Slow Roasted Porchetta in Apple Brandy Sauce
Cooking is like therapy for me. Whenever I have a long, stressful day, I come home, turn down the oven and slow cook something for hours. Not only is slow cooking beneficial for the protein, but it’s also therapeutic for the mind and soul. The result is a tender and juicy piece of meat, along with a home-cooked feeling of comfort and satisfaction. Last night, I made a slow roasted Porchetta, which is a culinary tradition in Tuscany.
There are many variations of Porchetta but it’s basically a whole pig or boneless pork roast that is seasoned with garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds and other herbs, which is then slow cooked for hours; it was introduced to Americans as “Italian pulled pork”. In Italy, Porchetta is sold by pitchmen out of carts or vans during holidays and public gatherings; basically, the Italian version of an ice cream truck that pulls up to your little league games.
The slow cooking (225 degrees) process keeps the meat moist and gets the outer layers of fat nice and crispy. I bought an end cut of loin and liberally seasoned it with salt, fresh cracked black pepper, garlic, rosemary, sage and toasted fennel seeds that I pulsed in the food processor.
If this wasn’t a last minute dinner idea, I would have marinated it for a couple of days in this mixture to really intensify the flavor. I was really screwing with my oven’s mind by cranking it up to 550 degrees to start in order to get a nice crust on the pork, then turning it down to 225 degrees for the remainder of the cooking process. The whole process takes about two hours, so I had plenty of time to relax and get everything else prepped. I made a rich sauce with a reduction of Calvados (Apple Brandy), beef broth, shallots and butter.
The light brown, silky textured sauce was reminiscent of a Cognac-laced gravy. I then sauteed some shaved fennel and celery to serve with the pork, along with some caramelized shallots and bing cherries for a touch of added sweetness.
I paired this dish with one of my favorite Tuscan wines, the 2006 Avignonesi Vino Nobile di Montepulciano because its flavors remind me of the ingredients I used to create this meal. The wine is jumping with acidity and emits tons of fresh cherry aromas on the nose. The tannins are smooth and the wine is rich with underlying hints of fresh herbs, licorice(fennel), and spice.
It’s medium bodied and low in alcohol which pairs perfectly with the succulent roasted pig.
The wine is made up of primarily Sangiovese (locally known as Prugnolo gentile), and a blend of a few other locally grown grapes, followed by minimum two years in oak barrels. After the internal meat thermometer read about 155 degrees, I removed the pork from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes, allowing the internal juices to recirculate.
Two thick slabs of melt-in-your-mouth-pork later and my day was instantly improved. The minced garlic on the outside of the meat slowly caramelized over the two hour stint in the oven and balanced nicely with the piney rosemary and mouth-watering pork fat. Plenty of leftovers made for an amazing Porchetta Panini for lunch today; maybe one day someone will start driving a Porchetta truck like in the old country. Forget the children, I’d be the one running down the street after it.
