Porchetta

[TheRicker]

Anyone have any porchetta recipes or suggestions for me? I’ve never done one before.

My local butcher shop puts one together from pork belly…skin on or off. My worry with that the resulting product may be too fatty. I’m fine with that but my wife isn’t.

I’ve read some people make porchetta from other parts other than pork belly…like a boneless fresh ham. Thoughts?

 

[SmokeOCD]

I think you just have to try it - at least once, the traditional way. I just clicked around and watched Martha Stewart put it together. Looks tasty, and looks like I'd want the one with the skin! There's plenty of meat in there for the wife to work around the fat and still have a decent meal.
Good Luck and Post Results!

 

[BethV]

I make Porchetta but not on the smoker. In the oven slow and then I blast it with high heat to crisp up the skin. The fat renders out and you will have only meat in the end if cooked properly. After I roll it and tie it, I cover it with a mixture of salt and baking powder. I have a mixture of spices and herbs that I rub onto it before rolling and tying. Cooked this way, it is an elegant dish. Very moist and no fat.

I would think it would do very well in the smoker, low and slow. Not sure if it will crisp up but if not, stick it in a 500F oven to finish it off.

Now you got me curious. Guess I'll be doing this myself. Please post photos.

 

[TheRicker]

I make Porchetta but not on the smoker. In the oven slow and then I blast it with high heat to crisp up the skin. The fat renders out and you will have only meat in the end if cooked properly. After I roll it and tie it, I cover it with a mixture of salt and baking powder. I have a mixture of spices and herbs that I rub onto it before rolling and tying. Cooked this way, it is an elegant dish. Very moist and no fat.

I would think it would do very well in the smoker, low and slow. Not sure if it will crisp up but if not, stick it in a 500F oven to finish it off.

Now you got me curious. Guess I'll be doing this myself. Please post photos.

When you cook it in the oven, what temp? Are you using pork belly? Do you “score” the skin?

 

[BethV]

When you cook it in the oven, what temp? Are you using pork belly? Do you “score” the skin?

This is the recipe I use:
1 whole boneless, rind-on pork belly, about 12 to 15 pounds
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 tablespoons whole fennel seed
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary, sage, or thyme leaves
12 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Place pork belly skin-side down on a large cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, score flesh at an angle using strokes about 1-inch apart. Rotate knife 90 degrees and repeat to create a diamond pattern in the flesh.

2. Flip belly skin side up. Using a pairing knife, poke dozens of 1/8" deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle. Keep poking.

3. Toast peppercorns and fennel seed in a small skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until roughly crushed.

4. Season pork liberally with salt then sprinkle with crushed pepper and fennel, red pepper, chopped herbs, and micro-plained garlic. Use your hands to rub the mixture deeply into the cracks and crevices in the meat.

5. Roll belly into a tight log and push to top of cutting board, seam-side down. Cut 12 to 18 lengths of kitchen twine long enough to tie around the pork and lay them down in regular intervals along your cutting board, about 1-inch apart each. Lay rolled pork seam-side down on top of strings. Working from the outermost strings towards the center, tie up roast tightly. Combine 2 tablespoons kosher salt with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Rub mixture over entire surface of porchetta.

6. If roast is too large and unwieldy, carefully slice in half with a sharp chef's knife. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least overnight and up to three days. If desired, porchetta can also be frozen at this point for future use.

7. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Place pork in a v-rack set in a large roasting pan, or if cooking both halves at the same time, on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Place roasting pan in oven and roast until internal temperature of pork reaches 160°F, about two hours, basting with pan drippings every half hour. Continue roasting until a knife or skewer inserted into the pork shows very little resistance asides from the outer layer of skin, about two hours longer.

8. Increase oven temperature to 500°F and continue roasting until completely crisp and blistered, about 20 to 30 minutes longer. Alternatively, you can remove the roast from the oven and tent with foil for up to two hours before finishing it in a preheated 500°F oven.

9. Tent with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife into 1-inch thick disks and serve.

 

[TheRicker]

When you cook it in the oven, what temp? Are you using pork belly? Do you “score” the skin?

…and, any rough estimate on how long I should plan for the cook…even if just the oven process you used?

 

[TheRicker]

This is the recipe I use:
1 whole boneless, rind-on pork belly, about 12 to 15 pounds
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 tablespoons whole fennel seed
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary, sage, or thyme leaves
12 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Place pork belly skin-side down on a large cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, score flesh at an angle using strokes about 1-inch apart. Rotate knife 90 degrees and repeat to create a diamond pattern in the flesh.

2. Flip belly skin side up. Using a pairing knife, poke dozens of 1/8" deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle. Keep poking.

