Category: Cooking

This Porchetta recipe will always hold a very special place in my heart because it’s the last recipe I created under Dozer’s watchful eye. This iconic Italian pork roast has crazy crispy crackling all over – top, sides, even the underside – enclosing insanely juicy, seasoned meat. Dozer would be proud. ❤️

Porchetta

Porchetta, that magnificent Italian rolled pork roast with incredibly juicy meat richly seasoned with herbs and spices enclosed by blistered, shatteringly crispy crackling skin, has always terrified me. In theory, it sounds simple enough – season, roll, roast until the skin crackles.

But I was never happy with the crackling. The top would be terrific, but the sides were patchy – either flat, teeth-breakingly hard skin instead of bubbly, crispy crackling or worse, rubbery. And the skin underneath the roll? Forget it. Pure rubber.

Time and time again I’d get lose myself in research, only to find myself annoyed by videos that didn’t show the sides properly (I need visual proof!!) or the crackling wasn’t the nice blistered type I was after.

So I threw out the rule book, and instead relied on the fool-proof crackling method I tested to death for my pork belly recipe which relies on fridge air drying the skin, slow-roasting for succulent meat, then finishing it a high temperature to make the skin blister and crisp.

It took a few attempts to get there, but even my brother (the toughest food critic I know) was blown away by how good this Porchetta is. The meat is perfectly seasoned, highly flavourful and ridiculously juicy. And that skin! Blistered, crispy crackling all over, from edge to edge, even underneath. Look at this!

I’ve made this over 12 times in the past couple of months. I experimented a fair bit with different oven temperatures, and overnight drying methods to see if it could be even further improved or streamlined (fridge drying with/without salt, no fridge drying v 12 hours v 24 hours v 48 hours).

I landed on this final recipe under Dozer’s watchful eye just before he went to hospital. That he is not here with me when I launch it into the world makes this Porchetta recipe even more special. I hope you love it as much as we do!

PS My Porchetta comes with gravy. Gravy is NOT traditionally served with Porchetta in Italy! In actual fact, the traditional way Porchetta is eaten in Italy is in sandwiches, without sauce. But, I made a call that the drippings and rendered fat from the slow-roasted belly are too good to waste, and no one I know will say no to gravy. 🙂 So, my porchetta has gravy!

Ingredients for Porchetta

Here’s what you need to make Porchetta.

1. Pork belly

You will need a 2.5kg / 5 lb pork belly. Boneless. (Default in Australia). Skin on. (Also default). Not scored. (Important!)

• Size – A large 2.5kg / 5lb piece of pork belly, skin on, boneless. This is roughly half a whole pork belly (depending on the pig size, of course), and should be about 24 cm (short side) x 33 – 37 cm (long side), that’s 9.4 x 13 – 14.5 inches.

  Want to make a larger porchetta? Go ahead, if you have a large oven! Smaller one? Sure can. I’ve made this recipe with a small 800g / 1.6lb pork belly and it worked perfectly. Just scale the recipe to correspond with your pork belly size (tap/click servings on the recipe card and scale up or down to your pork belly size).

• Skin on, NOT SCORED – Make sure you get pork with the skin on that has not been pre-scored, ie no diamond slashes. Reason – I’m a naturally suspicious shopper. All it takes is one over-enthusiastic apprentice butcher to nick the flesh ever so slightly, and that tiny pin-prick through the skin is enough to create a 10cm / 4″ rubbery patch instead of blistered, bubbly crackling glory. And yes, sadly, I speak from painful personal experience.

• Where to get it – Head to a butcher, or the butcher counter in grocery stores. While grocery stores do carry pork belly, they are typically smaller, around the 1kg/2lb mark (here in Australia). We’re doing Porchetta the Italian way here – which means big! 🙂

Here is a photo of the underside of the pork belly. Note the direction of the ribs – roll the porchetta in that direction so it holds a neat shape as it roasts. If you roll in the other direction, it will get a little wonky as the meat fibres contract and move as it roasts.

And here is a side view. It’s not even thickness all over, but once rolled the thickness of the Porchetta log is relatively even.

2. porchetta seasoning rub

Traditional Italian porchetta seasoning is simple, fragrant and very herb-forward. The exact mix varies by region, but the backbone is usually the herbs and spices I’m using, with fennel being a signature flavour.

