Porchetta, a Celebration of Flavors

Porchetta (Italian pronunciation: [porˈketta]) is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary custom. The carcass is deboned, stuffed with wild fennel, with the fat and skin still on spitted, and/or slow-roasted over a wood fire for at least 8 hours. Porchetta is heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs. Porchetta has been selected by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy as a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (“traditional agricultural-food product”, one of a list of traditional Italian foods held to have cultural relevance).

Although predominant in the entire country, porchetta originated in central Italy, with Ariccia (in the Province of Rome) being the town most closely coupled with it. Across Italy, porchetta is usually sold by vendors working out of white-painted vans, especially during public celebrations or holidays. In these cases, it is normally served as a sandwich or a panino. It's customary street food in Rome and Lazio served as a filling for pizza bianca. It is also eaten as a meat dish in many households or as part of a picnic.

Porchetta is one of the two iconic culinary products of the Lazio region, the other being the sheep cheese Pecorino Romano. Porchetta is also time-honored in Abruzzo. Porchetta Abruzzese is generally slow roasted with rosemary, garlic, and pepper.

Porchetta from Umbria is stuffed with the pig's chopped entrails mixed with lard, garlic, salt, and plenty of pepper and wild fennel.

Porchetta trevigiana (from Treviso) was developed in 1919. In it, a pig is slaughtered when one year old, and then its meat is stuffed with salt, pepper, wild fennel, garlic, and white wine. It is then roasted inside an oven for seven hours.

Porchetta is also a popular dish in Venetian cuisine.

The dish is also a prominent part of Sardinian cuisine. There it is known as "porceddu" and is roasted over juniper and myrtle wood fires.

The porchetta was introduced to the United States by Italian immigrants of the early 20th century, specifically immigrants from Abruzzo, and is referred to as "Italian pulled pork," "roast pork," or "Italian roast pork." It is often served as a sandwich with greens and provolone cheese.

In Philadelphia and the adjacent area, the dish is usually referred to simply as "roast pork," "roast pork sandwich," "Italian roast pork," or "porchetta." Philadelphia cuisine is celebrated for its sandwich form of porchetta, usually served on an Italian roll with greens and cheese.

Bridgeport, Connecticut, has a Saturday afternoon lunch tradition of porchetta sandwiches served at local restaurants and taverns that dates to the first wave of Italian immigration in the early 20th century. The dish is served with pepperoncini.

Metro West Massachusetts has a fierce following of porchettas. Local organizations often hold Porchetta Dinners as fundraisers which are very popular and well attended. Many local shops make a roast for purchase, cooked or uncooked. The spices used can vary greatly within this area, some will go full bore with garlic, black pepper, salt, fennel, rosemary, and sage, while others will use only garlic, salt, pepper, and fennel. These local roasts are made from the Boston butt, or shoulder of the pig.

Porchetta is also very popular in Northern Ontario (notably Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie) and Southern Ontario and the term "porchetta" is widely used by Italian-Canadians, instead of simply "roast pork".

Porchetta (sometimes spelled "porketta") is also popular in the Upper Midwest, having been brought to the Michigan and Minnesota Iron ranges by Italian immigrants.

Italian settlers in Sudbury passed on their love for porchetta to their children and friends in this region. Old family secrets of spicing, rolling, and roasting are passed on, extending commercially into butcher shops as well as in the form of fast-food sandwiches offered in various locally-owned shops.

I used a pork tenderloin to make this porchetta.

I flattened it out by cutting it and opening it like a book. I then continued to flatten it out by pounding it with a meat mallet.

I stuffed mine with Italian sausage, mushrooms, and black truffles. I then wrapped it with pancetta and tied it with butcher twine to maintain the shape while roasting. I then roasted it on a bed of apples and sliced onions.

Don't be afraid to be creative with your filling choices. I change mine often depending on what I have on hand or what is in season.

Porchetta makes a great holiday meal. I serve it at both Christmas and Thanksgiving.

At times a make a gravy with the pan drippings and serve it with mashed potatoes. Definitely not traditional but delicious.

I will do this with whatever might be leftover from the original meal as the gravy assists in the reheating process without drying out the meat. Of course, you can always slice the leftovers and use them to make a fantastic panino.

Alla prossima!

Buon cibo and buon appetito!

Chef John