$ · steaks, chops and roasts — a reading in a couple of seconds
Know it's done without cutting into it
Checking doneness on anything thicker than a finger.
TempPro (ThermoPro) TempSwift Instant-Read Thermometer
Leitão da Bairrada is known in English as Bairrada-style suckling pig.
Also called
🇺🇸🇬🇧Bairrada-style suckling pig🇧🇷Leitão à Bairrada
Adriao, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — Leitão_à_Bairrada.JPG
Have a photo of Leitão da Bairrada from your butcher? and we'll credit you.
Portugal's PGI-protected suckling-pig roast — the signature dish of the Bairrada region in central Portugal. The whole young pig (typically 6 to 8 kilograms, slaughtered at four to six weeks) is butterflied, seasoned with garlic, lard, salt, and white pepper, and roasted on a wood-fired clay-oven spit for two to three hours until the skin crackles into a glassy, paper-thin crust. Served sliced into quarters, traditionally with sparkling Bairrada wine, *batatas fritas em fatias finas* (paper-thin chips), and orange slices to cut the richness. Distinct from Spanish *cochinillo de Segovia* and Italian *porchetta* — different breed, different seasoning, different oven tradition.
Names by country
| Country | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Bairrada-style suckling pig | Loanword on Portuguese-influenced US restaurant menus; sometimes "Portuguese suckling pig". |
| 🇬🇧United Kingdom | Bairrada-style suckling pig | |
| 🇵🇹Portugal | Leitão da Bairradaprimary | PGI-protected since 2015 ("Leitão da Bairrada IGP"); whole-spit-roasted in wood-fired clay ovens, the signature dish of the Bairrada subregion. |
| 🇧🇷Brazil | Leitão à Bairrada | Brazilian Portuguese variant — the Bairrada-style preparation crossed the Atlantic with Portuguese emigration. |
Does your butcher call it something else?
What to ask for
Shopping outside the tradition Leitão da Bairrada comes from?
Select a primal to see its cuts
Classic recipe
Get this cut right
Affiliate links — CarneAtlas may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.See all recommended gear
Want one useful cut guide each week?
Every Thursday: one cut like Leitão da Bairrada, its names around the world, the best substitute, one dish, and one useful tool.
Free. No password. Unsubscribe anytime.