Porchetta - How Italians enjoy pig!

Porchetta - How the Italians perform magic on pigs.

Disclaimer-If you are a Vegan, Vegetarian, or would much rather see a pig as a pet, rather than on your plate, you may want to skip this blog.............Ok, I warned you, this delicious blog will discuss what Italians do with a Suckling Pig.

The description will not be pretty, but the end result is delicious and believe me, before your life ends, you will want to put this on your list of things that you must stuff in your face.  Porchetta is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless Italian pork roast.  In Umbria, traditionally the pig is stuffed with Garlic, Wild herbs, fennel, intestines, and tripe.  In Treviso, a pig, typically one year of age, is stuffed with salt, pepper, wild fennel, garlic, and white wine, after being deboned and gutted. And in some places in the US, it is served on bread and topped with Broccoli Rabe or Spinach.  

The meat is tender and juicy and so full of flavor, you’ll want to punch someone.  However, the truly magical part, which if you have a great sandwich maker will come as a crunchy surprise.  Sometimes, the sandwich maker will top that Porchetta sandwich with the crispy, crunchy, flavor filled skin!  That is where the magic happens.  In fact, if I could have one sandwich with just meat and another with only the crunchy skin, I would be content to go to the afterlife because I’m not sure what could possibly be better than that experience.

So, imagine my surprise when I went to Rome and was wandering the streets, when I come across a little Enoteca(wikipedia that term because in upcoming blogs about Italy, you will see different descriptions of restaurants), with a sign in the window reading, porchetta panino, Euro 4!!!!!  I wanted 20 of them, right then and there!  There was no waiting here, I made a B line for the counter, “Ciao! Buon Giorno!!”, “Parlo un po’di Italiano”, “Sto studiando”, “Vorrei uno porchetta panino, per favore.”, “Grazie, Ciao!”  And the next thing you hear is my unwrapping the brown butcher paper that was surrounding this sandwich.

As I unwrapped my glorious gift, I caught a whiff of the fresh baked bread, which you know, fresh baked bread has a distinctive smell.  And the crust had a fresh warm crust with a soft white interior.  This beautifully fresh baked bread held inside perfectly roasted porcine delights.  The meat was glistening, which sadly does not show at all in the photos, but it was.  Maybe the glistening were actually tears of the angels that were singing as I unveiled this amazing sandwich.  In fact, I’m sure that’s what it was!  I did manage to snatch a few photos, but I didn’t care about that, no, I wanted to eat this and eat it immediately! 

The flavor, it was porky.  There was seasoning, but it didn’t cover the flavor of the roasted pig.  You could tell there was garlic and fennel involved, but with the next bite I caught a little bit of skin, and it was all over.  I knew, at that time, this was the best sandwich I will have had the pleasure of eating.  The skin was crisp, salty(but not too salty), garlicky(but just enough), and roasted almost giving it a bacony flavor.  After that second bite, the rest of the sandwich had an equal amount of meat, bread, and skin and all was right with the world!  I can honestly say that panino had more flavor with no fuss, no toppings, just meat and skin, than the most decorated sandwich I’ve had.  I was reduced to tears.  I would go back to Rome just for that porchetta again!  Thank you da LUCA, Via Urbana 15, Roma for this experience and thanks to the Hotel Raffaello, Via Urbana 3/5, Roma, for being located just stone’s throw from da LUCA.

You can find porchetta here in the US, you just have to look for it.  If I were you, I’d do just that.  Make it a point to find this product, try this product, and enjoy it.  I promise you will not be disappointed and you will love me forever!

Buona Notte!