Italian Porchetta

Step 1

Using paper towels, wipe the pork belly to get it as dry as possible. Wrap the entire belly in towels and leave for an hour to soak up more moisture.

Step 2

Preheat oven to 300ºF/150ºC

Step 3

In a dry frying pan, roast the fennel seeds and peppercorns until they start to jump around the pan a little. Pour into a pestle & mortar or spice grinder and grind into a rough powder, like breadcrumbs. You can also finely chop using a large knife.

Step 4

Combine the fennel mix with the salt, sage, rosemary and garlic.

Step 5

Place the pork, skin up and using a sharp knife score the skin. Then turn over and make a shallow criss-cross pattern on the surface of the meat.

Step 6

Sprinkle over all the fennel mix and massage into the meat.

Step 7

Along the long edge, roll the meat into a long sausage. Place the seam edge on the bottom, and using string slide under the rolled pork and tie at 2-inch intervals to secure the porchetta roll. Gently stab or prick the skin with a sharp knife all over, this will help crispen it later.

Step 8

Place the porchetta roll onto a rack in a roasting tin so that it's not touching the surface. Pour in around 2-3 cups of water. You can also use white wine if you like. Sprinkle over a little salt.

Step 9

Roast in the oven for 4 hours. After about 2 hours, top up the water in the pan.

Step 10

You can also baste the pork a few times after around 2-3 hours.

Step 11

After 4 hours, crank up the heat to 450ºF/230ºC and keep a keen eye on the pork. Check every 30 seconds or so to ensure the skin is not burning.Tap the skin with a knife to see how crisp it's getting and remove when you're happy with the crispness. You should see blistering and bubbling between 5-10 minutes. I can't stress enough, to keep an eye on the pork as it'll burn quickly!

Step 12

Cover loosely with foil and rest for 20-30 minutes.

Step 13

When ready, slice the pork and serve.

Step 14

Serve on it's own as a sandwich, or as part of a larger Italian feast.