Purchasing a pork roast doesn’t do it, there’s no skin, and no fat. A pork belly has the latter two, but no lean meat. The simple solution – combine the two.
For me, a trip to an Umbrian market is not complete without a stop by a porchettai, a vendor in a white van hawking delicious porchetta sandwiches, a large sandwich of savory roasted pork on a fresh white bun. A tasty snack to revive weary cyclists as we tour Umbria, you can find porchetta sandwiches throughout Italy.
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Porchetta – Italian Roast Pork
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
How to make the best possible Italian Pork Roast
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 2 1/2 – 3 pound piece fresh pork belly (skin on)
- 1 2 1/2 – 3 pound boneless pork loin
- Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 bulb fresh fennel (tough outer layer and inner core removed, chopped into 1/4 inch dice)
- 3 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1/4 cup fennel fronds (finely chopped)
Instructions
- Set belly skin side up. Using a sharp knife or box cutter, score the skin on each diagonal, making a diamond shaped pattern. Try to cut only the skin itself, but don’t worry too much if you cannot pierce the skin everywhere, or if sometimes you cut a little deeper. It is hard to penetrate the skin consistently, even with a very sharp knife.
- Flip the belly so the skin side is down. Score the belly flesh in the same diagonal diamond shaped pattern.
- Salt both sides of the belly, as well as the loin. Set aside while you make the seasoning mixture.
- Place the fennel seeds in a hot sauté pan, and toast just until they are aromatic and starting to brown. Add the olive oil, chopped fresh fennel, garlic and rosemary, and saute until the fennel is soft, about 4 minutes. Add the chopped fennel fronds and remove from heat.
- Cover the entire loin and the flesh side of the pork belly with the seasoning mixture. Roll the belly around the loin so the short ends of the belly meet, or come as close to meeting as possible. If there is a bit of loin still exposed along the bottom, don’t worry, we’ll put this at the bottom and no one will ever know. If the loin is longer than the pork belly, or the belly longer than the loin, and one sticks out, trim so the ends are flush.
- Tie the roast with kitchen twine at about 1/2” intervals. Place the roast on a wire rack set in a sheet pan, with any gap where the pork belly may not cover the loin at the bottom. If you have the luxury of time, place the roast, uncovered, in your refrigerator for 1-2 days to allow the seasonings to penetrate the roast and the skin to air-dry. When ready to cook, removed the roast from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Place roast in preheated oven, and roast for 45 minutes. Reduce heat to 300° and continue to roast until the porchetta reaches an internal temperature of 140°, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. If the skin is not as brown and crispy as you’d like, turn on the broiler and finish browning the skin, keeping a careful eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Category: Main
I’ve made a similar recipe…smoked instead of oven roasted… almost had fist fights over the last servings!!
There’s not much better than a perfect Pirchetta with loin from a from a peanut fed feral sow.
★★★★★
I please need to ask a question. I have done all the prepping and it looks great. As we are only two people, I have far too much and was wondering if I could section it and freeze for future use? This is enough for 12 people!
Hi Gizelle, Yes, you should be able to section it and freeze for future use. And there are lots of options for using the leftovers – chopped up in a pasta sauce, maybe with some greens; in a soup; on a breakfast sandwich. Enjoy!!