Big Porchetta

I've been intrigued with porchetta since my first porchetta sandwich at Il Cane Rosso a few years ago. Complete with cracklings, the sandwich is a satisfying meal of thinly sliced moist pork on a roll. It doesn't appear that it's currently on their menu. What to do if you have a craving for some luscious porchetta?

How to do this at home? I found a number of home modifications of porchetta, but they seemed like lame watered down versions of the real deal: take a pork loin and wrap it in pancetta, take a pork shoulder and make slashes all over to infuse with herbs. No, no, no, let's do this pro style. No shortcuts.

Saveur to the rescue with their classic porchetta recipe. A 15 pound slab of pork belly attached to a 5 pound pork loin? Intriguing. Tell me more. Enter Chili, from Bi-Rite. Hard to imagine a better name for a butcher.  With a whole pig from Gleason Ranch coming in the afternoon of the day that I'm calling, he's going to make the perfect cut for the job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the beast, with the loin at the bottom of the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skin side up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chili suggests using an x-acto knife to slice the skin, so you can control the depth of your cut. I'm trying to make slashes about 1.5 inches apart, in a cross-hatch pattern, at 1/4 inch depth, to cut through the skin into the fat, but not into the meat, so that the juices won't leak out during cooking.

 

 

 

 

1/2 inch deep slashes in the meat, to allow for the spice mixture to get into the meat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A spice mixture of lemon zest, garlic, fennel seeds, and crush red chilis, after thoroughly seasoning the meat with kosher salt and black pepper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then we tightly roll, so that the loin is encased in the pork belly. Tie the roll tightly with doubled-up butchers twine. Seal in two clean plastic garbage bags, and refrigerate for 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let the roast warm to room tempeture by removing from refrigerator 3 hours before roasting. Roast on a rack and a large sheet pan--this one took a full size restaurant sheet pan--at 325 for about 3 hours, till the internal temperature reaches 130 degree. Then, the fun starts. You roll it under your broiler, so that the tough skin blisters into some decadent cracklings. Yum. I didn't do the baking soda rub like the recipe calls for, maybe next time. I bet that keeps the skin from burning.

 

 

 

Supper time! I like how the layer of herbs separates the loin from the pork belly. And how there's a juicy layer of fat all around and inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unless you have an oven which will accommodate a full size restaurant sheet pan, I'd recommend a 10 pound roast. That will feed a small army anyway.

Comments

[Cheap Air Jordans]

Unless you have an oven which will accommodate a full size restaurant sheet pan, I'd recommend a 10 pound roast. That will feed a small army anyway.

[Dawn]

Takes me back to my childhood. I'll definately be doing this for my guests on Boxing Day.

Thanks
Dawn

[Air Max Cheap]

Unless you have an oven which will accommodate a full size restaurant sheet pan, I'd recommend a 10 pound roast. That will feed a small army anyway.

[Masterbuilt Smokehouse Electric Smoker]

This is an amazing recipe. Thanks for taking the time to show the process so thoroughly with all of the pictures. I wonder if this method could be adapted to a smoker since it is a very long roasting time.

Webmaster of Masterbuilt Smokehouse Electric Smoker

[Ketaus puodai]

MM, that looks really delicious. Need to acquire x-acto knife if i want to duplicate..