Italian Porchetta Recipe
Italian Porchetta Recipe
Ingredients:
1.5 tablespoons black peppercorns
1/2 to 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1.5 tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon fennel seed
1 tablespoon coriander
5 cloves mashed up garlic
6 pounds Butterflied pork shoulder
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup good red wine vinegar
1 piece pork skin, large enough to cover the shoulder, like a pashmina, or 9 thin slices pancetta
Preparation Instructions:
Toast spices & salt in small heavy bottom pan till fragrant, and crush in mortar and pestle or mini chop. It should be rather coarse, not a powder. I am not ashamed to admit I use a magic bullet blender that I bought on TV; it grinds beautifully and makes smoothies. Mix spices with chopped rosemary, orange zest & mashed up garlic, add olive oil till it makes a paste. Slather the pork in the spice mix, and place in a baggie with the bay leaves over night or up to 3 days; remember to smoosh it around when you are in the fridge. Preheat oven to 325; bring pork to room temperature. Take pork out of baggie, turn baggie inside out and rub all the spice paste over the inside of the pork skin. Place in a roasting pan with a rack, and roast until the internal temperature reaches 150. remove and let sit until goes to @ 160. Depending on your oven you may need to rotate it every so often. It should take 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Remove skin, scrape off the fat (if you want) and cut into strips with a sharp set of shears (say that 4 times fast), to serve. (The pancetta will crisp, so simply break it into small pieces for serving alongside the porchetta.) ASK THE HOTLINE ABOUT THIS STEP! Deglaze pan with vinegar. Don’t reduce too much — just enough to get rid of some off the sharpness (this is more like a porky vinaigrette). To serve slice into 1/4″ slices, add a strip of skin (or pancetta) to each plate (or pile atop if serving en masse on a platter) and drizzle with sauce. Serve with garlicky bitter greens and roasted or mashed potatoes, or escarole & white beans. The next day make Philly Style Roast Pork Sandwiches by piling warm pork & greens on a crusty seeded long roll with thin slices of sharp aged provolone.
Photo credit: lsbardel