Porceddu is a signature dish of Italy; we have verified places to eat it in Alghero and Cagliari. Suckling pig cooked slowly until the skin crackles and the meat pulls away clean, scented with myrtle.
Porceddu · Alghero
Suckling pig cooked slowly until the skin crackles and the meat pulls away clean, scented with myrtle. The Sardinian feast dish, ordered a day ahead in most Alghero trattorias.
Porceddu is the inland counterweight to the Alghero fish tradition, a shepherd's celebration dish that came down to the coast with families from the mountain villages. The pig is young, four to six weeks, and traditionally cooked on a spit over juniper or myrtle embers, then rested under myrtle branches so the leaves perfume the meat as it cools. Restaurants now mostly use ovens, but the myrtle stays. In Alghero it is the plate to order when you want the other half of Sardinia, and kitchens such as Trattoria Lo Romanì cook it from a family repertoire brought from Tonara in the interior.
Where to eat in Alghero:
- Trattoria Lo Romanì
- Al Refettorio
Where to eat Porceddu in Alghero: the editor picks
Porceddu · Cagliari
Suckling pig roasted whole over embers of myrtle and juniper until the skin crackles and the meat stays moist. In Cagliari it is a booked-ahead plate, ordered a day in advance and eaten in a group.
Porceddu is the shepherds' roast of inland Sardinia, cooked for feast days and still the centrepiece for Christmas and family celebrations. The pig weighs four to six kilos, is split and spitted, and turns slowly beside rather than over the fire so the fat renders without scorching. Myrtle is the signature: branches are laid under the meat as it rests, or the roast is buried in myrtle leaves so the aromatic oils settle into the skin. In the city it is a restaurant dish rather than a home one, because few Cagliari kitchens have the space or the fire for it, and the rooms that do it well ask for 24 hours' notice.
Where to eat in Cagliari:
- Su Cumbidu
Where to eat Porceddu in Cagliari: the editor picks