Porchetta Pork Shoulder

Ever since eating at Meat & Bread while living in Vancouver (in 2011), I have wanted to try making my own porchetta. It’s been a long time coming, but I have finally made it!! While picking up groceries at my local Sobey’s I noticed they started stocking pork shoulder in the meat section, seizing the moment I picked one up! Already excited by my newly acquired pork shoulder, the fact that it only cost $3.58 (for a 3.5lb roast) had me over the moon! An awesome recipe, big enough to serve a small group, that cost next to nothing…I will be talking this one up for a while!

Although pork shoulder is a cheaper cut of meat, thanks to its higher fat content, when it’s cooked properly it is absolutely delicious! The combination of juicy pork, a delicious herb rub inside, and crispy crackling on the outside is absolutely amazing! I command you to make this recipe at least once this summer! You will definitely be making it over and over again once you try it!

Pork getting its herb rub!

Porchetta Pork Shoulder

BS' in the Kitchen

Juicy pork, fresh herbs, surrounded by crispy skin, topped with salsa verde. This will be your new go-to summer entertaining meal!

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 -6

Ingredients

  

• 3.5 lb pork shoulder skin on
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• Herb Rub
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• 2 tbsp flat leaf Italian parsley
• 2 tbsp rosemary
• 1/2 tbsp sage
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
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• Salt Rub
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• 1/8 cup salt
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp black pepper
• zest of 1 lemon
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• Salsa Verde
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• 1 heaping cup fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp toasted fennel seed ground
• 1 tsp toasted coriander ground
• 2 cloves garlic
• juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

 

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• PREPARATION
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• Begin preparation 24 hours in advance.
• In a food processor, combine ingredients for salt rub, pulsing until all ingredients are evenly distributed, remove to bowl.
• Once again in the food processor, combine ingredients for herb rub, pulsing until combined.
• Remove any bone from your pork shoulder. Once bone is removed, butterfly the pork shoulder. (See link below for deboning & butterflying pork shoulder)
• Spread out the pork (skin side up), score the skin in a crosshatch pattern (making shallow cuts on the skin).
• Once pork has been scored, spread out skin side down, spread the herb rub evenly on the inside of the meat, as well as two teaspoons of the salt rub.
• Tightly roll meat so skin is covering the majority of the meat. Try to avoid having any skin wrapped inside the roast, as it won't crisp up, and that portion of skin will be unpalatable as a result.
• Tightly wrap porchetta with cooking string.
• Rub the rest of the salt mixture into the skin of the pork shoulder.
• Place porchetta on a plate with paper towel, leaving in the refrigerator uncovered for 24 hours.
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• COOKING
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• Heat oven to 275F
• In the middle of the oven, place porchetta on a rack in a roasting pan. If you don't have a roasting pan, place the porchetta directly on your oven rack, with a dish large enough to catch all the dripping on the rack below.
• Roast pork for about 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 160F. My roast (3.5 lbs) cooked for about 30 minutes per pound, if you have a larger roast, prepare for a longer cook time.
• Once pork has reached 150F, increase oven heat to 450F, roasting until the pig skin turns into golden brown, puffy crackling, and internal temperature is at least 160F. Keep a close eye on your porchetta in this final step, you don't want to burn the skin!
• Depending on your oven you may need to rotate the porchetta to evenly cook the crackling. The top of my skin puffed up fairly quickly, so I rotated it to one side and cooked for a while, then rotated to the other side until evenly cooked.
• Once cooked, remove from oven and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.
• Slice porchetta and serve with salsa verde.
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• Salsa Verde
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• Prepare the salsa verde while porchetta is cooking.
• To toast fennel and coriander, place in a dry pan on medium heat, cooking until it becomes fragrant, and lightly browned (about five minutes). Grind in food processor or with a mortar & pestle.
• Combine all the ingredients for salsa verde in a food processor, processing until an even mixture is formed.

Ready to roast!

 If you need some help deboning and butterflying your pork roast (I did), I would recommend reading this article, it does a great job explaining it. Perhaps in the future I will do an instructional video on this whole process, but for now the article will have to do!

Just as beautiful on the inside as the outside!

I originally came across this porchetta recipe which duplicates the recipe from Meat & Bread, so I used it as a guideline, modifying it by adding/subtracting a few things!

Check out the delicious porchetta sandwiches here!

Enjoy,

Bob