• Fennel seeds – This is a key flavouring for Porchetta, so I really urge you to follow the recipe as written and used whole fennel seeds, toasted lightly then ground in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. You just get so much more flavour than using pre-ground fennel! But, if powder is all you can get, it is still worth making!

• Black peppercorns – As with fennel, toasting then grinding your own has far superior flavour than using pre-ground, or your good ole’ pepper grinder, though if you really can’t use peppercorns, then either of these will do as a substitute. 🙂

• Fresh rosemary – This is the other key flavouring in the rub, so I really urge you to use fresh rosemary rather than dried, because the flavour is so much better! However, if dried is all you can get, I’ve specified the quantity to use in the recipe card.

• Garlic – Quite a lot. 6 large cloves, finely grated into a paste using a microplane or garlic crusher. We need the wetness to make the rub into a paste-like consistency.

• Chilli flakes / red pepper flakes – This is for a bit of warmth, but it doesn’t make it spicy. We’re only using 2 teaspoons for 2.5kg / 5lb of meat!

• Salt – Porchetta calls for a fair amount of salt, to season the flesh and to make the skin crackle (never skimp on salt on pork skin, it helps it crackle!). So the type of salt you use matters! I use cooking salt (same as kosher salt in grain size / form and by measure). The grains are larger than fine table salt so it’s easier to sprinkle evenly across the skin. If you only have table salt, that’s fine, just use half the amount of salt called for in the recipe. If you are using sea salt flakes or fleur de sel, increase the amount by 50%.

3. gravy

Here’s all you need to make the gravy. No stock, just water!

• Water – It is rare to see a gravy recipe calling for just water rather than stock! But, the drippings and pork belly fat from the Porchetta are packed with so much flavour, we don’t need the extra flavour from stock. Also, Porchetta is a roast that needs a good amount of salt, so the drippings are quite salty. I found that when I made the gravy using even low-sodium stock, the gravy was too salty. So – water it is!!

• Flour – For thickening the gravy. Just plain flour / all-purpose flour. For gluten-free, see recipe card for a cornflour alternative.

• Black pepper – For a touch of seasoning.

• NO SALT – As mentioned above, the drippings and pork fat are quite salty, so they provide the salt for the gravy. However, give the gravy a taste at the end and add a bit of salt if needed.

How to make Porchetta

Heads up – this section is lengthy! Because I want to arm first-timers with the confidence to make this. But as an overview, this is how easy it is to make Porchetta:

1. Rub scored flesh with the Porchetta Seasoning;

2. Roll and tie, fridge 1 to 2 days;

3. Oil and salt skin, slow roast for 3 1/2 hours at 110°C /215°F;

4. Crackle at 240C 30 – 40 minutes; and

5. Make gravy using tray drippings.

So, if you’re a pro, feel free to skip ahead to the recipe. For those who want some hand-holding, read on! 😊

1. Preparing the pork belly

Assembling the pork belly – seasoning, rolling and tying – is not difficult if you follow the step photos and watch the tutorial video below, but will take time if you’ve never done it before. Allow an hour for this part. For experienced cooks, it should take around 30 to 40 minutes.

1. Pat the skin dry using paper towels, because dry skin = better crispy crackling! This is especially relevant if your pork belly was vac packed, which most in Australia are – even from butchers. Vac pack = soaked skin = not a friend of crispy crackling.

2. Check excess meat – You will roll the pork belly in the direction of the ribs (see diagram above). Roll it up and check where the skin meats the flesh. Make an incision to mark that point – we are going to trim off the excess meat that is bulging out so your Porchetta will roll neatly.

3. Trim excess meat off the skin (be sure to leave the skin!). You can leave some fat on the skin, there’s no need to cut or scrape it off. Cut the excess meat off in one piece as we will be rolling that piece up inside our Porchetta (it fills it out perfectly).

4. Place the trimmed piece of meat in the centre of the pork belly, positioning the thicker end over the thinner side of the belly. This helps even out the thickness so that when rolled, the porchetta is uniform thickness.

5. Check roll – Roll up the porchetta to check how it looks. In a perfect world, the pork belly skin will meet or slightly overlap, for best visual appeal. But if it doesn’t, that’s totally fine – as you can see, mine does on one side but not the other.

