Moist, Savory & Superb Porchetta
I had the pleasure of watching the undisputed king of porchetta, Vitaliano Bernabei, prepare this beautiful pork masterpiece when I filmed Bizarre Foods in Rome. We start with a slab of pork loin and infuse it with a blend of dill, sage, sea salt, celery seed, orange peel, fennel seed, thyme and rosemary. The result is a moist, savory and absolutely superb product that slices up beautifully.
How to Cook a Porchetta
Ingredients
- 4-pound Porchetta (I suggest you spring for the Custom Blend Hampshire Porchetta Loin by Pat LaFrieda)
- 3 tablespoons of fennel seed
- Kosher salt
- Pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Toast fennel seed in a dry skillet until fragrant. Once cool, grind fennel seed in a spice grinder or coffee grinder.
Rub pork with salt, pepper and toasted, ground fennel and place on a rack fitted in a roasted pan. Cook for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then turn the heat down to 350 degrees and cook for 90 minutes.
Baste with the accumulated fat in the bottom of the roasting pan and turn the heat up to 500 degrees until pork skin is crackling crisp. Let roast rest in a warm space for 30 minutes and serve warm, sliced.
Photograph by Madeleine Hill.
