Porchetta Recipe
Porchetta is truly one of the GREAT foods of Italy. They do porchetta right – in Italy, if you’re lucky, you’ll be walking along a random side street and see a glistening, deeply golden brown, whole pig that’s been deboned, stuffed with herbs and roasted. Italians like to tuck it into pillowy soft bread and call it a day. I call it delicious. Of course, most people aren’t going to source a whole pig, let alone debone it. So, I’ve made a porchetta recipe that’s a little more practical, but just as delicious. Instead of a whole pig, we’re going to go for the infinitely more manageable skin-on pork belly and loin. You can do a full belly porchetta, but I like the contrast between the super-marbled softness of belly and the slightly leaner, more textured loin.
The best thing about porchetta (aside from the crisp crackling and juicy, juicy meat) is the fact that it’s fairly simple to make. Dare I even say…it’s Easy Gourmet?! (Hahaha, please excuse me, I’m a little delirious) Seriously though, all you do is chop up some herbs, roll up pork belly around tenderloin, wrap it tightly in saran wrap, throw it in the fridge and call it a night. The next day, unwrap, pat dry and roast. Four hours of slow roasting later (and the most incredible smells), you turn up the heat to get some crispy crackling action and then it’s time for the hard part…waiting. Let your porky heaven rest for a little while before slicing in. It may be the longest 20 minutes of your life, but when you taste the results of your labour, you’ll be glad you waited.
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons toasted fresh rosemary, chopped
- 2 teaspoons toasted fennel seed, crushed
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- zest of 1 lemon
- Herb Rub
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, needles only
- Porchetta
- small pork tenderloin, around 3 inches in diameter, 1-2 pounds
- 12 inch slab of skin-on pork belly, 3-3 1/2 pounds
- oil
- string