My Friend Chef Jason Dowd and I made a Porchetta Roast in the test kitchen one day after talking about it for a week. I watched as he rubbed the meat down with a blend of seasonings that included fennel pollen. Here is a great video from LuckyPeachTV that shows how Italy's Best Porchetta is Made.

"Vito's Norcineria was established a century ago or so in Marino, a small town a few kilometers south of Rome. There, he makes a mix of classic salumi, sausages, and prosciuttos, along with some more esoteric stuff that has grown out of his obsessive desire to research and perfect his craft: coppa di testa without testa, Arnad-style lard, and three kinds of salumi made from three different breeds of local pigs (some of whom are raised for him by an acquaintance who regularly blood-tests the animals to confirm the purity of their pedigree)."

Of course you could go to you local butcher and ask them for a pork loin roast with belly attached make sure the skin is on as well. The skin becomes like pork cracklings and is delicious!

Here is a recipe from Forking Tasty that seems easy to follow!

After it is done you can carve it thin ans serve it with potatoes roasted in the oven or make some great sandwiches on Ciabatta with an Caper and Parsley Aioli. Here is a recipe from Kelsey Nixson, Food Network.

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Roast Pork Loin with Blood Orange and Red Onions

 
Image source cookthink

Recipe: Leg of lamb
Eric Ripert

Ingredients
4-pound leg of lamb
2 garlic cloves
2 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs thyme
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons butter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Heat a large roasting pan in the oven. Meanwhile, slice the garlic cloves into 1/4-inch slices. Make incisions in the leg of lamb and insert the garlic slices with small sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Season the lamb thoroughly with salt and pepper.

2. Add the canola oil to the hot roasting pan and carefully sear the meat in the oven on all sides, 15-20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F, add the butter to the roasting pan and continue roasting, basting frequently for 35-45 minutes. A meat thermometer should read 140 degrees F for medium.

Serving Size

Serves 6

Recently Jordon from Ditalia wrote me and brought to my attention a article on his site that may be of interest to you, How to Grill Italian Meats.  Jordon wrote:

Dear Andrew,

Flashback:  My first memory of Italian Sausage was eating it as a child. As far as someone making it, it was my father.  One day he walked into the kitchen with these stringy things that looked like rubber bands.

He pulled out this machine and began to hook it up to the counter, not plug in but crank like the pasta machine.

He then proceeded to take a package of meat that he must have purchased from our local butcher Huppy and Leo's.  I watched as he seasoned the meat with garlic and some other stuff.  Suddenly it start smelling like Italian Sausage.  The aroma of the fennel and garlic gave it away!

He then took these rubber band looking things and placed one end over the spigot of the faucet and let water run through them. They began looking like those balloons they twisted at the carnival to make a poodle! Then I realized he used these to hold the sausage filling.

He cranked and ground the meat, seasoned it, tasted it raw (what is that wrong?), then adjusted seasoning.  He then slipped on the balloon things on a horn which was now on the grinder.  He then cranked out these big long snakes of sausage, I remember thinking how cool it looked!

That Saturday my father cooked his homemade Italian Sausage on the grill in front of our restaurant "Jim's Snack Shop" for the Fiesta Days Celebration in McHenry Illinois.

The memory of the aroma of  charcoal briquettes with the fat of the sausage flaring on the grill to this day is still in my mind.  Combined with fresh roasted sweet bell peppers and some giardinara and of course crusty yet soft in the center Italian bread and you were in Heaven!

Which brings us to this post.....