Tag: Italian regional recipe

NOT QUITE PORCHETTA – Rolled belly pork

 This recipe is not quite Porchetta, as a traditional Porchetta is a whole baby pig that has been boned, stuffed and roasted.

Porchetta is common in certain parts of central Italy and those of you who have travelled to Umbria, Lazio, Abruzzo and the Marche may have had slices of Porchetta in a panino or between two slices of rustic bread and it is common fare in regional fairs or markets; it is eaten hot or cold.

In Italian, a fair is called a Fiera and a market is a Mercato or a Mercatino, that is a small market.

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Porchetta sliced

But this recipe uses belly pork and although it called Porchetta, you now know that it is not, except for the stuffing. You would also know that there are always many variations in all Italian regional cooking, but rosemary, garlic and fennel are a must in this recipe.

I did not cook the following Porchetta and it is not my recipe, it is a Tobie Puttock recipe published in a New Idea magazine.  The cook and host was my brother. The photographs are mine and hopefully they will help to explain the method of preparing the belly pork for cooking.

In the original recipe the skin is left on and honey is rubbed over the meat once it is out of the oven (I really cannot imagine why you would want to do this, but go ahead if you wish). My host and brother removed the skin and cooked the meat on a roasting rack, this would also be my preference, as I do not like too much fat.

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Placing the herbs under the crackling, then rolling it and tying it with string

One roll of meat was really enough for 4 people and weighed 1.5 kg.

Below it the ideal size of a piglet used for making a real Porchetta.

piglet
Roast baby pig as presented in a Melbourne restaurant

The recipe below is yet another adaptation of the original Tobie Puttock recipe called Porchetta that was published in the New Idea magazine, but was later published in a Delicious Magazine.

I cannot supply dates because I don’t have them, but this updated recipe in Delicious is better than the original and is called  Porchetta with Salsa Verde.

But  sorry Tobie,  salsa verde is not something I would add to a serve of Porchetta  as it competes with the flavours of the stuffing that are the highlight of the dish. For that amount of meat, I would use double the amount of herbs and reduce the amount of garlic. And make sure that they are fresh herbs.

And as mentioned before, NO Honey!

Porchetta with Salsa verde
Ingredients
  • 4-5kg piece pork belly*, boned, skin and excess fat removed, skin reserved (ask your butcher to do this for you)
  • 1/2 cup sage leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 tbs fennel seeds
  • 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 5 tbs (100ml) good-quality honey
salsa verde (makes about 1 cup)
  • 2 garlic cloves, fi nely chopped
  • 3-6 anchovies
  • 1 tbs salted capers, rinsed, roughly chopped
  • Small handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • Small handful of basil leaves
  • 5 mint leaves, sliced
  • Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • Extra virgin olive oil
method
Preheat the oven to 250˚C and oil a large roasting pan. Lay the pork belly flat on a work surface. Sprinkle with 2 tsp coarse sea salt and 2 tbs freshly ground black pepper, then massage the seasoning into the meat. Stand for 5 minutes, then sprinkle the meat with the sage, rosemary, fennel seeds and garlic. Starting from one long side, roll up the pork firmly. Wrap the roll in the reserved pork skin, so the ends meet under the roll. Use kitchen string to tie first around the centre, then 2cm from each end. Add a few more ties along the roll to secure well. Massage the olive oil into the skin, followed by 2 tsp coarse sea salt and 2 tbs black pepper.

Place the pork in the roasting pan and roast for 10 minutes, then turn and roast for a further 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 140°C, cover pan with foil and roast for 3 hours or until the meat is meltingly tender.

My Traditional Recipe for Salsa Verve:

SALSA VERDE; ITALIAN GREEN SAUCE

SALSA VERDE ( Green Sauce serve with boiled meats and corned beef)

Other posts about Porchetta:

MAIALINO ARROSTO (Roast, suckling pig)

PORK, SALUMI (Smallgoods). Tasting Australia