I used to go round to my Nana’s for Sunday lunch every weekend as a kid - I’d get so excited knowing she was making rolled pork with sage & onion stuffing and loads of pork-fat roasties!!! This is my twist on her recipe; porchetta with Calvados apricots is amazing served hot with a Sunday lunch, or even better cold in a roll with poppin' apple 'slaw! CRISPY-CRISPY CRACKLING!!
Ingredients
Porchetta
½ saddle of pork (you’ll need butcher’s twine and an oven tray with a rack)
Dry apricots
Calvados
Fresh chillies
Garlic
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
Mild olive oil (big bottle)
Apple 'slaw
Red cabbage
White cabbage
Green apples
Pot of natural yogurt
Good Dijon mustard
Fresh red chillies
Lemon
Sea salt
Black pepper
Method
Open the boned half saddle of pork - I opened up the loin as well to get more surface area for rolling and scoring the fat. Your butcher will do all of this! It’s so important to buy meat that comes from an animal that’s had a good, free-range life - you'll notice this in the depth of flavour (I used Wavells Butchers’ Welsh pork from Carl’s farm in Rhosgadfan - amazing fat and marbling!)
Preheat the oven to 160°C / Gas 3.5
Stuffing: Soak the dry apricots in a bowl of Calvados for 30mins - trust me, this is NEXT LEVEL haha! Then with a sharp knife (or a blender, though I always think you get better flavour using the former) chop up the fresh chillies, garlic and Calvados apricots, then add sprigs of rosemary and thyme, mild olive oil and season to taste
Massage the stuffing into the meat then roll it all up tight and tie it with butcher’s twine. Rub plenty of sea salt into the outer fat and into the score marks (salt is the only thing good pork fat needs for some next-level crackling!) and there you go, the porchetta is ready for the oven!
I like to put porchetta on the rack as it means there’s good airflow for crispy-crispy meat action, plus enough room for the fat and juices to render at the bottom of the tray.
I cooked this for around 4.5-5hrs - by the end the fat was all rendered and the porchetta was covered with an insane layer of crispy crackling! It’s essential to leave this to rest for 30mins to an hour - you'll find it impossible to carve it into slices if it’s still super-hot
Apple ‘slaw: While the porchetta is resting, take some time to make a simple ‘slaw! Core the apples, red cabbage and white cabbage then slice them as thinly as you possibly can. Squeeze plenty of lemon juice over the apples to prevent them from browning, then throw in the chillies (if you fancy a kick), natural yogurt, a spoonful or two of Dijon mustard, lemon zest and season to taste
I love how food can transport you back to special occasions - one bite of this porchetta and I’ve time-travelled back to 1994, eating Sunday lunch in Nana's house ❤️❤️❤️
Porchetta & bricyll Calvados
O ni'n arfar mynd i ty nain (Mrs Robaij Post Bach) am ginio dydd Sul bob wîcend am flynyddoedd tra o ni'n tyfu fyny, a un o faves fi oedd ‘rolled pork’ efo stwffin sage & nionyn a llwyth o datws 'di rhostio!!! Hwn ‘di twist fi ar recipe nain; ma’ porchetta efo bricyll 'di socian mewn Calvados yn ymeising yn boeth ‘efo cinio Dydd Sul, neu hyd yn oed yn well yn oer efo ‘slaw cŵl mewn rôl mawr tew!! CRACLING CRISPI CRISPI!!!
Cynhwysion
Porchetta
½ ‘saddle’ o borc heb esgyrn (gofynwch i'ch bwtchar baratoi o i chi. Byddwch chi hefyd angen llinyn bwtchar a tray popty hefo rac yn ei waelod o)
Bricyll sych (apricots)
Calvados
Tsilis ffres
Garlleg
Rhosmari ffres
Teim ffres
Olew olewydd ysgafn
‘Slaw afal
Bresych coch
Bresych gwyn
Afalau gwyrdd
Pot o iogwrt naturiol
Mwstard Dijon da
Tsilis coch ffres
Lemwn
Halen môr
Pupur du
Dull
Agorwch y porc allan - neshi agor y loin fyny hefyd i gael mwy o arwynebedd i'r stwffin - pan da chi'n cael y cig o'r bwtchar, gofynnwch iddyn nhw agor y loin a sgorio'r croen hefyd. Mae’n bwysig i drio prynu cig anifail sydd wedi cael bywyd ‘free range’ da (neshi ddefnyddio mochyn Cymreig Wavells o ffarm Carl yn Rhosgadfan - ffat a marbling anhygoel!)
Cynhesu’r popty i 160°C / Gas 3.5
Stwffing bach cŵl: Socian bricyll sych mewn powlan o Calvados am hanner awran dda - trystiwch fi, ma’ hyn yn NEXT LEVEL haha! Wedyn hefo cyllell finiog (neu blendar) torrwch y tsilis ffres, garlleg a bricyll i fyny, yna ychwanegu dail rhosmari a theim, olew olewydd ysgafn a chydig o halen a phupur.
Massagio’r stwffing fewn i’r cig yna rolio fo gyd fyny’n dyn a’i glymu hefo llinyn bwtchar. Da chisho rwbio digon o halen môr fewn i'r croen (yr unig beth ma’ braster porc angen ar gyfer cracling next-level ydi halen!!) a dyna fo, mae’r Porchetta yn barod i’r popty!
Dwi’n licio roi’r porchetta ar rac fel bod ‘na ‘airflow’ da i grispio fo gyd fyny, ac i roi digon o le i’r braster a jiwsus rendro ar waelod y tray.
Neshi gwcio hwn am tua 4.5-5awr, ac erbyn diwedd oedd y braster i gyd wedi rendro a layer o crispi-crackling 'insane' o gwmpas y porchetta! Rhaid i chdi adael hwn i orffwys rhwng 30-60munud! Fysai'n amhosib torri’r cig mewn i sleisus tena neis os 'dio dal yn rili poeth
‘Slaw afal: Tra mae’r porchetta’n gorffwys, amser ‘neud ‘slaw bach rili syml! Sleisiwch afalau, bresych coch a bresych gwyn mor denau a phosib. Gwasgwch ddigon o jiws lemwn dros yr afalau i sdopio nhw rhag brownio, wedyn ychwanegwch y tsilis (os ‘da chi isho cic), iogwrt naturiol, llwyad neu ddau o fwstard Dijon, croen lemwn a ‘chydig o halen a phupur
Dwi’n lyfio sut ma’ bwyd yn gallu transportio fi ‘nol i atgofion sbeshal - un brathiad o’r porchetta a dwi nol yn ty nain yn 1994 yn bwyta cinio dydd Sul ❤️❤️❤️