Porchetta or Pork Butt(shoulder) on the Spit

Porchetta (pork butt on the spit)

This is a 10 minute of prep time recipe that will knock your socks off.  Big flavor, incredibly moist (even as leftovers!) and it will make your neighborhood smell like an Italian street festival minus the ubiquitous peppers and onions if you live in New England.

In a food processor toss in 12 or so peeled cloves of garlic, 2 TBS of fennel seeds that you toasted lightly in a pan until they were fragrant, 1 T kosher salt, 1T ground black pepper, 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary.

Puree this all up in the food processor and then add enough olive oil to make it a paste.  Rub this all over your 5 - 6 pound pork butt (shoulder) preferably butterflied open like a book so you can spread the flavor everywhere.  Once it is nicely rubbed roll it up and tie it in a nice bundle and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

I have a Weber kettle grill so we started 1 chimney full of hardwood charcoal and when it was ready we laid it on either side of the grill leaving the center open.  We tossed on a few longer burning charcoal briquettes to keep the fire going.  I speared the pork onto the spit and started it spinning.  When the chimney cooled enough to handle we lit another chimney full and added more coals on each side.  We put an aluminum disposable roasting pan down under the roast to catch the drips and prevent flare ups.  The lid went on and it did it's nice slow spin, spin, spin for about 2 hours. 135F - 140F is your magical temperature for delicious porkie doneness. I happened to have my iphone by nearby and not my usual camera so these pictures are not the most brilliant in color, but you get the idea right?

We took it in and let it rest for 15 minutes and sliced.  See the delicious juice!  not only was this good for dinner, but unlike most pork it was great and still moist as leftovers.  I made staff lunches with sliced porchetta, apple/jalapeno jelly, mayo and romaine.  I just had mine on a salad. 

Don't be afraid of throwing a big roast on the grill!  For those who are spitless and need to cook this in the oven the recipe is based on this if you need oven directions.

Comments

[kitchen hand]

Pork definitely next time for me after reading this.

[Just Plain Jane]

Oh, my! Heaven on earth!

[daveaff]

This is a really awesome post. I have been on the Paleo diet for some time now and I love to eat meat. I actually work in a butcher shop. I get to experiment with meats all the time. My favorite is the pig and all of his amazing parts. Keep doing these post, really cool.

[Francisco]

Love your blog and recipes, but traditional porchetta is made by wrapping a pork belly around a pork loin. It's all about the skin!

I will say that your seasoning is spot on, as far as tradition goes. And this still looks delicious and much more lean than the original.

[Mathews]

Greetings! Do you happen to own any writing skills or it is a natural talent? Waiting forward to hear your answer.