By Romain Here at BROography, we’re all about living a rich life. And that includes not only consuming delicious food but being able to create the delicacies. If you’ve traveled to Italy, you might have experienced this rare treat called Porchetta. It’s a nesting doll of a meat, layer after layer of flavors. An Epicurian classic.
After spending way too much time looking at porchetta recipes on YouTube, I decided to try my hand at it. Here’s the result.
Preparing the meat
Buy a big piece of pork loin. Butterfly-cut the pork loin so that you have a large surface to work with. Look at this simple video to learn how to butterfly meat.
Once your loin is spread out, generously sprinkle the following on the meat:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Ground chili peppers and/or Fennel Powder (more expensive)
- Mixed italian herbs (oregano, rosemary, sage, etc.)
After this dry rub has been applied, add some fresh rub on top:
- Chopped garlic
- Fresh chopped Basil
- Fresh chopped Thyme
- Diced cooked onions
- Olive oil
- Crushed pine nuts
- Pork belly slices
“Close” these toppings with some pancetta slices. This will be crispy and salty when it cooks: basically delicious.
Once all of this is done, roll the pork loin together, from one end to the other, with all the fillings inside. With all this, you may think you won’t be able to roll it without a lot of filling spilling over, but fear not, it is absolutely possible. Once it’s rolled, tie everything in place with some butcher strings. 3 or 4 strings running with the meat, and one across, like on the photo below.
Drizzle some olive oil against the outside skin, and then rub black pepper & salt on it.
In your oven rack, make a bed of basil & thyme. Place the porchetta in the rack. Add some white wine, water & lemon juice to the rack.
Cooking
- Preheat your oven at 220°C (430°F) for 15 min.
- Then cook the porchetta for 20-30 min at that temperature to caramelize then skin.
- Then roast the porchetta for 3 hours at 150°C (300°F), on a rotating spike (if you have one).
- If you lose some of the liquid during cooking, add a bit more water and wine.
Finally, your porchetta is ready, with the outside nicely crispy and the inside tender.
Using a sharp butcher knife, cut porchetta slices about two knuckles thick.
You can pair the porchetta with some roasted potatoes, caramelized apples, or roasted eggplant. I did all three.
If you liked this recipe, make sure to check out our other delicious food recipes.
