Spain's central plateau has its own idea of a feast. In Castilla y León, a big lunch often means a clay dish coming out of a wood-fired oven with a suckling pig or a quarter of milk-fed lamb in it. The restaurants that do this are called asadores.
The Castilian asador
A Castilian asador is built around a horno de leña, a wood-fired bread-style oven. The meat goes in whole or in large pieces, usually in an earthenware dish, and roasts slowly. The seasoning is minimal, often not much more than salt and water, because the point is the meat itself.
Two animals dominate: very young suckling pig and very young lamb. The piglet is roasted until its skin crisps; the lamb browns on the outside. Both come out soft enough to pull from the bone.
Cochinillo: Segovia's suckling pig
Cochinillo asado is roast suckling pig, made with a milk-fed piglet only a few weeks old. Segovia is the city most closely tied to it.
The best-known ritual is the carving. In Segovia, the cochinillo is traditionally cut at the table with the edge of a plate rather than a knife. It is a bit of theatre, but it also makes a point: if a plate can cut it, the meat is tender and the skin is crisp enough to shatter.
Lechazo: milk-fed lamb from the Duero
Lechazo is milk-fed lamb, slaughtered before it has moved on to grass. It has its own protected geographical indication, Lechazo de Castilla y León. Towns along the Duero, such as Aranda de Duero in Burgos, are known for asadores that roast it in quarters in clay dishes. Our page on cordero asado covers roast lamb more broadly.
The traditional side is just as plain: a simple lettuce and onion salad, bread, and often a red from the nearby Ribera del Duero.
How a roast lunch works
- Lechazo is usually ordered by the quarter (un cuarto), and cochinillo by the portion. A whole animal is often ordered in advance for a group.
- It is a lunch dish. The big roast is the centre of a long midday meal, especially at weekends.
- There is not much on the plate besides the meat. That is deliberate, so don't expect elaborate garnishes.
Why asador menus abroad vary so much
The word asador does not mean the same thing everywhere in Spain. In the Basque Country, an asador is usually a grill house cooking whole fish and thick chuletón steaks over embers. So a restaurant abroad calling itself an asador might roast suckling pig in an oven, or it might grill over charcoal.
Our listing for Asador 44 in Cardiff, for example, describes meat cooked on a wood-fired parrilla grill, inspired by the asador restaurants of northern Spain. That is the grill meaning, not the Castilian oven one. By contrast, the listing for Sabor in London, founded by Nieves Barragán and José Etura, describes a journey that takes in the asadors of Castile.
Where to find suckling pig outside Spain
These listings in our directory mention suckling pig in their own records:
- La Encina, Bogotá. Traditional Spanish cooking in Zona G, with cochinillo segoviano on the menu alongside paella, callos a la madrileña and rabo de toro.
- Txikito, New York. Alex Raij and Eder Montero's Basque restaurant in Chelsea, which lists crispy suckling pig with its pintxos and whole fish.
- Uno Mas, Bangkok. Rooftop Spanish dining on the 54th floor of Centara Grand at CentralWorld, with suckling pig from the Josper charcoal oven.
