When you say Lazio...you also say "Porchetta"

Porchetta the Italian Delicacy

When you talk about the Lazio region, one thing that comes into your mind, besides the other local goodies, is that whole roasted pork filled with aromatic herbs and, as tradition dictates, exclusively roasted on an open fire. This goodie is better known as 'porchetta'. You can enjoy it as a second course, or in a sandwich which makes it more traditional.

In northern Lazio it is known, without the shadow of a doubt, that the Etruscans were accustomed to the pleasure of having such a tasty dish on their dining tables. Its also said that the emperor Nero was so fond of the dish, that had it elected as his favourite one.

Its now sold, mainly during town festivals, but can be also found in butchers shops, kiosks, and the typical 'fraschetta', the old style tavern, all accompanied by a nice glass of fresh, white wine and a few slices of pane casereccio - the homemade bread .

There are two ways to flavour the porchetta. One is with rosemary, mainly used in the southern part of the Castelli Romani area (Ariccia, Cecchina, and Marino - Lazio region), northern Tuscany and other locations of central Italy. The second one is with wild fennel, used in northern Lazio, in the Umbria region and in the Marche region. The wild fennel gives it a particular taste and smell.

Lets see now, how the porchetta its made. The pork has to be, roughly, one year old and weight about 100 kilos (+/- 220lb), despite the fact that, in some regions, younger pigs (six or seven months) are preferred. Bear in mind that the porchetta, considering the size of the pork, its quite difficult to make at home unless you have quite a big kitchen and a giant-sized oven. Once killed and the blood drained, the pork its placed into boiling water in order to remove all of its skin filaments. Is then, thoroughly washed and emptied of his bowels.

The bones are removed and, the pork, stuffed with flavoring: pepper, whole garlic, salt, diced liver and spleen. At last, according to the local tradition, rosemary or wild fennel is added. Once its all well stuffed, the porchetta is runned trough, from one end to the other, with a stick and tightened with a rope. A very important step, in the porchetta making, since its all done, thoroughly by hand. The rope doesn't have to be too tight nor too lose, thus allowing at the same time, a perfect cooking and keeping the pork well firm, during and after the process.

Cooking time, depending from the size of the pork: its usually between two and five hours.

Cooking it, in a wood burning oven, in the old times, meant: tradition. In nowadays, however, its not anymore of common use, since, in the first place, its not very hygienic, it doesn't allow a homogenous cooking and, last but not least, has the tendency of drying too much the lean parts of the meat. To make sure the porchetta its being freshly cooked, the crust has to be crunchy. The tastier parts, combined with the stuffing, are the ones containing the fat and the lean parts together.

Once the cooking its done, the pig has to be eaten that same day or, it can be kept in a fresh place, just for a few hours, wrapped in its traditional 'carta paglia' (a kind of porous, yellowish, grease-absorbent paper). A bottle of fresh Castelli Romani wine, will surely help the whole thing go down quite smoothly. Important note: absolutely do not to place the porchetta in the fridge!

Its excellent warmed in a frying pan with a couple of small tomatoes, a drop of oil, some garlic and its stuffing.

Just for kicks:

The longest porchetta was made, in Pescara - Abruzzo, with 22 pigs for a total weight of 935 Kg. (little over 2000 lb.) and 21.65 meters (71 ft.) long...the Alka-Seltzers were kindly provided by the management.

Some Porchetta Festivals:

* Costano - Perugia Province - Umbria Region - Mid- August

* Campli - Teramo Province - Abruzzo Region - Last week of August

* Ariccia - Rome Province - Lazio Region - Mid-September

Buon Appetito!

By Michael Axel McCain