Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: jdmessner on December 02, 2018, 11:43:29 PM
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Just curious if anyone has advice and or tips on Porchetta. I have never tried it, but it looks like it could be good. My son found a butcher shop on a hog farm that is supposed to have nice pork belly. Haven't stopped in yet, but will check it out soon. May try to do a test run soon to see if it is worth doing for a Christmas party in a few weeks.
Probably one of the biggest question I have at this point is skin on or off?
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Porchetta? A roasted deboned piglet?
It's generally fare for a rather large group.
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Do you mean pancetta?
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Do you mean pancetta?
I was looking at recipes that call for a pork loin to be wrapped inside a pork belly.
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I did not know it was a pork loin inside a belly, I always thought it was just a stuffed loin that is roasted. But with so many different regions in Italy, there are probably many different takes! I have wanted to do it and pancetta but just never get around to it!
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But with so many different regions in Italy, there are probably many different takes! I have wanted to do it and pancetta but just never get around to it!
I am finding out that the more recipes I look at, the more ways there are to do it.
Looks like I will do a test run on Friday. I think I am leaning toward trying it with the skin on and see how that works.
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But with so many different regions in Italy, there are probably many different takes!
That must be the case, 'cause the only time I've had it, it was at an Italian gathering. It was a whole roasted piglet. It probably varies.
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Porchetta? A roasted deboned piglet?
It's generally fare for a rather large group.
I did a little digging and from what I can tell, what you have described is the traditional, authentic Italian prochetta. However, it is also defined as a savory, fatty, moist pork roast. I think that would account for the wide variety of ways it is made.
The recipe that I found was by Malcolm Reed. It calls for a wet brine overnight and wrapping the tenderloin in the pork belly with an assortment of herbs and a dry rub. What's not to like!
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But with so many different regions in Italy, there are probably many different takes! I have wanted to do it and pancetta but just never get around to it!
I am finding out that the more recipes I look at, the more ways there are to do it.
Looks like I will do a test run on Friday. I think I am leaning toward trying it with the skin on and see how that works.
From my trips to Italy, Porchetta is definitely more of a Rome/Lazio thing and is typically a pig/piglet.
Now, I think the other recipes you are seeing are people trying to replicate the Porchetta experience on a smaller scale for the home cook. Most people don't have easy access to getting/storing a pig, so they make do the pork belly and loin, and even if the did, they would not have a cooking surface large enough for a pig. Also most people aren't doing large family gatherings that may warrant a whole pig. So, I look at the belly/loin recipes as "doing what you can with what you got". You'll still end up with a very tasty pork product, even if it's not officially porchetta. It will still be delish!
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I did a test run yesterday on the home sized prochetta. There were several things that din't quite go the way I thought they would, but overall the results were good. My son found the butcher shop where we got the pork belly, I have never been there. It is a third generation family farm where they butcher and sell their own hogs, what's not to like! I called, asked if the had pork belly, they said yes and told me how much per lb. I told them I wanted around 5 lbs. with skin on and just assumed it would be fresh. My son comes back with a 3 lb. piece of frozen and skinless pork belly that was only about 8" square. It was a lot fattier than I was looking for and was not big enough to wrap around the tenderloin.
I ended up butterflying it, which actually did not turn out to be too bad of a way to do it. Used a pork rub on the tenderloin and the pork belly. I blended together fresh parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, garlic, and ground chestnuts in a magic bullet for the inside of the belly. Tied it together and went a couple of hours at around 375.
For compairison, I also did a stuffed pork loin with spinach, mushrooms, onions, garlic, ground cheastnuts, and smoked gouda cheese. It turned out very nice, but of the people that sampled the food, they all like the prochetta better. So it looks like I will make a few modifications (and a more detailed talk with the butcher) and go for broke in another week. My phone died, so I hope to post pictures tomorrow.
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why the chestnuts?
And, thanks for the update and your experience experimenting.
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why the chestnuts?
I used the chestnuts mainly because I had them. A friend of mine has a chestnut tree and gave me a big bag. The first batch I smoked I oversmoked and they got real hard. I threw them in the magic bullet and ground them up. I've been adding them to a lot of different things, I like them in green beans, stir fry and other veggies. I had never tried them before and I really liked them, the taste was very unique.