   As a side note, the underside of the porchetta in direct contact with the roasting rack is the least impressive part of the crackling – while it goes crispy, it doesn’t bubble all across the surface. So to be honest, having too much skin underneath is kind of wasted! Also, the skin contracts as it cooks anyway, so even if the skin fully encloses the roll when raw, it will open up once cooked.

   What you do want though is a pork belly that rolls up uniformly, after trimming off the excess meat from step 3. If needed. trim a little more.

6. Score – Slash 3cm / 1.2″ diamonds into the flesh, about 1cm / 0.4″ deep. Don’t cut so far that you pierce the skin. The purpose of this scoring is to allow the rub to penetrate through the flesh.

   I don’t butterfly the meat like some recipes do, even though the Porchetta looks nicer when sliced because you get a lovely spiral effect. I found that the meat is not as juicy when the meat is butterflied because more juice escapes compared to scoring. It looks just as juicy the moment you slice it, but when you start eating, it is noticeably not as succulent as when the flesh is scored. (Reason: butterflying = far more cut surfaces = far more escape routes for meat juice).

2. how to make the Porchetta seasoning rub

An electric spice grinder will make quick work of grinding the spices. But to be honest, I prefer doing it by hand as the spice grinder turns the fennel and peppercorns into a very fine powder (it’s unavoidable) whereas I prefer the slightly coarsely texture from using a mortar and pestle.

1. Toast the fennel and black peppercorns in a small pan over medium high heat until the fennel seeds are lightly browned and you can smell it. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

2. Grind using a mortar and pestle – aim to break up all the black peppercorns, by which time the fennel seeds, which are softer, will be ground up enough. Or use a spice grinder – it takes seconds.

3. Mix in everything else – Add the rest of the Rub ingredients into the mortar and mix. The garlic will add moisture so it turns into a wet, clumpy paste.

4. Rub onto pork – Use your hands to Rub the seasoning all over the scored flesh of the pork – NOT THE SKIN. Make sure to get it right into the crevices and the scoring slashes, and also rub a little onto the trimmed piece of meat.

3. ROLLING THE PORCHETTA

Don’t worry if your roll is a little lopsided, or a bit scruffy at the seam, or if your ties aren’t “perfect”. Porchetta is a rustic dish anyway, plus once it roasts and that crackling puffs up golden and blistered, nobody will notice anything except how incredible it tastes. Promise!

1. Roll and tie – Place the trimmed piece of pork in the middle and roll up the pork belly in the direction of the ribs (see diagram above). Use butcher’s twine to make 8 ties that are 2,5cm / 1″ apart to hold it together.

   How I tie: start in the middle, then do the ends, then work your way in. Shuffle and slide the tied strings as needed so they are evenly spaced. There’s no need to make them super, super tight, just enough to hold it together. However, try to make sure all the ties are of even tightness. If some are tighter than others, you may end up with odd bulging of crackling pork (doesn’t affect taste or how well it cooks, it’s just a visual tip).

2. Clean skin – Brush any Rub bits off the skin. This is important – we don’t want any salt on the skin as it this will affect how well it crackles. I tried a version where I pre-salted the skin and left it overnight and it didn’t crackle nearly as well as fridge-dried plain pork skin.

   Size – Once rolled, a piece of pork belly that was 24cm / 9.4″ wide will be approximately 27 cm / 11″ long. It increases in length because the meat gets stretched when rolled.

4. marinate and air dry 1 – 2 days

Our gorgeous porchetta is assembled – now into the fridge to let time work its magic. The fridge time does two things: dries the skin for crackling glory, and lets the Rub work through the meat, locking in flavour and juices. You’ll be amazed how little juice comes out when it cooks – because it’s all stayed right where it belongs in the flesh!

1. Rack – Place the porchetta on a rack set over a tray so air can circulate underneath. Yes, even the underside will get crispy crackling!

2. Fridge 1 – 2 days – Leave uncovered for 24 to 48 hours. 48 hours guarantees 12/10 crackling, 24 hours is still an excellent 11/10, you might just get a few small patches on the lower underside that don’t bubble (though they will be super crispy). but that extra day really provides an insurance policy.

   The bare minimum fridge time is 12 hours. I’ve done this twice and both times the crackling was pretty similar to a 24 hour fridge time, but the Rub doesn’t work its way all through the meat which really is so much nicer.

5. COOKING THE PORCHETTA

You will love how hands off the cooking part is!

