
till you reach a rich, glossy gravy.