3. Toast peppercorns and fennel seed in a small skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until roughly crushed.

4. Season pork liberally with salt then sprinkle with crushed pepper and fennel, red pepper, chopped herbs, and micro-plained garlic. Use your hands to rub the mixture deeply into the cracks and crevices in the meat.

5. Roll belly into a tight log and push to top of cutting board, seam-side down. Cut 12 to 18 lengths of kitchen twine long enough to tie around the pork and lay them down in regular intervals along your cutting board, about 1-inch apart each. Lay rolled pork seam-side down on top of strings. Working from the outermost strings towards the center, tie up roast tightly. Combine 2 tablespoons kosher salt with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Rub mixture over entire surface of porchetta.

6. If roast is too large and unwieldy, carefully slice in half with a sharp chef's knife. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least overnight and up to three days. If desired, porchetta can also be frozen at this point for future use.

7. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Place pork in a v-rack set in a large roasting pan, or if cooking both halves at the same time, on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Place roasting pan in oven and roast until internal temperature of pork reaches 160°F, about two hours, basting with pan drippings every half hour. Continue roasting until a knife or skewer inserted into the pork shows very little resistance asides from the outer layer of skin, about two hours longer.

8. Increase oven temperature to 500°F and continue roasting until completely crisp and blistered, about 20 to 30 minutes longer. Alternatively, you can remove the roast from the oven and tent with foil for up to two hours before finishing it in a preheated 500°F oven.

9. Tent with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife into 1-inch thick disks and serve.

Oh my! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[SmokeOCD]

I bet if some new potatoes accidentally fell into the bottom of the pan about 60 minutes before the end - it would be pretty awesome!

 

[BethV]

I bet if some new potatoes accidentally fell into the bottom of the pan about 60 minutes before the end - it would be pretty awesome!

You can absolutely toss taters in there along with other root veggies.

 

[TheRicker]

I bet if some new potatoes accidentally fell into the bottom of the pan about 60 minutes before the end - it would be pretty awesome!

. Good idea!

 

[Hawkness]

I had not heard of Porchetta before this post, and now I am intrigued....and wildly intimidated. A whole pork belly scares me! Thank you for the recipe. I will have to try this... after I have a few shots of some sort of liquid confidence!!

 

[Elias]

This is the recipe I use:
1 whole boneless, rind-on pork belly, about 12 to 15 pounds
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 tablespoons whole fennel seed
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary, sage, or thyme leaves
12 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Place pork belly skin-side down on a large cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, score flesh at an angle using strokes about 1-inch apart. Rotate knife 90 degrees and repeat to create a diamond pattern in the flesh.

2. Flip belly skin side up. Using a pairing knife, poke dozens of 1/8" deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle. Keep poking.

3. Toast peppercorns and fennel seed in a small skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until roughly crushed.

4. Season pork liberally with salt then sprinkle with crushed pepper and fennel, red pepper, chopped herbs, and micro-plained garlic. Use your hands to rub the mixture deeply into the cracks and crevices in the meat.

5. Roll belly into a tight log and push to top of cutting board, seam-side down. Cut 12 to 18 lengths of kitchen twine long enough to tie around the pork and lay them down in regular intervals along your cutting board, about 1-inch apart each. Lay rolled pork seam-side down on top of strings. Working from the outermost strings towards the center, tie up roast tightly. Combine 2 tablespoons kosher salt with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Rub mixture over entire surface of porchetta.

6. If roast is too large and unwieldy, carefully slice in half with a sharp chef's knife. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least overnight and up to three days. If desired, porchetta can also be frozen at this point for future use.

7. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Place pork in a v-rack set in a large roasting pan, or if cooking both halves at the same time, on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Place roasting pan in oven and roast until internal temperature of pork reaches 160°F, about two hours, basting with pan drippings every half hour. Continue roasting until a knife or skewer inserted into the pork shows very little resistance asides from the outer layer of skin, about two hours longer.

8. Increase oven temperature to 500°F and continue roasting until completely crisp and blistered, about 20 to 30 minutes longer. Alternatively, you can remove the roast from the oven and tent with foil for up to two hours before finishing it in a preheated 500°F oven.

9. Tent with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife into 1-inch thick disks and serve.

Love this... surely will try.

 

[Zonian Pyg]

Porchetta was one of my first cooks. Used a fresh small skin on belly approximately 12"x18" stuffed with a Costco pork tenderloin. I dried the skin with kosher salt overnight in the fridge then crosshatched the skin down to fat only don't hit meat. (razor knife works great). Season meat side roll up around a pork tenderloin(should just fit if not trim it a bit) tie it up and dry overnight again in fridge. Cooked mine on my Stampede at 210 for an hour or so then raised the tmp to 290 for 3hrs till internal temp was 155. Raised temp to 485 to crisp skin and rolled it often. Came out super crispy and tasty. And just to make it more fun during the cool down the grease caught fire and my brand new grill had the paint blister on the lid.

