Apple Smoked Spit Roasted Porchetta Recipe
Capegate celebrated Heritage Day early, by calling on all aspiring braai masters to enter the CG Braai Challenge. Our top 5 finalists battled it out at our onsite braai challenge where celebrity chef and food stylist, Zola Nene, along with chef and content creator, Bas Newman, used their industry knowledge and skills to pick out our CG Braai Challenge winner for 2021!
Drum roll please... Huge congratulations to Gary "Gee" Stockenstroom, whose apple smoked spit roasted Porchetta won him first place and prizes valued at R30k.
Want to give this delicious recipe a bash and impress your guests this Braai Day? See below for everything you need to create this mouth-watering dish... you will need a few beers handy cooking this one, it's a slow process.
Ingredients
- 1/2kg pork mince 1 pack of bacon (sliced or diced)
- 1 red onion
- Seasoning, salt & pepper
- Prosciutto ham
- Parmesan Cheese finely grated
- Sage Dill Rosemary Thyme Salt & pepper Orange or Lemon Zest
Method
- Preparing the stuffing - In a cast iron skillet, fry finely chopped onion, red pepper and chopped bacon and add pork mince. Season with smoked paprika and chilli flakes (to taste). Fry until golden brown and season with salt and pepper.
- Preparing the pork belly - Butterfly pork belly, separating the top layer of skin from the meaty under carriage thus doubling the surface area.
- Stuffing the belly - season with salt and pepper, mix herbs (sage, thyme and rosemary) and orange and lemon zest.
- Add stuffing, making sure that it is evenly layered. Do not overstuff. A nice single layer of the mince stuffing will be sufficient.
- Add a layer of prosciutto ham and finely grated parmesan cheese to the entire surface area.
- Roll into a cylinder as tightly as possible and use butchers’ twine to secure. Insert spit rod into the porchetta.
- Place on fire 180 degree with coals positioned for indirect cooking. Add moist Applewood chunks to your coal basket. This will give a nice sweet fruity fragrance and taste to the porchetta. Secure spit rod into spit motor and start the spit process.
- After 1 hour, glaze with a mixture of apricot jam and soya sauce for the umami flavour. As it nears completion either increase the temperature of the coals to start crisping the skin or use a portable gas torch across the surface area to create the perfect crackling. Cook until internal temperature is around 70 degrees - Approximately 2 hours as this is weight and size dependent.
- When internal temperature is reached, remove from heat, and allow to rest for 15 minutes on a wooden board before you carve it.
- Serve with crispy apple coleslaw or sides of your choice.
