Smoked Porchetta Sandwiches
The annual family camping trip is always a highlight of the summer. We missed it a couple of times over the past few years when we lived in AZ so it was great to be back in CA and able to drive up for it this year. Each household will take a turn cooking everyone else a delicious meal, and there are enough of us that everyone only has to cook once during the trip. It works out really well because the quality of the meals end up being much higher than if each family were to cook their own meals for the entire trip. This was our debut camping trip as an official family (pups included) and it was important to prove ourselves with a killer meal.
Allan decided we should try our hand at smoking a porchetta roast and making Roli Roti-style sandwiches. If you ever find yourself in San Francisco on a Thursday or Saturday, do yourself a favor and grab lunch at the farmer’s market at the Ferry Building for a porchetta sandwich. These sandwiches feature slow roasted pork with succulent crispy skin, caramelized onions, and arugula on a fresh bun.
We borrowed the smoked porchetta recipe from the Meatwave and couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. It was definitely a good idea to ditch the pork loin that typically gets wrapped inside since it makes it too difficult to cook both cuts perfectly. The pork belly worked out perfectly by itself.
SANDWICH ELEMENTS:
- Freshly toasted bread
- Thick slice of a tasty porchetta roast
- Arugula
- Carmelized onions
- (Highly Recommended Side Dish) Fingerling potatoes to cook underneath the pork so they catch all the delicious drippings
Porchetta Roast
We bought our 11lb. pork belly (skin-on) from Costco which made enough meat for about 15 servings/sandwiches. They don't always have them out on display but they often have them in the back if you ask one of the butchers. You can also order them in advance at Whole Foods or we've heard you can find some at Mexican markets.
We followed the Meatwave's prep instructions to the T:
- Score the meat in a diamond pattern.
- Toast whole peppercorns and fennel in a pan, grind them up (we used a coffee grinder).
- Massage the ground spices, fresh herbs and garlic in to meat.
- Roll the pork belly up tightly (skin-side out) and tie with twine.
- Stick in cooler and bring to the campsite.
Smoke n' Roast
Once at the campsite, we prepped the smoker and plopped the meat on it. It was actually too long to fit across the top so we had curve the ends in to make a "C" (but fear not, meat shrinks when it cooks so it was able to straighten out for even cooking).We cooked it for about five hours—when the meat thermometer hit 180.
Also, when there was about 45 minutes left to go on the smoker, we popped a tray of fingerling potatoes into the smoker below the meat to catch all the succulent drippings.
Once the pork reached 180 degrees, we transferred the roast onto the nifty rotisserie gadget to crisp up the skin over direct heat for 30 minutes. We ended up sticking that tray in since the fat and fire were causing semi-alarming flames that were scaring the children.
Once the skin was crispy and reminiscent of those yummy chicharrones snacks, it was ready to bring it over to the sandwich assembly line. Allan chopped up super hearty slices and I've never seen my family descent like seagulls on the cutting board to "sample" the meat.
SO REFRESHING to totally unplug from technology, wifi, email, etc. :)
We ended up with some leftovers and brought them home. We just reheated the pork slices in a fry pan and served with a side of rosemary fries.