The Gamemakers' Roast Pig

Name: The Gamemakers' Roast Pig
Prep time: 1 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Capitol
Ingredients: 1 small whole suckling pig, or a pork shoulder roast for a scaled-down version; 2 tablespoons salt, plus more for the skin; 1 tablespoon black pepper; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Fresh rosemary and thyme; 1 whole apple, for the mouth; Roasted vegetables, to surround it on the platter

Serve when

Serve it whole on the table, apple in its mouth, and don't be surprised if someone puts an arrow through it before dinner's called.

In the movie

Theatrical

00:46:31 During the tributes' private training sessions, the Gamemakers ignore Katniss entirely, gathered instead around their own banquet table — 'Who ordered this pig?' — until she puts an arrow through the apple in the roast pig's mouth to force their attention back on her.

The Gamemakers' banquet is a small, vicious visual joke: while tributes fight for their lives one by one in a private session that could decide who lives or dies, the men judging them are getting drunk and distracted by a roast pig. It's the film's food-as- power argument in miniature — Katniss has to put an arrow through the Capitol's own dinner just to be seen at all, and the pig with the apple in its mouth becomes, for one scene, the most powerful image on screen.

Ingredients

1 small whole suckling pig, or a pork shoulder roast for a scaled-down version
2 tablespoons salt, plus more for the skin
1 tablespoon black pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Fresh rosemary and thyme
1 whole apple, for the mouth
Roasted vegetables, to surround it on the platter

Method

Rub the pig or pork shoulder all over with salt, pepper, garlic, oil, and herbs, and let it sit at least an hour (overnight for a whole pig).
Roast low and slow — 300°F for several hours for a whole pig, or until the pork shoulder is fall-apart tender and reads 195-205°F at the center — basting occasionally.
Crank the heat up at the end to crisp the skin, if using a whole pig.
Rest it, then set it whole on a large platter surrounded by roasted vegetables.
Place a whole apple in its mouth before serving — the finishing touch, and apparently an excellent target.

Substitutions

Whole suckling pig: a pork shoulder or fresh ham roast gets you the same rustic, celebratory centerpiece without the specialty order — ask a butcher to leave the skin on if you want any crackling at all.