1. Oil and salt – Drizzle the skin with 1 tablespoon of olive oil then rub 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt all over the skin. Salt is essential for puffy crackling, and you have to rub it in, you can’t just sprinkle it on or roll the pork in it, the crackling won’t bubble, you’ll just end up with the hard flat sheet of skin.

2. Slow roast 3 1/2 hours – Place the porchetta on a rack set on a tray. Then slow roast in a low 110°C/215°F oven for 3 1/2 hours. The low temperature allows the meat to cook slowly so it’s succulent and tender, and will dry the skin out even more which sets the scene for spectacular crackling when we crank up the heat! Don’t open the oven, don’t baste, don’t turn the tray, just leave it in there.

   Notes:
   – Fan-forced ovens are usually set 20°C lower than standard ovens as the heat is stronger. However, for low-temperature slow-roasting, I use the same temperature for both in most recipes, as the difference between oven types is negligible at lower heats.
   – I don’t baste with tray juices as the brown drippings left unsightly marks on the skin. I want perfect golden crackling, thank you very much!

3. After 3 1/2 hours, remove the porchetta from the oven. The skin will still be rubbery at this stage.

4. High heat for crackling – Turn the oven up to 240°C/475°F. Working quickly – because we want to get the porchetta back in the oven as it is heating up – transfer the porchetta and rack to a clean tray. Drizzle the skin with 1 tablespoon of olive oil then put it into the oven.

   The used slow-roasting tray will have pork juices and fat on it, and we need this to make our incredible gravy. Do this while the pork is crackling!

5. Crispy crackling! Roast for 30 to 45 minutes, rotating the tray at around the 20 minute mark, until the skin puffs up and goes crispy all over. The exact time it will take depends on how fast your oven heats up. Mine takes around 15 minutes to go from 110°C to 240°C, and I usually achieve crackle perfection at the 35 minute mark, rotating at the 20 minute mark.

   What happens during this step is that as the oven is heating up, the rubbery skin starts to form bubbles (it’s mesmerising to watch!), and this has to happen before the skin sets and becomes hard. Then as the oven gets hotter and hotter, those bubbles go crisp. So, this is the secret to avoid ending up with flat-sheets of hard skin, a notorious problem with porchettas!

6. Rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting thick slices to serve using a serrated knife. The resting time is essentially to let the juices inside be re-absorbed into the meat, else it will run out when you cut it.

   Cutting – If you tied your porchetta well, you should be able to cut where each tie is. Me, I am not a meat-master so my ties tend to shift a bit during the roasting stage so I tend to have to wing it a bit. ☺️ Doesn’t affect the eating experience at all!

gravy for porchetta

As noted above, gravy is not traditional for serving with porchetta. But I couldn’t resist those drippings! It makes such a tasty gravy using just water, we don’t even need stock!

1. Slow roasting tray – The tray used for slow roasting will have a good amount of pork fat on it (clear) and pork drippings (brown), most of which will be baked onto the tray.

2. Reserve fat – Pour all the clear pork fat off the tray into a jug, leaving the brown drippings on the tray – this is flavour gold, don’t waste it. Don’t scrape the drippings off, keep them on the tray.

   If you get a lot of brown drippings in the jug with the clear pork fat, pour off the pork fat and add the brown drippings into your gravy.

3. Deglaze – Pour 1/2 cup of water onto the tray and set it on a medium stove. When the water comes to a simmer, scrape the tray to loosen and dissolve the pork drippings on the tray into the water. Won’t work on your induction stove? Just use boiling water instead, that should be enough to loosen the drippings. If not, pop the tray with the water into the stove for a few minutes and that will definitely do the trick!

4. Roux – Pour 3 tablespoons of the pork fat into a large saucepan. Heat over medium high heat, then add the flour and mix for 1 minute. This is a roux and it will thicken our gravy.

5. Make gravy – Pour in 1 1/2 cups of water, then all the water and drippings on the tray from step 3 above. Whisk and let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until it thickens into a gravy consistency.

6. Finish gravy – Add the black pepper. Taste and add salt if needed – I rarely add any as the tray drippings and pork fat are quite salty. Pour into a jug and serve with the pork.

Gravy tips:

• Gravy colour should be a lovely brown from the browned drippings on the tray. If not, my cheeky trick is to use dark soy to darken the gravy without altering flavour. Start with 1/4 teaspoon, add more if needed.

