In Rome, you’ll often see porchetta—deboned, slow-roasted pork—in gourmet delis, market stalls, and butcher shops, when the intense smell of the herb- and spice-rubbed roasted meat will hit you with a serious craving for it as soon as you walk in the door. There are few things in this world as delectable as porchetta done right, and fortunately there are certain butchers and pork pros around Rome that treat this traditional product as an art more than a commodity.
Vito Bernabei is one such porchetta maker. Vito is a third-generation norcino (pork butcher) with a shop in Marino Laziale, thirteen miles southeast of Rome. His porchetta is a thing of beauty: he uses the belly and loin of a pig that he sources from small nearby farms and massages the meat with salt, herbs, and spices, sews it closed into a thick roll, and roasts it slowly (7 hours) at a low temperature (90°C/195°F) to produce a spectacularly succulent and flavorful meat.
This recipe for porchetta is from my cookbook, Tasting Rome, and is inspired by Vito’s. Finding a belly and loin cut can be difficult in the U.S.—plus it challenges the dimensions of most kitchen ovens. But you can still make roasted pork in Vito’s style by substituting a deboned pork shoulder. The process is relatively easy. Just marinate the meat overnight, cook low and slow, and you’ll have a juicy meal to look forward to. Porchetta feeds a lot of people, so either invite all your friends for a special Roman dinner or enjoy several nights’ worth of leftovers.
And if you’re in Rome, you should ten thousand percent visit Norcino Bernabei in Marino, just outside of the city. Getting there is simple. Just hop on a train at Stazione Termini (schedules on the Trenitalia website). It costs under 5 bucks round-trip and the ride takes 34 minutes. It’s a hike up a steep staircase from the station to the centro, then a 5-minute walk to Bernabei’s renowned pork store. Il Norcino is located at Corso Vittoria Colonna 13. Additional details and opening times can be found on their glorious website.
Serves 10
1 (6- to 7-pound) deboned, skin-on pork shoulder
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon peperoncino or red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons fennel pollen or ground fennel seeds
On a clean, dry work surface, score the pork skin in a diamond pattern (or have your butcher do it for you), then flip the pork skin-side down. Massage the salt into the meat, then dust it with the pepper, garlic, rosemary, peperoncino, and fennel pollen.
Roll the pork tightly, with the skin facing out, and tie it securely with kitchen twine. Marinate in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least 6 hours or overnight, allowing the skin to dry out.
Remove the pork from the refrigerator 2 hours before you cook it. Preheat the oven to 225°F.
Roast the porchetta until fork-tender and the internal temperature reads 195°F with a probe thermometer, about 5 to 6 hours, then increase the oven temperature to 500°F and cook for 15 to 20 minutes more to crisp the skin; the skin should be bubbly and blistered, like pork rinds.
Remove the porchetta from the oven and allow it to rest for at least 45 minutes, then slice and serve.