 

[Zonian Pyg]

Here are a couple more pics for you of the prep work. Fun cook but watch out for the blaze at the end.

 

[TheRicker]

This is the recipe I use:
1 whole boneless, rind-on pork belly, about 12 to 15 pounds
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
3 tablespoons whole fennel seed
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary, sage, or thyme leaves
12 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

1. Place pork belly skin-side down on a large cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, score flesh at an angle using strokes about 1-inch apart. Rotate knife 90 degrees and repeat to create a diamond pattern in the flesh.

2. Flip belly skin side up. Using a pairing knife, poke dozens of 1/8" deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle. Keep poking.

3. Toast peppercorns and fennel seed in a small skillet over medium-high heat until lightly browned and aromatic, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until roughly crushed.

4. Season pork liberally with salt then sprinkle with crushed pepper and fennel, red pepper, chopped herbs, and micro-plained garlic. Use your hands to rub the mixture deeply into the cracks and crevices in the meat.

5. Roll belly into a tight log and push to top of cutting board, seam-side down. Cut 12 to 18 lengths of kitchen twine long enough to tie around the pork and lay them down in regular intervals along your cutting board, about 1-inch apart each. Lay rolled pork seam-side down on top of strings. Working from the outermost strings towards the center, tie up roast tightly. Combine 2 tablespoons kosher salt with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Rub mixture over entire surface of porchetta.

6. If roast is too large and unwieldy, carefully slice in half with a sharp chef's knife. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least overnight and up to three days. If desired, porchetta can also be frozen at this point for future use.

7. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 300°F. Place pork in a v-rack set in a large roasting pan, or if cooking both halves at the same time, on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Place roasting pan in oven and roast until internal temperature of pork reaches 160°F, about two hours, basting with pan drippings every half hour. Continue roasting until a knife or skewer inserted into the pork shows very little resistance asides from the outer layer of skin, about two hours longer.

8. Increase oven temperature to 500°F and continue roasting until completely crisp and blistered, about 20 to 30 minutes longer. Alternatively, you can remove the roast from the oven and tent with foil for up to two hours before finishing it in a preheated 500°F oven.

9. Tent with foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes. Slice with a serrated knife into 1-inch thick disks and serve.

BethV…can’t thank you enough for the detailed recipe.

 

[TheRicker]

So…to follow-up on my porchetta saga…I bought a prepped porchetta from my local butcher shop. It looked beautiful. I cooked it low on my Bull and then finished it off on high heat in my indoor oven…pretty much following BethV’s guidance. It turned out good and tasty. My worst fear was the pork belly fat didn’t render down quite as much as my wife would’ve liked. Maybe because I left the skin on although it was cross-hatch cut. Anyway…here are my pics…

 

[SmokeOCD]

If you get the skin right, that's the best part!

 

[TheRicker]

What I discovered in this effort is that nice golden color is pretty. But the skin was too thick and hard to be a tasty treat. The roast was delicious. What I’ve read since is that the skin needs to be blistered…either searing it over high heat on a gas grill or under a broiler in the oven. In either case you have to pay close attention and turn it often. It’s that blistering that gives you the edible, crunchy chicharone (sp?). I did have that on one edge of my porchetta and it was good albeit not necessarily attractive. So a lesson learned for next time.

 

[SmokeOCD]

If you still have any skin left, just pan fry it. I guess we can call it julienne, cut thin matchstick pieces of the skin, throw it in a hot pan - add a splash of vinegar (I don't know why) and you'll have an edible crispy snack. That's how my Philippino(sp?) friend told me to do it - it works. Sprinkle a little salt on at the end.

 

[BethV]

@TheRicker It looks beautiful!

One thing that is different in your prep and mine is that I score the flesh and poke holes in the skin. Not sure if you did that.

"Flip belly skin side up. Using a pairing knife, poke dozens of 1/8" deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle. Keep poking."

The tiny holes poked all throughout the skin (and yes, this is a long process) allows the fat to drain and baste the skin as it cooks. I've included a photo of my mom poking holes in the pork belly. As you can see, it's a tedious process. Pull up a chair and get poking.

To get the skin to have the crackling effect, you would have to raise the temps real high on the grill (and risk the grease fire) or drop it in a pot of screaming hot oil so to crisp up the skin after the cook.

The skin on mine is very crunchy but flat, not crackled up.

But as I mentioned, I only do this in an oven.