ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

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Imagine 11 million people. It’s hard to do, so here’s context: that’s more people than live in the state of Michigan or the entire Dominican Republic. It’s also the number of people who saw the premiere episode of Game of Thrones when it returned for a sixth season in the spring of 2016. And 8 million of them saw it “live,” tuning in to the HBO telecast like this was 1991 and the Dallas finale was about to air. In an era of endless television options, that’s a pretty extraordinary thing: 8 million people, all stopping their lives to watch a violent, hard-to-follow fantasy series at the same time.Much of the ChefSteps staff was there too—glued to the television, white-knuckling it through the opening credits as we waited to learn the fate of a long-lashed fellow named Jon Snow. By midseason, Game of Thrones had become an endless source of conversation around the office, and that conversation inevitably turned to food. What would be the ultimate meal to serve in honor of the season finale? And who better to create that meal than the spectacle-loving meat pros in our own kitchen? So we asked them to do it, and boy, did they deliver. Think whole suckling pig, surrounded by a host of Middle Ages–inspired side dishes both sweet and savory. Crispy-skinned and impossibly tender, the pig turns out to be pretty straightforward—you simply stick the whole shebang in a garbage bag with a spicy brine, cook it sous vide, then finish over a hot fire (or under the broiler if you prefer). The extraordinary results are epic enough to impress any guest—whether you’re serving a rowdy crew of wildlings or a silver-haired Targaryen queen.