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For better or worse, here are a few pictures of my attempt at prochetta.
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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiIzbiAy5PfAhWUw4MKHXMBBI0QtwIwAHoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Do5qJ3MAPxS8&usg=AOvVaw3MrDW-F8VtWhp-m-xQMVgq
Hope this comes out?
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JD, that looks like a good first run.
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Wow, that video posted above looks like the best food I've ever seen.
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I used the chestnuts mainly because I had them. A friend of mine has a chestnut tree and gave me a big bag.
I’m interested in what variety of chestnut tree your friend has. At one time there were huge forests of American Chestnuts (25% of the trees in the Appalachian Mountains) but they were wiped out by the early 1940s by a blight that came to the US on Japanese Chestnut trees. Very few isolated American Chestnuts survived because the fungus can be wind borne.
Many of the trees that people refer to as Chestnuts are actually Buckeye Trees, sometimes referred to a “Horse Chestnuts.†I don’t think that its nuts are edible.
The American Chestnut Foundation is attempting to develop a resistant strain, but their efforts have been hampered by climate change that has stressed their young trees.
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I’m interested in what variety of chestnut tree your friend has. At one time there were huge forests of American Chestnuts (25% of the trees in the Appalachian Mountains) but they were wiped out by the early 1940s by a blight that came to the US on Japanese Chestnut trees. Very few isolated American Chestnuts survived because the fungus can be wind borne.
The American Chestnut Foundation is attempting to develop a resistant strain, but their efforts have been hampered by climate change that has stressed their young trees.
My friend purchased the property a couple of years ago. He doesn't know all the details, but the person he bought it from had lived there for several decades. The original family planted several chestnut and walnut trees and were able to sell the nuts. There are still about 11 chestnut trees today, but they are dying. PM me and I can send you some samples.
As a Michigan guy I do agree with you that there is nothing palatable about a buckeye nut. I find they can make one sick to their stomach!!!
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They have planted a couple of the resistant Chestnuts at a park here in Culpeper and are studying how they are developing. I hope they are successful.
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Check out the You Tube video in this thread. How they make it in Italy
https://pelletfan.com/index.php?topic=3468.0
Z
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It is crunch time. Party is tonight. Cooked the porchetta last night along with 3 stuffed pork loins.
I had a hard time finding pork belly and nobody had it with the skin on. My original source was very disappointing so I did end up going elsewhere.
I brined the PB and the loins in salt, brown sugar and some rub. The porchetta seasoning was salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, basil, ground chestnuts, and a pork rub. The loins were stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, onion, and smoked gouda and another soft Italian cheese I cannot spell without looking it up!
Here are some photos. My wife came up with the place settings. [ Invalid Attachment ] [ Invalid Attachment ] [ Invalid Attachment ]
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Best ever place setting!
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Best ever place setting!
I agree -- how creative!
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Chris Kimball on his Milk Street Show recently did a porchetta. He used a boned butt which was spatchcocked and had inch long slits cut evey inch or so. A paste (very heavy on fennel) was rubbed into the slits and the butt was then rolled and tied. The outside of the roll (fat side) was also rubbed with fennel and other spices. The meat was cooked for 6 or 7 hours and rested for an hour before slicing. It looked rather good.
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I tried a couple of times to post pictures from my phone, but didn't have much luck. There were several others that should have shown up with the place setting picture. The internet is spotty at best sometimes in this area. Have not upgraded in a long time. I'll see if I can get them posted tomorrow. Overall everything turned out great, about 80 people showed up.
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OK, I think I am good to go now. Here are some pictures of the porchetta. It was fun to do. If I ever do it again, I would like to try it with the skin on. Ended up using both a 4 and 5 pound pork belly since I could not locate a 10 pounder.
The stuffed loins also turned out good. I figured not everyone would like the pork belly, so it was good to have options. I ended up smoking them the night before the party and cooling them down so I could slice them cold. They re-heated OK. Probably would have been a bit better off just resting, slicing and serving hot. However, time wise it was nice not needing to fuss with it the day of.
Mixture of parsley, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, pork rub and ground chestnuts.
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Prochetta and stuffed pork loins ready for the grill
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Probably about 3 hours in.
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Slicing it after it cooled
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