Home-style porchetta

Method

1. Score the skin of the pork belly with a very sharp knife in a cross-hatch pattern, being careful only to score down to just before where the skin meets the fat, rather than the fat itself. Bring a large saucepan or roasting tray of water to simmer, and add the bicarbonate of soda. Place the pork belly in the water and poach gently for 5 minutes. Remove it from the water and leave to cool to room temperature.
2. While the belly is poaching, roast the spices for the salt rub. Place the fennel, coriander seeds and chilli flakes in a dry frying pan and toast over a high heat for 2 minutes, until they are fragrant. Watch them so they don’t catch or burn, then transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
3. Once the pork belly has cooled, turn it skin-side down and stab it all over the underside with a knife – don’t be shy here, this will help it absorb all that lovely seasoning.
4. Grind the cooled spices and salt in a mini-chopper, spice grinder or pestle and mortar.
5. Combine all the ingredients for the herb rub. Rub the tenderloin (the meat should be at room temperature) and the belly all over with the spiced salt rub. Lie the pork belly, skin-side down, on the work surface. Massage the herb rub all over the belly’s underside. Place the tenderloin on top, wrapping the belly around it with the skin on the outside, and tie to secure with kitchen twine. Don’t worry if the belly doesn’t wrap all the way around – just make sure it’s as tight and snug as you can get it. Place loin-side down in a baking tray, uncovered, and chill for at least 5 hours, (preferably 10). You want the skin to completely dry out so that it crisps up nicely when you roast it.
6. To cook the pork, remove it from the fridge and leave it for at least 1 hour to come to room temperature before you cook it. Preheat the oven to 140°C and cook the pork for 4 hours, turning the tray every 30 minutes or so to ensure it cooks evenly. If the skin looks in danger of burning, cover it with foil – but only do this once it has crackled. Ten minutes before the end of the cooking time, turn the heat up to 200°C and roast to crackle the skin to a gorgeous golden brown (cover any bits of skin that look like they’re likely to burn with foil).
7. To make the salsa verde, combine the herbs, sugar, olive oil, garlic and mustard, and blitz in a food processor until you have a sauce. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the anchovies, capers, and season with salt and pepper (add salt judiciously: the anchovies are salty so it may not need more). Add the vinegar little by little, a tablespoon at a time, tasting as you go, until you’ve piqued the sauce with acidity. This is the only acidic element in the dish, so it needs to be punchy without losing the grassy, fresh quality of the herbs. Trust your palate and judgement and taste as you go. You want the sauce to make you salivate ‘in a good way’.
8. Once the pork has cooked, remove it from the oven and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes.
9. When you’re ready to carve, get a big chopping board. Remove the twine from the pork. Take a knife and gently trace the blade underneath the crackled skin, removing it from the fatty bottom of the belly. Cut the meat into slices with a very sharp carving knife; it should fall into nice herby slivers. Place the crackling on the board and use a big knife to chop it up into bite-sized chunks. Pile the sliced pork onto fresh ciabatta and serve with lentils and a good handful of crackling. Drizzle with salsa verde.