Porchetta

Porchetta! If you’re not familiar, this is Italy’s answer to the hog roast - a colossal roll of pork, stuffed with garlic and herbs. It is, quite simply, glorious. It’s certainly not something you decide to whip up last minute and this amount of meat isn't cheap, but trust me - you won’t regret it.

Make sure you plan it all so that you can leave it rolled up in the fridge overnight. There are all sorts of varieties of a porchetta, but this recipe uses the loin wrapped in belly. Give your butcher a call before you pop in. They’ll be more than familiar with it and can make sure the cuts and sizes are suitable to roll up. Ask them for tips because rolling and tying it all together can be a bit fiddly, but well worth the effort.

I like to have the crackling puff right up so that any leftovers make for the most incredible scratchings.

If you love a good bit of crackling, try not to hog it all 😬

Serves: 8-10 (or a small family with a couple of days’ worth of leftover sandwiches)

Prep time: 30-45 minutes plus overnight resting

Cook time: 4 hours

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Ingredients

1.5-2kg rectangular piece of boneless pork belly (skin on)

Slightly smaller piece of pork loin (suitable to be rolled inside the belly)

1 whole bulb of garlic

1 tbspn of fennel seeds

1 tspn of dried chilli flakes

1 tbspn fresh rosemary (chopped)

1 tbspn fresh thyme (picked)

2 tbspns sea salt flakes

1 tspn cracked black pepper

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tbspns white wine

String for tying

Method

Start your prep the night before the big day. Place the fennel seeds, chilli flakes and cracked black pepper into a dry pan over a medium heat for toasting. Make sure you keep the spices moving so they don’t catch. It won’t take long.. less than a minute. When you can smell the fragrance coming from the pan, remove from the heat and tip into a pestle and mortar.

Add the garlic, herbs, salt, lemon zest and white wine to the spices and grind to a rough paste.

If your butcher hasn’t already scored the belly skin, score diagonally both ways (to make a cross-hatch pattern) with a sharp knife. Careful not to cut the flesh under the skin. Place the belly on a clean surface, skin side down and lightly score the flesh in the same way. Massage the paste into the flesh before placing the loin on top, across the width of the belly.

This is where it gets a bit fiddly… Roll it up tightly and tie it with butcher’s string at intervals of roughly 5cm. It can feel like it’s about to unroll and look a mess, but have faith! Take one knot at a time and you will gradually end up with a neat looking roll. Leave it to sit, uncovered in the fridge overnight.

Take it out around an hour before you plan to put it in the oven and bring it to room temperature. Turn the oven on to 160’c and pat the meat as dry as possible with kitchen paper so that you get the best possible crackling. Place on a wire rack set over a roasting tray and pour about 500ml of cold water into the tray beneath the meat.

Cook in the oven for 3½ hours, checking occasionally to see if the water has all evaporated and needs topping up. Then turn the oven up as high as it will go and roast for another 20-30 minutes, until the crackling looks a beautiful golden brown. Keep an eye on it.

Remove from the oven (careful the waft of intense heat and smoke when you open the oven door) and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Carve and serve in generously buttered white bread rolls.

TIPS

  • If there’s a spare pair of hands knocking about for when you need to roll it all together, rope them in! Turning it into a 2 person job makes it much easier.

  • If you can’t bear the thought of a hog roast without apple sauce, here’s a very quick recipe.