Porchetta is one of an ever-increasing number of regional dishes that has gone, if not quite global, then certainly globe-trotting, a phenomenon to which Italian cuisine seems particularly inclined. The evidence points to porchetta having originated in the town of Ariccia in Lazio, although there are inevitably counterclaimants—a notable one from Norcia in Umbria. From Ariccia, southeast of Rome, it spread not only to other parts of Italy, including the Veneto (porchetta Trevigiana), Umbria, Abruzzo, Le Marche, and southern Tuscany, but also to the US, taken there by Italian immigrants in the early 20th century.
It’s tempting to feel that this gone-viral mass-market effect must always diminish the story and authenticity of a recipe. But, aside from supermarket offerings, much of what is sold as porchetta today does retain the integrity of the traditional recipe, whether it’s slices clamped between thick slices of bread and sold from mobile trucks on the street and at every festival in Italy, porchetta served in restaurants, or porchetta prepared by butchers for customers to cook at home, albeit usually without the pig’s head.
Ariccia: The home of porchetta?
What the butcher is preparing is belly with the loin attached, which, once deboned, seasoned with salt, rested, seasoned again, with rosemary or fennel (according to region), garlic, and black pepper, is rolled tightly and tied all along its length, ready for long, slow roasting before a final period of resting and cooling. The result is succulent, cold meat—the lean loin having been kept moist
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
