Porchetta Your Friends Won’t Believe You Cooked

I love porchetta and it’s a great dish to serve when you have friends or family over, but it can be tricky and time consuming to cook. Today I’m going to walk you through how to make a great porchetta with juicy pork and crispy crackling, served with polenta and gremolata. Enjoy!

RECIPES

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Director, Chef and Host: Andy
Videographer, Editor: Mitch Henderson
Production Manager: Dazz Braeckmans
Editor: Caleb Dawkins

[Arman-iccg]

Dude, you are THE mood. Positive, professional, easy going and just such a pleasant vibe to be around. Thank you for your vids

[mattjammy]

We served this in a pub i worked as a it as a part of sunday roast...loved making this! we also prepped it the day before you cook it and dry it out with a little salt rubbed in ! works and still keeps the skin dry and meat moist!

[Kaiyanwang]

Andy, this is excellent. As someone from center Italy where this is from, there is no need to be too dogmatic about the herbs - depending on the town, you have people preferring fennel (like we do) while others focus on rosemary. I have been told there are towns that even use amarena cherry or almonds (this would make many of my friends recoil, BTW). Salt, pepper and garlic are a must.
One thing I wish to point out - to exalt everything, we often add liver or spleen pieces ("fegatelli") cooked together with the herbs. They balance well the meat texture.
This is often a street food, with a "porchettaro" seller found in strategic corners. I always try to get some when I visit the old country.

[Vintage_geek]

"It's really important that we keep this noice and toight". YES, CHEF! 😊

[corradoinnominato]

Nice Job chef! ❤ As an Italian I can just say that Polenta and porchetta is a kind of unusual match. This is because Polenta is a traditional Northern dish, while porchetta is very popular in center Italy. Usually porchetta is served with an orange and fennel salad and some toasted bread.

[jrthiker]

You did a great job! Love your videos...I'm an American Eurasian (part Chinese) who grew up in the Far East, moved to the US, married an Italian, and we live half the year in Abruzzo, which along with Lazio is the "home" of great porchetta. I appreciate how respectful you are of the traditions and techniques of the food when you are cooking Asian, and now I see you take the same approach with Italian/porchetta! As others have said, don't fret about the exact seasonings, every town/region does its own twist, and some do the liver/spleen addition. And the Italians, like the Chinese, argue endlessly about whose recipe is best. You got the crispy skin perfect, and when you buy porchetta from a vendor here in Italy, you always get a few choice bits of the crispy skin on top. One thing though...porchetta is usually cut in very thin slices or shavings, never in a thick slice like American/British beef/pork roasts. Part of this is to keep the meat tender, especially when it's used in a sandwich or better yet a porchetta pizza (the best is pinsa crust topped with shaved porchetta...nothing else...the chewy/crispy pinsa with the meat is fantastic.) Some even lightly shred it like American BBQ pork. Don't be fooled, there is a lot of bad porchetta even here in central Italy...usually dry and flavorless.

[Fox-in-sox]

I've always wanted to cook this at home and I've watched many online clips but never really felt confident. This video of yours has ticked all the boxes. Great level of detail and full explanations in a laid back and relaxing style. You are an amazing teacher. Thank you for putting this together.

[kiba]

Thanks CHEF! Respect for the care you put into each dish!

[whosweptmymines]

I still find it so funny that what I grew up with as cornmeal mush, which you wouldn't serve to company, when made by Italians is called "Polenta", and has been quite trendy at times.

[ianianna]

Mate as a old butcher you should turn the loin around and the it will be the same thickness ie no thick end . Also use a box cutter to score the skin

[debbiereilly]

Momma always made for the holidays, momma would add potatoes to another tray and place the Porchetta on a rack on top and the juice from the roast would cook the potatoes. Yummy

[TheoriginalANGEK]

I love roasting pork. You can’t beat it. The flavours, and the crackling are amazing. Even a nice shoulder of pork is very delicious. Cheers chef, another excellent roast. 👍♥👍🇬🇧

[chrissal]

You are the only chef on YouTube that makes me smile while he cooks, absolute legend

[GlobalGeorgeIR]

Amazing job Andy, in Italy the most regular way to have it is cold in sandwiches, I've got memories of walking around Perugia in Umbria where they absolutely love this eating sandwiches with beers. Amazing.

[dee_dee_place]

My Mom used to get suet to roll all around her roasts so they wouldn't shrink while cooking. The suet also added flavor to the roast. I love how "everything old is new again"- LOL.

[IanOGorman-ln]

I have watched hundreds of Andys vids but jesus christ this is epic. He is the best channel on youtube for cooking by a mile. EPIC MATE UNREAL

[zaccohen]

Looks really nice. I know its not authentic but I do, garlic, shallots, Granny Smith apple, sage for my stuffing and salt and pepper on the meat.

[LethallyReptarded]

This has honestly been my go to meal for a while now, even a small amount feeds loads of people, it looks delicious and it's honestly easier than you think to do, highly recommend it. (Also can stick a tray under it to collect some fat and roast potatoes in it during the final hour or so of the cook 👌 or get a small piece of pork belly for a side dish with your Christmas dinner. (Left overs make brilliant sandwich fillers as well)

[lucabonetti]

You are great, great explaining and great channel! However, I'm Italian and let me just say that you mixed three things that come from different areas of Italy and in our habits we would not use in a same dish! :) we use Porchetta mostly as it was a kind of prosciutto, in thinner slices than yours, with bread ("panino con la porchetta"), a classic of Roman surroundings. Polenta is a traditional dish of northern Italy and we usually eat it with more juicy and liquid dishes of meat ("spezzatino", "brasato", stew), where the Polenta is deliciously flavored by the sauce. Then, the Gremolada is a traditional seasoning in Lombardia that we use with a fat and wet beef cut (ossobuco, I don't know in english), and it helps in giving freshness. This being said, my compliments for bringing these 3 Italian pieces of cooking and reproducing them well!

[SjoerdEllenkamp]

Hi Andy,

What a great video. I made it right away, I used my BBQ instead off the oven and it turned out fantastic. The crackeling is amazing.

Thank you!

Greetings from the Netherlands.