• Strain if needed to remove lumps (I don’t).

How to serve Porchetta

As noted earlier, Porchetta in Italy is traditionally served as a sandwich, and boy what a sandwich!! But outside of Italy, it is more commonly served like a roast, on a plate with sides. Roast potatoes would be ideal – you can roast them as the Porchetta is resting (here’s my easy roasted potatoes recipe though for deluxe, you can’t beat duck fat potatoes!). And for sides, either buttered peas or sautéed garlic green beans would be my pick.

Though if you do want to channel the Italian within, make a Porchetta sandwich by stuffing warm crusty panini bread with Porchetta slices. It’s Incredible – with a capital I!!

Honestly though, however you eat Porchetta, you really can’t go wrong. I promise it will be one of the best things you eat all year and the kind of show-stopping roast that will have family and friends talking about it long after the last crackling shard is gone. Hope you love it! – Nagi xx

Watch how to make it

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Porchetta – Dozer’s last recipe

Author: Nagi

Prep: 1 hour hr

Cook: 4 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Fridge marinating: 2 days d

Total: 2 days d 5 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Mains, Roasts

Italian

Servings8

Tap or hover to scale

Recipe video above. The perfect Porchetta in my world has blistered, shatteringly crispy skin ALL over – the top, sides and even the underside – with insanely juicy meat. See video for proof of both!The longer the pork is refrigerated, the better the guarantee for perfectly bubbly, crispy crackling all over – top AND sides. 24 hours is the minimum I recommend, but 48 hours is better and safer, plus gives the Porchetta seasoning time to work its way through the meat. This is the last recipe developed under Dozer’s watchful eye, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. It was a big one – but he was at my feet, cheering me on every step of the way. ❤️

Cook ModePrevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

ABBREVIATED

• Score pork, rub, roll, tie, fridge dry on rack 24 – 48 hours. Oil and salt skin, slow roast 110°C /215°F for 3 1/2 hours, transfer to new rack, drizzle with oil, crackle at 240°C//465°F for 30 – 40 minutes. Make gravy using tray drippings.

Marinate 1 – 2 days

• Toast spices – Preheat a small pan over medium heat (no oil). Toast fennel seeds and black peppercorns, tossing regularly, for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until the fennel seeds are lightly browned.

• Porchetta rub – Crush fennel and peppercorns into a coarse powder using a montage and pestle, or spice grinder. Add remaining Rub ingredients and mix with a spoon – it will be like a thick wet paste.

• Trim excess meat – Pat the pork skin dry with paper towels. Cut off about ~3cm / 2.2″ meat along one long edge (leave the skin) so the pork rolls neatly. Do a mock roll-up to see how much to cut off – it’s ideal if the skin fully encloses the meat, but usually this isn’t possible. (Note 4 for tips). Reserve the trimmed meat – we be rolling it up insi

• Score 3cm / 1.2″ diamonds into the flesh, taking care not to cut through the meat (~1 cm/0.4″ deep).

• Rub – Use your hands to spread the Rub into the flesh side, being sure to get into the cuts you made. Also rub the extra piece of pork you trimmed off.

• Tie – Place the trimmed piece of pork in the middle. Roll firmly then tie at 2.5cm/1″ intervals, starting at the centre then the ends, then working in towards. I do 8 equidistant ties on the skin (26cm / 10.5″ log, one end has meat oozing out so can’t be tied).

• Fridge 1 – 2 days – Place on a rack on a tray and refrigerate uncovered for 48 hours (24 hours is ok) to let the rub infuse the flesh and the skin dry so it crackles really well. 12 hours is my bare minimum!

Slow roast:

• Preheat oven to 110°C /215°F (both standard and fan-forced) with the shelf in the middle. (Note 5)

• Oil and salt skin – Remove the rack from under the pork and wipe the tray clean. Working on the tray, rub the pork skin with 1 tablespoon of the oil, then sprinkle and rub the salt in. Salt will catch on the ties – try to spread it out evenly all over the skin, and roll the pork on the salt that falls on the tray.

• Slow roast – Put the pork on the rack again on a clean tray. Slow roast for 3 1/2 hours. The flesh should be pretty tender (use 2 forks to check ends) but not “fall apart” (not our goal). The skin should still be soft – this is what we want at this stage.

