Porchetta Recipe

I created this recipe after our Fall 2011 adventure in Italy. To our surprise — and great pleasure — porchetta like this was street food in the little towns we visited, sold underneath awnings cranked off the side of big trucks. The glorious smells wafting from these trucks perfumed blocks and blocks around each one. I couldn’t get home fast enough to play with the recipe myself.

porchetta cooking information

• Yield: About : 10-12 Servings
• Prep Time: 15 Minutes
• Cook Time: 3-4 Hours

• 1 Pork Loin, trimmed
• 1 Slab of Pork Belly (the same width as your pork loin)
• 1 Pound Ground Pork
• 1 Bunch Fresh Kale
• 1 teaspoon Ground Chipotle Peppers
• 1 teaspoon Ground Ancho Chiles
• 1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds
• 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt/Pepper
• Butcher’s Twine

porchetta recipe instruction

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl combine your ground pork, ground chipotles, ground ancho, and salt. Mix together until evenly combined. Make a small patty, sear it, and taste it to make sure the sausage is flavorful and spicy enough; adjust to taste.
3. Laying your pork belly skin side down, season the meat with salt, pepper, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes.
4. Next, smear the sausage over the pork belly.



5. Remove the kale from their stems and layer on top of the sausage-pork belly stack.
6. Finally, season the pork loin with salt and pepper and place on top of the kale.
7. The next step is a 2-person job. One person needs to hold the pork belly so it wraps around pork loin, the other ties the butcher twine around the meat. Wrap the roll in 4 different places.
8. Place the porchetta in a roasting pan and then in the preheated 275-degree oven until the pork loin reaches 140 degrees. (This will take a 3-4 hours.)
9. When the meat is finished cooking, let rest 10 minutes, remove the butcher’s twine, and using a sharp knife, slice into thin portions.

porchetta recipe tips and tricks

• Butcher’s twine is very easy to find. But if you aren’t interested in buying a whole roll for just one recipe I recommend simply asking your butcher for 4 feet of twine. Typically butchers are very generous with this.
• We served this porchetta as a sandwich on crusty bread with fresh persimmons and pickled fennel. The fattiness of the pork belly complements the heat from the sausage and the earthiness of the kale. So, so good!