Balinese Ceremony Dish · Whole Roasted Suckling Pig
Babi Guling
Photo: I Kadek Jaya Wiguna / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
Its name literally means 'turning pig,' after the spit it roasts on, and it began as a dish for temple festivals and rites of passage long before it became an everyday warung order.
A whole young pig is stuffed with a thick paste of turmeric, galangal, and chili, then slow-roasted on a rotating spit over an open fire until the skin turns deep gold and shatteringly crisp. Warungs across Bali carve it to order over rice with lawar and crackling skin on top.
Why it's made this way: Bali is Indonesia's only Hindu-majority island in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, and babi guling's roots in Balinese Hindu ceremony reflect that distinct religious identity as clearly as any dish on the island.
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