WEEK 42: YOUR BEST ROAST PORK SHOULDER
Luciana’s Porchetta
Photography by Sarah Shatz
BY ALIWAKS | SERVES 6 TO 8
A&M: We think porchetta should become a staple in everyone’s kitchen. It’s inexpensive, requires little but marinating and oven time, and produces a roast that’s robustly flavored and goes with most anything. Aliwaks’s version is brilliant: she has you toast the spices and combine them with fresh rosemary, garlic, and orange zest. By the time the roast emerges from the oven, your entire neighborhood smells like an Italian trattoria. The first time around, make the porchetta with ½ tablespoon red pepper flakes and if that doesn’t do it for you, then feel free to increase it to a full tablespoon.
1½ tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
½ to 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1½ tablespoons coarse salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
5 garlic cloves, mashed with a fork
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 pounds butterflied pork shoulder
3 bay leaves
1 piece pork skin, large enough to cover the shoulder like a pashmina shawl, or 9 thin slices pancetta
½ cup good red wine vinegar
- Toast the spices and the salt in small, heavy-bottomed pan until fragrant, then crush with a mortar and pestle or in a mini chopper. The spices should be rather coarse, not powdered. (I am not ashamed to admit I use a Magic Bullet blender that I bought on TV; it grinds beautifully and makes smoothies.)
- Mix the spices with the rosemary, orange zest, and garlic. Add olive oil till it makes a paste.
- Slather the pork in the spice paste and place in a large plastic bag with the bay leaves; put it in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 3 days. Remember to smoosh it around whenever you happen to go into the refrigerator.
- Heat the oven to 325°F; bring the pork to room temperature.
- Take the pork out of the bag, turn it inside out, and rub some spice paste over the inside of the pork skin.
- Roll the pork into a cylindrical shape and tie it with butcher twine at 1-inch intervals. Stick the bay leaves under the middle strings, and lay the skin over the top. (If using pancetta, lay the slices across the top, overlapping like fish scales.)
- Place the pork in a roasting pan with a rack and roast until the internal temperature reaches 150°F, 1½ to 2½ hours. Depending on your oven, you may need to rotate it every so often. Remove and let sit until the temperature gets to about 160°F.
- Remove the skin, scraping off the fat (if you like), and cut it into strips with a sharp set of shears (say that four times fast!) to serve. (The pancetta will crisp, so simply break it into small pieces for serving alongside the porchetta.)
- Deglaze the roasting pan with the vinegar. Don’t reduce too much—just enough to get rid of some of the sharpness (this is more like a porky vinaigrette).
- To serve: Slice the porchetta into ¼-inch slices, add a strip of skin (or pancetta) to each plate (or pile atop if serving en masse on a platter), and drizzle with the sauce.
- Serve with garlicky bitter greens and roasted or mashed potatoes or escarole and white beans.
Photography by Sarah Shatz
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Aliwaks said: “This is definitely one of the those get to know your butcher times (though I think you should always get to know your butcher; they offer a world of knowledge, and they’re often supernice and flirty in a good way).”
ABOUT THE COOK
Learn more about Aliwaks, and read her winning recipe for Smoky Fried Chickpeas. You can also find her recipe for Cowboy Rubbed Rib-eye with Chocolate Stout Pan Sauce.
WHAT THE COMMUNITY SAID
Midge: “Made this last night: foolproof and delish. Thanks, Aliwaks, you’ve got my vote.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
This recipe, along with the next one, Chewy Sugar Cookies #2, faced off against Cook’s Illustrated in a smackdown on Slate.com.