Porchetta time! In the past 10 years, Porchetta has seen a sudden rise to fame in the U.S., though it has always been done in Italy, where utilizing the entire animal is more a part of life. While the area most famous for Porchetta in Italy is Ariccia, south of Rome in Lazio, (Porchetta d’Ariccia), Porchetta is made all over Italy and has become popular on U.S. menus, especially in trendier food cities, such as New York, where it is often sliced and served as a sandwich, as in Ariccia, where there are roadside stands.
We started with the pigs we butchered the day before. To make Porchetta, you add a pork loin back into the pig, add pieces of fat to keep it moist, add seasonings (things like garlic, salt, pepper, fennel pollen) to the body of the pig, and then tie it shut and roast it in a wood burning oven for hours.
Adding fat to the pork loin, before inserting into the cavity of the pig.
Place the large pork loin in the center of the cavity, season it. Then add additional smaller pieces around the central pork loin in order to fill the cavity, then pull it shut and begin tying.
After many hours of roasting, the finished product!
