Porchetta

Although I do not eat out all that often, I like to keep an eye on the restaurant scene here in Toronto and a new comer, Porchetta & Co recently caught my attention. Not surprisingly they specialize in porchetta and with all of the rave reviews they were getting I had to pay them a visit and try out their porchetta sandwich. Porchetta is an Italian style of roast pork that is seasoned with spices and slowly roasted until tender. Fattier cuts of pork are often used for porchetta and it is common to wrap everything up in a pork belly. All of this fat does two things for the roast, the first being that it keeps the roast nice and moist even through all of the roasting and it adds a ton of flavour. The final component of the porchetta is that the outer part of the pork belly gets nice and crispy and it is referred to as the crackling. Porchetta & Co definitely have their porchetta down and the sandwich was amazing! This of course inspired me to try making porchetta at home.

Luckily Porchetta & Co describe their porchetta pretty well so all that was required was coming up with the amounts in the recipe and getting to roasting. Well, before we get to roasting we actually want to marinate the pork shoulder and apply a dry rub to the pork belly and let to develop their flavours for at least 24 hours. Once the pork has had a chance build up some flavour the roast is assembled and thrown into the oven, first at a high temperature to get the outside nice and crispy and then low and slow until the roast is fully cooked. This was actually my first time working with a pork belly and I have to say that I am quite pleased with the results. The porchetta certainly did come out nice and moist and tender and full of flavour. I served the porchetta with a dollop of grainy mustard and a side of braised rapini or broccoli rabe. Now I am definitely looking forward to some porchetta sandwiches and enjoying the leftovers in other ways!

Porchetta

An Italian style slow roasted pork that consists of a pork shoulder that is rubbed with spices and wrapped in a pork belly and slowly roasted until perfectly tender.

Servings: makes 12+ servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pork shoulder or butt, cut into the shape of a cylinder about 3 inches diameter and 12 inches long, about 2 pounds
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons rosemary, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sage, chopped
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
• 1 pork belly with skin on, large enough to wrap around the shoulder, 12 inches across, 20-24 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches thick
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon dill seeds
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

Directions

1. Marinate the pork shoulder in the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, sage. lemon, salt and pepper in a zip lock bag in the fridge over night.
2. Cut diagonal criss-crossing lines across the fat side of the pork belly.
3. Cure the meat side of the pork belly in the brown sugar, fennel seeds, dill seeds, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, wrap in plastic and let sit in the fridge overnight.
4. Pull the pork shoulder and belly out of the fridge an hour before you intend to start roasting.
5. Wrap the pork belly around the shoulder with the skin side out and tie everything up with butchers twine.
6. Roast in a 400F preheated oven for 30 minutes then reduce the temperature to 250F and continue roasting until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 140F.
7. Let the porchetta rest for 30 minutes before carving.

Use in:
Porchetta Sandwiches
Porchetta Chowder
Porchetta Sandwich with Balsamic Caramelized Onions, Asiago Cheese and Arugula

Similar Recipes:
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
Bacon Wrapped Roast Pork
Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Apple Gravy
Tacos al Pastor
Cuban Roast Pork (Lechon Asado)