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Easier Porchetta Recipe

Adapted from All-Belly Porchetta Recipe by SeriousEats.com
Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours 50 minutes
Overnight rest 1 day
Total Time 1 day 5 hours 20 minutes
Course dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 20

Equipment

Ingredients
  

  • 1 whole boneless skin-on pork belly—about 12 to 15 pounds
  • 2 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
  • 3 Tbsp whole fennel seed
  • 1 Tbsp crushed red pepper
  • 3 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
  • 12 cloves garlic grated or otherwise pulped
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Instructions
 

Day 1

  • In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the peppercorns and the fennel seeds until quite fragrant and starting to brown. Remove the spices from the pan and allow them to cool.
    Toasting the spices, flipping them in the pan, for roast porchetta
  • Grind the toasted spices together and set aside.
  • Ground fennel, fennel pollen, and black pepper to season easier porchetta
  • Deeply score the meat of the pork belly in a diamond pattern. You can score all the way to the skin, but do not cut all the way through.
    Scoring the pork belly orthogonally from the first scoring
  • Sprinkle the meat generously with salt.
    Salting the pork belly liberally for porchetta
  • Rub the grated garlic into the scored meat.
    Rubbing grated garlic into the porchetta
  • Apply the ground, toasted spices to the meat. You want a very good coating, but you may not need to use all of it.
    A seasoned pork belly
  • Sprinkle on the chili flakes and the fresh herbs.
  • Rub all the seasoning into the meat, making sure it gets into the scored channels.
  • Roll the belly up with the skin on the outside so that it makes a long tube. The skin might barely meet at the seam.
    A rolled up pork belly, with twine laid out for tying it up
  • Place pieces of butcher’s twine on your board about an inch apart. Pick up the belly roll and place it, seam-side-down, on the twine.
  • Tie the roll, starting from the edges and moving toward the center. Pull each knot tight to compress the roll.
  • Once the roll is fully tied, mix 2 Tbsp kosher salt with the baking powder and rub it all into the skin of the pork belly, coating it evenly.
  • Wrap the belly tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for up to 3 days.

Day 2

  • Preheat your oven to 300°F (149°C)
  • Insert a probe into the center of the pork roll. (You may need to use a knife to make a slit for the probe to get through the skin.) Set the high-temp alarm on your ChefAlarm for 160°F and put the roast in the oven.
  • When the roast reaches 160°F (71°C)—about two hours later—turn the oven temperature down to 225°F (107°C). (Check it with Thermapen ONE to make sure the whole thing has reached the target temp.)
    Temping the porchetta
  • Reset the high-temp alarm for 180°F (82°C). We don’t want the pork getting over this temperature until the last step.
  • Continue to roast, about another two hours, until a probe inserted through the porchetta encounters little to no resistance except for the skin.
  • Remove the porchetta from the oven and increase the heat to 500°F (260°C).
  • When the oven comes up to temp, put the porchetta—probe removed—back in the oven.
  • Let it cook, the skin blistering, for 20–30 minutes, turning it over half-way through so that the bottom (seam) side can crisp as well.
  • Remove the roast from the oven and let it rest for 10–20 minutes.
  • Carve into thick slices with a sharp serrated knife and serve.
Keyword celebration food, feast, party food