Porchetta

Recipes

Porchetta

You can cook this as the epic centerpiece for Christmas with all the trimmings, or serve it up on a board with a carving knife at a party with buns, condiments, salad and gravy for dunking.

Prep Time:

20 mins

Cook Time:

2 hours 30 mins

Servings:

4-5 servings

Ingredients

1/2T fennel seeds 

1kg pork belly 

Salt and pepper 

5t garlic, minced

1T each sage, rosemary and thyme leaves, chopped

Zest of half an orange and lemon

1/2t red chili flakes

Cooking Instructions
  1. Toast the fennel seeds in a dry fry pan over a medium heat for 1 minute. Grind with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder into a fine powder. 
  2. Lightly score the pork skin into a diamond pattern using a very sharp knife. Flip the pork onto its skin and score the flesh, a little deeper this time. Season the flesh and distribute the remaining ingredients over the meat. Rub into the score lines. 
  3. Tightly roll the pork with the skin on the outside and have the seam underneath. Trim off any skin that is covered as you only want the skin on the outside of the log. Tie with 4-5 pieces of kitchen string. 
  4. Place the pork onto a rack over a roasting pan. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. 
  5. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 180°C. Pour 2 cups of water into the roasting pan and cook in the lower half of the oven for 2 hours. Add more water if it all evaporates. 
  6. Remove from the oven and drain the fat into a jug. Baste the pork with the fat and increase the oven temperature to 220°C. Cover the pork loosely in foil a cook for another 20-25 minutes to crisp the fat. 
  7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes with the foil loosely over top.