The “Why” and “How” of Porchetta
THE WHY:
My first experience with Porchetta was in Des Moines, Iowa at the Niman Ranch Hog Farmers Appreciation Dinner (HFAD). The Marczyk team was responsible for dessert—we had chosen to make apple pie and serve it with our Marczyk’s Best Vanilla ice cream. 800 people. 100 pies. Suffice to say, we were busy. (People who know me, know what this all means: Iowa heirloom apples—peeled, cored, sliced—from-scratch butter and lard crust, hand-crimped edges…). Lots of work. At about 1:30AM just as we were finishing the apple project in the Embassy Suites prep kitchen, I met Sara Jenkins. Co creator/owner of Porchetta NYC. She was kind of a legend, and I honestly thought “porchetta” was a diminutive piggy name for a restaurant that probably dabbled in porcine delights of some kind. What I didn’t know was that Porchetta was totally a thing, and that Porchetta from Porchetta NYC was basically like Ratatouille from Gusteau’s.
She was panicked. Instead of a 5 nice boneless, fully-trimmed pork-middle showing up, 5 whole, bone-in damn near half-a-pigs were hanging in the walk-in. She needed a butcher. Sara jumped in on the apple project and asked the question…”so…anyone here know how to break a pork middle?” No one said anything. “Anyone here know what a pork middle is?” I said I did. Within 5 minutes we had the first slab on the block.
I got to work with the Zen-Master-Yoda of Porchetta for 4 hours and that is when I learned about Porchetta. Sara Jenkins spent 4 hours talking about nothing but Porchetta. It was illuminating. We boned, trimmed, tied, scored, stuffed, herbed, spiced and seasoned the beasts to let them rest in the kitchen “overnight”. It was 6AM by then, and they had to cook for 8-9 hours minimum! I grabbed a quick nap and reported back to the kitchen to help Sara at 9:00.
By now, I knew just what was going to happen. The perfectly scored, rolled and tied roasts (these things are 3 feet long) would cook gently for hours and hours at a very low temperature. During this time, the pork would become fully cooked until practically melting (like a pig roast). The skin would start to unfurl at the score-marks forming little diamond-shaped skin-morsels. And there would be fat. The purpose of this low-slow is to render most of the fat from the meat, but also the skin. The method also yields a perfectly soft almost braised meat that is hard to describe; all the collagen and connective tissue becomes one with the meat and fat. With real Porchetta, you get practically half of the pig rolled into a ‘slice’. You have belly, loin, tenderloin, rib-meat, a little shoulder and sirloin all cavorting with incredible spices, herbs, garlic cooked forever. This is good.
The magic really happens once the Porchetta is fully cooked. To finish the roasts, we discarded the accumulated fat (very carefully!) and returned the meat to a very fast 450F oven. Within about 10 minutes, the skin started to turn from dull-tan to a chestnut brown, and most amazingly, it kind of puffs-up! (I am slow to the take on lots, but this was revelatory). What you end up with is basically the best pork roast you’ve ever had along with perfect, crispy, puffy pork rind in cute little diamond-dice. The thing is magnificent.
Sara serves hers an number of ways, but my favorite is on ciabatta with braised broccoli raab and really good EV olive oil. Simple. Perfect. Delicious. A true expression of tradition and love of craft.
THE HOW:
Pre-plan, Thaw, Temper, Roast, Finish, Rest, Serve
Pre-planning:
You will need to account for the following for timing:
Allow 12+/- hours per pound thawing time in the refrigerator.
Allow roughly 1.5 hours per pound cooking time (there’s a curve on this: smaller roasts will take less time per pound, and larger ones will take more time per pound…up to a point. It’s like English—for every rule there’s an exception. This is a GUIDE.
Allow 45 minutes for finishing (removing fat from pan, re-heating oven, plus the roasting time)
Allow 30-60 minutes for the roast to rest. The larger, the longer.
Boom.
Thawing:
Remove your Porchetta from the freezer and set in refrigerator to thaw.
Tempering:
From your work-backward time, allow 2-4 hours of tempering at room temperature. Remove the Porchetta from its packaging, dry it off with paper towels and place on a plate or roasting pan then cover it loosely with foil, a towel, or something like that. This is nothing more than setting the Porchetta on a counter, covered. This is, candidly, an optional step, and I know some people might think it would make the meat unsafe. This is how I was taught; it works. You have to make choices and I will leave these up to you.
Roasting:
Pre-heated oven @275
Place the Porchetta on a roasting pan with sides high enough to capture the inevitable fat, but not so high as to inhibit a nice convective flow in your oven. I like to raise mine on a rack, but this is also optional—either way works. If you do not use a rack, I recommend cooking on parchment or a Silpat. Once this thing gets going, there will be fat, so stay vigilant because fat is fuel. I don’t want to scare you, but you can’t imagine what a shit show 8 ounces of pork fat on fire causes. Your oven is too low to ignite the fat, but just be careful with the amount you allow to accumulate and drain/skim/ remove as necessary especially on the larger Porchettas. This is a long, slow, mostly un-supervised process. Enjoy it. The smell is otherworldly. When the roast has a temperature of about 180-185, it should also be really tender. You can check this with a fork by inserting into an edge and testing for fall-apartness. It should be close to that. The skin should be brown but not overly so, and much of the fat rendered out.
Once you are at this perfect point of doneness, remove the Porchetta from the oven. You should remove all free-run fat from the pan at this time—don’t worry if it takes a few minutes—the Porchetta is cooked, and you are going to toss it back into the oven to finish in a bit. (This is why I use a rack—I can just lift the Porcheta off the pan and discard the fat then replace the rack. If you go direct-on-pan, you have more to deal with.) Re-heat the oven to 450F for the next step.
Finishing:
450F oven
It’s going to be smoky. If you have a hood/fan, set it to high. If you do not…disconnect your fire alarms.
You will need to be on your toes for this step—lots of heat, lots of fat.
Return Porchetta to the oven. At 10 minutes check the skin—it will should to crisp and puff up. You are essentially making pork rinds or chicharones. Once the skin is chestnut brown and the little squares have puffed and separated, you are there! This will be very hard to get totally uniform, so do not sweat it. Remove the roast.
Smoky? Told you. Shut the oven down and keep the door closed.
Resting:
Place the Porchetta (glorious thing it is) on a cutting board or platter and let it rest for a minimum of 30 minutes or longer for larger Porchettas. This allows the juices and fats to re-consolidate and create maximum deliciousness.
Serving:
I like the mash-up method. Bring the Porchetta to a board, remove the strings and slice with a sharp knife. You might have a hard time with the skin and getting uniform slices, but don’t sweat it. This is peasant food, so nothing fancy necessary (hence mash-up method). If the skin is hard, just chop it up and use as garnish. The most important thing is to give everyone a bit of each element of the Porchetta—a little white loin, a little dark loin, some belly, and plenty of crispy skin pieces!
I love Sara Jenkins’ simple accompaniments of good bread, braised broccoli raab (or other bitter green like mustard, or even kale) and GREAT olive oil.