• Oil and increase heat – Remove the pork from the oven and turn it up to 240°C/465°F. Working quickly, transfer the pork still on the rack to a clean tray. (Keep the used tray for gravy drippings). Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil (don’t rub with fingers) then put it back in the oven – you want it in there as it is heating up.

• Crackle skin – Roast for 30 to 40 minutes, rotating at the 15 – 20 minute mark, until the skin is all puffy and crispy all over (top and sides).

• Rest and carve – Remove from the oven and leave it for at least 30 minutes (up to 1 1/2 hours) before cutting the strings and slicing with a serrated knife. Serve with gravy!

Gravy:

• Reserve fat – Pour all the fat off the slow-roasting tray from step 4 into a jug (don’t scrape, just pour).

• Deglaze tray – Pour 1/2 cup of water onto the tray set on a stove on medium. When the water starts simmering, use a rubber spatula to loosen all the bits stuck on the tray. (If you have an induction stove, use boiling water – that should be enough to delegate, or if needed, pop the tray in the oven).

• Make gravy – Measure out 3 tablespoons fat (from step 1) and put into a large saucepan. Heat on medium high, then add flour and stir for 1 minute. Whisk in water from deglazing tray, remains water and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes or until it thickens. Taste, add salt if needed (I don’t). Serve with pork.

Recipe Notes:

Serving size per person – Allow 300g / 10oz of raw pork belly per serving, which reduces to around 230g / 7.5oz once cooked. So a 2.5kg / 5lb raw pork belly will serve 8 people comfortably, 7 generously. Recipe makes more gravy than you need, the drippings are salty so if you make less, I found it was too salty. Use leftovers to douse your next dinner plate (schnitzel is what I used mine for). 1. Pork belly – The best is one that is even thickness that has not been vac packed (ie drier skin that is flat, not wrinkled). Reality is they are almost always vac packed, so pat the skin dry. See diagram in post for pork belly dimensions and rolling direction. For pork belly smaller than 2kg / 4lb, scale the rub recipe down (tap/click servings and slide down). I’ve made this with pork belly as small as 800g / 1.6lb and it worked brilliantly, the only change I made was to reduce the slow roasting time down to 3 hours. 2. Fennel and black peppercorns – You will get far better flavour by toasting and grinding the seeds yourself, though if you really have no alternative, you can use powder (1 1/2 tsp fennel powder and 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, and yes, I tried it both ways 🙂 ) 3. Rosemary – Really try to use fresh rosemary here as the flavour is so much better than dried. However, if dried is all you’ve got, use 1 1/2 tbsp. 4. Pork belly – if you don’t trim, the meat will bulge out of the seam making it difficult to roll. Determine how much meat to trim by doing a mock roll (see diagram in post). The trimmed meat is rolled up inside – this fills out the roll nicely so the centre is not hollow. 5. Oven temp – fan-forced ovens are usually set 20C lower than standard ovens as the heat is stronger. However, for low-temperature slow-roasting, use the same temperature for both, as the difference between oven types is negligible at lower heats. 6. Gravy tips – Pass through sieve to remove lumps, if needed. Gravy should be a lovely brown colour from the browned drippings on the tray. If it’s too pale for your liking, add 1/4 tsp dark soy and simmer for a minute – this will darken without altering flavour. Add more a bit at a time, use with caution, it darkens quickly!

Keywords: italian pork roast, porchetta, Pork Roast, porky belly roast

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In memory of Dozer

Though I’m known for “quick and easy” dinner recipes, every now and then I feel an uncontrollable urge to master a technical, show-stopping classic that really tests my skills. It is underpinned, of course, simply by the desire to eat it. 🙂

This Porchetta is one such recipe. I started it back in December during the Christmas break and I landed on this final recipe under Dozer’s watchful eye just before he went to hospital. That he is not here with me when I launch it into the world makes this Porchetta recipe even more special.

Dear Dozer

So today’s recipe is dedicated to you Dozer, my adorable baby boy. Thank you for cheering me on as I relentlessly made this over and over again during the holidays, determined to crack the secret to perfect Porchetta. I will miss you overseeing recipe creations. I miss your hugs. I miss seeing your happy face first thing every morning and last thing every night. I miss our gentle strolls around the neighbourhood.

I hope you are crunching crackling and inhaling juicy (garlic-free) Porchetta meat up in the sky.

Love – Your mum xx