🥩 Meats & Salumi Dishes · Lazio, Umbria & central Italy
Porchetta at home (rolled pork belly)
The real Porchetta di Ariccia is a whole boned pig roasted in a professional oven. At home, cooks roll a whole slab of pork belly, often around a pork loin or tenderloin, with the classic garlic, rosemary, fennel and pepper seasoning. Slice it thin and serve in a crusty roll.
- Prep 40 min
- Cook 210 min
- Makes 10–12
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg fresh pork belly in one piece, skin on
- 1 pork tenderloin or a piece of loin (about 600 g)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 5 sage leaves
- 1 tbsp wild fennel flowers or fennel seeds, lightly crushed
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
- About 30 g salt (roughly 10–12 g per kg of meat)
- Olive oil
- Kitchen string
Method
- Chop the garlic, rosemary and sage finely and mix with the fennel, pepper and most of the salt.
- Lay the belly skin-side down. Score the meat side in a criss-cross pattern without cutting through the skin, then rub in the herb mixture.
- Season the tenderloin, place it along the long edge and roll the belly tightly around it. Tie firmly with string every 2–3 cm.
- Dry the skin well, rub it with the remaining salt, and ideally leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight so the skin dries out.
- Roast on a rack over a tray with a little water at 150–160 °C for about 3 hours, until the inside reaches at least 70 °C on a probe thermometer.
- Raise the oven to 220–230 °C for the last 20–30 minutes so the skin puffs and crackles. Rest for 20 minutes before slicing.
Tips
- Slice thinly and serve at room temperature in a rosetta or ciabatta roll, as in Ariccia.
- A probe thermometer is the easiest way to be sure the pork is cooked through.
📜 The story behind it: Porchetta di Ariccia: Rome's roast-pork roll
Sources
Rewritten in our own words from the traditional versions listed above. ← All recipes