porchetta

rolled pork belly with crunchy crackling

It’s hard to go past roast pork with crackling on a Sunday evening. Throw in some roast veggies and a little mustard on the side and you’ve got yourself some serious comfort food.

Whilst we love using a pork loin for our roasts, pork belly offers that bit more with those flavoursome rendered fats and stronger flavour. There’s a little more preparation involved but it’s well worth the effort. With Porchetta the belly is rolled and seasoned with herbs and spices.

ingredients

• pork belly with the skin left on*
• salt
• 1/2 cup sage leaves, loosely packed
• 1 tbsp rosemary leaves, unchopped
• 1/2 tbsp thyme leaves, unchopped
• 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 6 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp kosher salt (or another large grain salt)
• rind of half a lemon
• vegetable oil

*This piece was roughly 20cm x 20cm. You can obviously use a larger piece but this is a comfortable starting size.

directions

preparation

1. Begin by adding the herbs, fennel, paprika, garlic, peppercorns, lemon and salt to a high powered bender or Thermomix and blitz. Set aside.
2. If required, square up the pork belly so when rolled it is nice and uniform with no overlaps hanging out at either end.
3. Using a sharp knife score the belly skin at 1cm intervals being careful not to score into the flesh, skin only.
4. Flip the belly over so the slits are facing down and running away from you.
5. Again using a sharp knife, starting from the right hand side, begin cutting the flesh half way up moving towards the left hand side as shown in pic 2 below. Do not cut all the way through. Fold the top half of the belly over to the left hand side.
6. Rub a small amount of vegetable oil over the flesh and then rub in the herb mix. Fold the top half back over.
7. Gently roll up the belly. You want to do so tightly so it forms a uniform shape. Using butcher’s string tie up the roll, every second slit. If you’re concerned about the roll losing it’s shape add more ties.
8. Once tied, place the Porchetta on a wire rack inside an oven tray and rub a generous amount of salt (about a tablespoon) over and into the scored skin.
9. Allow to dry, uncovered, in the fridge. 24 hours is ideal.

cooking

1. Setup your barbecue for indirect cooking and ramp the heat up to 11 (minimum 450f/230c). If you’re using a Weber Kettle fill both charcoal baskets with lit coals and position them opposite each other on the bottom rack with a disposable aluminium tray between them to catch drippings.
2. If you have a rotisserie, perfect! If not, no dramas just lay the Porchetta along the middle of the top rack.
3. Cook at the high heat until the crackle has almost completely formed then drop the heat to around the 350f/175c mark. The skin will continue to golden up.
4. Continue to cook until the internal temperature of the meat hits at least 190f/88c. The beauty of pork belly, unlike loin, is you can cook it further to render down the fat without risk of it drying out. I like to aim for around 195f/91c.
5. Allow to rest uncovered for 10 minutes then slice. Don’t cover the pork with foil or place it in a closed container as the steam will soften that crackled skin you’ve worked so hard to produce.
6. Slice and enjoy your Porchetta!

For another rotisserie recipe have a look at our Picanha (rump cap) recipe.