In Praise of Porchetta

In culinary terms, the pig is truly the gift that keeps on giving. The nose-to-tail or whole-animal movement that picked up steam during the recession took a waste-not/want-not approach to hog butchery by using all parts of the animal. And let’s face it, there are lots of pig parts to use. Many had previously been discarded, like the pigs’ ears that crunch up the salad at The Publican in Chicago, the whole pig head on offer at The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland, and the pork trotters featured at Incanto in San Francisco. Pork skin is in (see prior post), bellies abound and salumi are absolutely everywhere. Luscious lardo is appearing on the plate (see prior post), and lard has regained its rightful place in the kitchen. But of all the porcine pleasures, arguably none surpasses porchetta for sheer hog heavenliness.

An Italian specialty that is traditionally made from a whole roasted suckling pig, porchetta is no stranger to higher-end Italian restaurants in the US. What’s newsworthy is the extent to which it has made its way down the food chain and is turning up at casual places of all stripes and in all locations.

At The Grocery in Charleston, SC, shaved porchetta with arugula and fava beans is a small-plate offering, while porchetta is a large-plate special at Bar Pastoral in Chicago, where it’s served with caraway-roasted radicchio, orange segments and Madeira sauce. Porchetta is braised at The Branded Butcher in Athens, GA, it stars on a sandwich finished with roasted grapes, red onion and Asiago cheese at Barbacco Eno Trattoria in San Francisco, and it’s sold by the pound or by the slice at La Bottega Marino in Los Angeles.

Porchetta has a growing presence on food trucks around the country, too, like Porchetta Truck in Durham, NC, and The People’s Pig in Portland, OR. This food-truck connection is appropriate, since porchetta is often served up as street food from trucks and takeaway spots in Italy.

Things get a little more interesting at Chicago’s Three Aces, where the Porchetta Scotch Egg, a variation on the pub-food staple, is served with house-made bacon sriracha. Whoa. And then there’s the Cuban Porchetta Nachos from the Whole Beast Food Truck in San Francisco. While these last items may give purists pause, in contemporary US dining there’s no greater sign of acceptance than this kind of culinary cross-culturalism.

Photo: Niallkennedy/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license