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Porchetta, a Roman favorite

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Porchetta is a roast, seasoned pork – I think of it as Italian BBQ. It’s well-loved in Rome and you can get spectacular porchetta sandwiches all over town.

My favorite version was from Aristocampo, the most amazing sandwich joint in Rome. Theirs was porchetta on ciabatta, with Brie cheese and rapini greens sauteed on olive oil and pepperoncino. Alas, they are gone now. I honor their wizardry with my version of the sandwich: thin slices of the meat, some fontina or Havarti cheese, and some arugula dressed with olive oil and vinegar, or some sauteed rapini greens, all on a toasted focaccia (like the recipe I shared here earlier; look it up and make some).

This porchetta is based on Katie Parla’s recipe in Tasting Rome. I make a smaller cut (if you use a bigger cut of meat, multiply the seasoning mix in the same proportion), and I turn the seasoning mix into a paste. The trick is low and slow, it keeps this succulent. Mangia!

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Porchetta

Recipe by Chuck Cushman
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

4

hours 

Ingredients

  • 4 lbs. pork shoulder or pork roast, if you can get the shoulder with skin on, go for it

  • 2 Tbsp Fresh rosemary, chopped finely

  • 2 tsp ground fennel or fennel pollen

  • 1 tsp chopped Calabrian chili in oil

  • 4 Tbsp olive oil

  • 2 Tbsp Kosher salt

  • 2 Tbsp Fresh black pepper

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

  • 1 Tbsp sea salt

Directions

  • In a small bowl, mix the rosemary, fennel, olive oil, chili, salt and pepper, into a thick paste. Reserve.
  • With a large sharp knife, slowly cut the meat into a long roll, and lay it out, fat and/or skin side down. If you got meat with the skin, flip it and score though the skin with the knife in a checkerboard pattern – just through the skin, no deeper. Flip it back skin-side down.
  • Rub the seasoning mix onto the meat and coat the whole top side. Roll the meat back up to its original shape and tie it closed with kitchen twine.
  • Let the meat rest for an hour or more in the fridge to dry the surface out a touch.
  • Preheat your oven to 225° F. Put the meat on a tray pan, on a wire rack or roasting rack if you have one. Rub the surface with the olive oil and sprinkle the sea salt on it.
  • Roast the meat for about 4 hours, until a thermometer inserted into the centers reads 145° F. If you have the skin-on meat, raise the temp to 500° F and broil for 5-7 minutes to crisp the skin.
  • Rest for 45 minutes under a loose foil tent. Serve with your favorite sides, or make sandwiches for your friends and you.

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