大象传媒

by Danny Lidgate & Hattie Ellis from Lidgate鈥檚 The Meat Cookbook (Mitchell Beazley)

The Italian joint called porchetta is a magnificent roll of loin & belly pork flavoured with herbs & garlic, & good to eat hot or cold. We have a special way of making it at Lidgate鈥檚 to get the best crackling on the outside & the tenderest meat within. You can ask a butcher to partly prepare the meat for you, using the step photos as a guide to where the meat should be cut. Alternatively, get adventurous with a saw & have a go yourself. You鈥檒l have to order a whole middle & trim off some pieces 鈥� a 10-cm (4-in) piece of belly, which can be used for a small roasting joint, & the ribs, which can be cooked as a starter or light meal 鈥� as these off cuts are too small for the butcher to sell separately.

Serves 10

Prep time 30 mins

Cooking time 1hr 30mins 鈥� 3hrs depending on joint size

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Ingredients

1 x 9-bone pork middle

olive oil

sea salt flakes

about 8 sprigs of rosemary

For the herb & garlic paste

2 tbsp roughly chopped rosemary

2 tbsp dried thyme

2 tbsp roughly crushed fennel seeds

录鈥撀� tbsp coarsely ground black pepper

陆 tbsp sea salt flakes, plus extra for sprinkling

8 garlic cloves, finely chopped

about 90ml (3陆fl oz) olive oil

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Method

• Prepare the porchetta as shown in the steps below, or ask your butcher to prepare it for you up to & including step 4.
  
  
• Then cut halfway through the eye muscle meat (the thickest part of the meat).
  
  
• Fold the cut meat back to open it up & create a flat, even surface.
  
  
• Preheat the oven to 190掳C/375掳F/Gas Mark 5.
  
  
• Combine all the paste ingredients, adding enough of the oil to make a loose paste. Open out the meat & spread the paste over it.
  
  
• Roll up the meat, pulling the skin right around the outside & cutting away any excess.
  
  
• Using kitchen string, tie the porchetta first in the middle & then听at either end. You do these initial ties to get a straight cylinder shape, not a wonky cone. Ideally, use slipknots & get the strings parallel before tying them tight. Finish by tying in between the first ties so that the joint is tied at regular intervals about 2.5cm (1in) apart.
  
  
• Weigh the joint & calculate the cooking time, based on 20 mins per 500g (1lb). Place it in a roasting tray & lavishly oil the external fat.
  
  
• Sprinkle generously with sea salt flakes & tuck rosemary sprigs under each piece of string.
  
  
• Roast the meat for the calculated time, checking it for readiness about 10 mins before the end. It is done if the juices run clear when a knife is stuck into the thickest part, or when a meat thermometer registers 70掳C (158掳F). (Make sure the probe goes into the thickest part of the meat, & take the joint out of the oven when it is 5掳C (40掳F) under your target, as its temperature will continue to rise for a while.)
  
  
• Transfer to a carving board & set aside to rest for at least 15 mins. Meanwhile, skim the fat out of the roasting tray & keep the juices warm.
  
  
• Cut the meat into thick slices & serve hot with the reserved juices. It can also be served, hot or cold, with Salsa Verde.

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Salsa Verde

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 or 2 small garlic cloves

30g (1录oz) drained anchovy fillets

2 tbsp capers

陆 tsp red wine vinegar

200ml (7fl oz) extra virgin olive oil

20 mint leaves

50g (2oz) basil leaves

50g (2oz) flat leaf parsley leaves

freshly ground black pepper

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Method

• 听If using a blender, whizz the garlic with the anchovies, capers, vinegar & 2 tbsp of the olive oil to a coarse paste.
  
  
• Add the herbs & remaining olive oil, plus a twist of black pepper.
  
  
• Whizz to a sauce texture.
  
  
• Taste & adjust the seasoning if necessary (you probably won鈥檛 need any salt as the anchovies are already salty).
  
  
• If preparing the salsa by hand, finely chop the garlic, anchovies, capers & herbs.
  
  
• Place them in a bowl & stir in the vinegar & olive oil.
  
  
• Season to taste.

How to prepare porchetta

To prepare porchetta, you take out the sheet of ribs & backbone, then open out the thick, lean loin to get an even piece of meat. Then you cover the meat with the听herby marinade & roll it up so the belly goes around the loin 鈥� you want each slice of the roll to have a good mixture of fat & lean.

At Lidgate鈥檚, we have a special way of preparing porchetta so that you get a neat & even roll. First, we remove part of the belly. We don鈥檛 include this piece in the porchetta because it makes the roll much bigger, with too much fat into the middle that won鈥檛 crisp up. Set this meaty piece aside for a roast, slow cooking or for use in Asian recipes. Before you start, first score the skin 鈥� it is easier to do this while the meat is still on the bone. Hold your knife like a dagg er to get pressure & control, & score making parallel lines about 5鈥�10mm (录鈥撀絠n) apart.

• Place the meat skin-side down on the work surface.听 Cut out the flare fat, the soft sheet attached to the bones (you can use this for making lard).听 Saw straight down through the bones about 10cm (4 in) from the bottom of the belly. The saw shouldn鈥檛 cut through the meat, just through the bone.
  
  
• Turn the meat around &, lifting the backbone slightly to get a better slant for cutting, saw at a 30-degree angle down through the rib bones. Do this carefully because you don鈥檛 want to go too much into the eye of the meat.
  
  
• You now have the meat with the bones sawn through in two places. Now use a knife to cut through the meat at the first incision, squaring it into a block. Remove this meat & set aside for another meal. 听
  
  
• Cut out the sheet of rib bones, keeping them also for another meal.
  
  
• Cut halfway through the eye muscle meat (the thickest part of the meat).
  
  
• Fold the cut meat back to open it up & create a flat, even surface.
  
  
• Spread the herb & garlic paste over the meat.
  
  
• Roll up the meat, pulling the skin right around the outside & cutting away any excess.听 Using kitchen string, tie the porchetta first in the middle & then at either end. You do these initial ties to get a straight cylinder shape, not a wonky cone. Ideally, use slipknots & get the strings parallel before tying them tight. Finish by tying in between the first ties so that the joint is tied at regular intervals about 2.5cm (1in) apart.
  
  
• Tuck sprigs of rosemary under the strings. Place the porchetta in the fridge, but bring it out 1 hour before cooking so it isn鈥檛 fridge-cold.

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