Authentic Italian Porchetta

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 05:32:29 GMT

Step 1

Have a fully thawed pork belly, ready to prep 24 hrs before scheduled to place in oven. Check skin for any pig hair butcher may have missed (burn off with lighter or torch). Place skin side down flesh side up. Find the thick meat hunk on belly’s flesh (lthe tenderloin) and filet off at an angle that makes a level flat surface on remaining belly. Any excess fat or tough membrane removed with knife. Flip over so skin side is up and make sure pig skin is fairly even and is about no thicker than a 1/4inch thick. Fillet excess. If shape of belly is wonky, slice down edges and remove excess meat so it forms an even rectangle. Trim these scraps of extra skin and fat and place salvaged pork pieces aside with your tenderloin hunk. Using palm or fist, gently pound belly into an even surface if lopsided. Skin side down place tenderloin and salvaged meat in middle of belly (evenly eggs to edge, tightly roll belly horizontally or vertically (preference of cook) and make sure skin side does not overlap when reaching one side to other. If skin does begin to overlap, mark with knife slit, unroll, remove reel pin cuts, and remove the *skin* from the section that will potentially overlap so it will not tuck or hide inside of your good meat area.

Step 2

Place a small skillet on stove at medium-low heat with no oils or liquids inside. Let heat for 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes, peppercorns, and fennel seeds to skillet and toast for 2-4 minutes until fragrant and browned (may cause Smokey kitchen). Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Crush with mortar and pestle (ziplock bag and hard cylinder shape object also work) until very fine. Will take numerous passes and time without mortar and pestle but ingredients need to powdered as fine as possible.

Step 3

Flesh side up, take a very sharp paring knife or exaco blade and cross hatch slits diagonally across entire surface of meat (1 inch separation from last. Make sure you only slice meat, do not cut too far and penetrate fat or skin layer on opposite side. Flip belly over and take sharp paring knife or exacto blade and make long singular horizontal or vertical parallel slices (every 1/2 inch) in same direction you plan to roll slab. Cut all the way through skin but try to not penetrate the fat layer ( skin slicing is most important step of recipe. You’re entire outer layer of porchetta will be chewy, tough. And inedible instead of crispy and flakey). Grab a large wad of paper towels and pat-dry both sides of meat until most excess moisture is removed.

Step 4

Finely chop your preferred amount of sage and rosemary ( 5 sage leaves is perfect for 7lbs of meat/eyeball rosemary ). Set aside and crush garlic cloves (8 was perfect for 7lbs). Shake a generous amount of kosher salt onto flesh that’s been crosshatched. Do not go light on this step. Massage salt into meat making sure to press into hatches. Pour small increments of extra virgin olive oil or olive oil into palm and massage into crosshatched flesh of belly until a light coating is applied fully. Using a cheese grater, zest an entire lemon across fleshy side but only use yellow skin (don’t hit the white bitter area under yellow skin. Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice over hatching. Sprinkle preferred amount of nutmeg across flesh followed by crushed garlic. Massage into cuts. Sprinkle sage and rosemary over fleshy surface of belly distributing evenly. Then sprinkle light layer of cayenne pepper over area. Finally take your crushed mixture of peppercorns, red flakes, and fennel seeds and heavily distribute over hatching until only a large pitch is remaining. Massage ingredients into cuts. Lay your tenderloin and spare pieces back in middle of belly evenly and reaching one side to the other and top off with the last of crushed seasoning.

Step 5

Place oven rack inside of deep roasting pan and have close by. Cut about 7-10 pieces of butcher string (for a belly close to 2ft long on long side) at roughly a foot a piece. Slide/shimmy your first string underneath the belly in the center with one end exposed towards the top and one end on the bottom. 2nd string as you did first on either left or right side about 3 inches away from end of belly. 3rd on opposite end of second and also 3 inches from edge of belly. Fold side of belly closest to you over while tucking terloin pieces tightly towards body. Tuck and roll as tight as possible until your belly is an even cylindrical log shape. While holding the structure together, grab the middle string and tie a knot around middle to hold it in place. Left and right strings next. If measured correctly earlier, the skin should line up perfectly or close to it. Skin should not be overlapped more than an inch or so at most. The same applies if the skin dosnt quite connect. Take a sharp butcher knife and cut off sloppy ends of the log. About a half inch or inch is plenty. Discard pieces or save to use at a different time. Now take remaining strings and tie rest of log. Make sure to put another string on each end of roast closer to edge (1/2-1 inch from tips) strings should be about every 1-1 1/2 inch going across belly when finished. * never go strictly left to right or right to left when tying..tenderloins will squeeze out of ends. Left/right/middle pattern works best. Once tied roll back on forth on same surface to mold it in shape while the outside collects crumbs and garnishes that spilled out.

Step 6

Once log is shaped, take more kosher salt and heavily salt the outside of log all over. It’ should be thin but covered layer. Gently place on rack in pan and place on refrigerator *UNCOVERED* for 12-24 hours before baking. You want the outside to become as dried out as possible. Remove from fridge 2 hours before ready to bake. Preheat oven at the 1hr 45min mark to 270 degrees. Wipe excess salt off outer layer of belly and discard. Place in oven for 2hrs 30min. Flip roast over and return to oven at 310 degrees for 2hrs. Remove from oven and turn temp to max heat (450-500). Flip roast last time and return for 15-30min watching carefully that it dosnt burn (might cause smoke when on max heat). Once crust is dark brown and crispy..remove from oven and place a loose foil layer over top of it while it rests for 30 minutes. Tapping a fork on top should sound like tapping burnt bread, not muffled or soft. Cut strings off, carve, and serve.

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Crispy

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Makes leftovers

Moist

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