Campli porchetta

Porchetta is a whole pig, gutted and boned, sprinkled inside with salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary (sometimes wild fennel), rolled, sewn up and slowly roasted in a wood oven.

Campli is considered one of its homelands: every summer, in August, the village holds one of Abruzzo’s oldest festivals dedicated to porchetta. It is eaten sliced, hot or cold, in country bread.

• A pork belly with rind (about 2.5 kg)
• A pork loin (about 1 kg)
• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 sprigs of rosemary
• Wild fennel seeds (optional)
• Coarse salt and ground black pepper
• Kitchen string

1. Lay the belly rind side down; score the meat in a grid without cutting through the rind.
2. Chop garlic and rosemary and mix with plenty of salt, pepper and fennel; rub the seasoning over the meat and the loin.
3. Place the loin in the centre of the belly, roll tightly and tie with string every 2–3 centimetres.
4. Prick the rind with a skewer, dry it well and rub it with coarse salt; leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight.
5. Roast at 150 °C for about 3 hours, then raise to 230 °C for 20–30 minutes until the rind puffs up and crackles.
6. Let it rest for half an hour, remove the string and slice. Serve in country bread.

• The rind must be very dry to crackle: the night uncovered in the fridge is for this.
• Put a tray with a little water under the porchetta to catch the fat.
• Leftovers keep in the fridge and are delicious cold in sandwiches.

We do not have photos of this dish yet: the image is an illustration made for this page.

Porchetta is found throughout central Italy, but around Teramo it has a long tradition, tied to the fairs and markets where porchetta makers sold it by the slice from their stalls.

Campli, with its medieval old town and the Holy Stairs, has celebrated porchetta for decades with a summer festival that draws visitors from across the region.