Porchetta — pork belly roll with fennel and crisp crackling

Pat the pork belly dry with paper towels. Place it skin-side up and use a sharp knife to score the skin in parallel lines about 1 cm apart, reaching the fat without cutting into the meat; you can ask your butcher to do this. Turn the slab over and make a few shallow cuts in the meat to hold the seasoning. Keep the skin clean and dry.

Toast the fennel seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 1–2 minutes, stirring, until fragrant. Transfer to a mortar and crush lightly. Finely chop or grate the garlic and chop the rosemary leaves. Mix the fennel seeds, garlic, rosemary, all the pepper and 20 g salt.

Rub all the seasoning mixture over the meat side, including the cuts; do not coat the skin. Roll the slab tightly along its longer side to form a roll about 35 cm long, with the skin outside and the seasoning inside. Tie with kitchen twine at intervals of about 3–4 cm, starting in the middle. The roll should be an even thickness. Rub the remaining 5 g salt into the outer skin.

Set the roll seam-side down on a rack over a tray. Refrigerate without covering for about 12 hours so the skin dries well and the seasoning flavors the meat. Position the tray so the raw meat does not touch any other food. If there are drops of moisture on the skin in the morning, blot them with paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 150°C with top and bottom heat, without convection. Set the rack holding the roll over a deep roasting pan so the meat does not touch the bottom. Pour 300 ml hot water into the pan, below the meat. Place the whole setup slightly below the middle of the oven, leaving space above the skin.

Roast uncovered for about 3–3.5 hours. About halfway through, turn the roasting pan from front to back if the oven heats unevenly. As the water evaporates, add the remaining water to the pan in small amounts so the dripping fat does not burn on the dry bottom. Do not baste the skin with liquid or fat. Toward the end, check the meat with a fork at the exposed end of the roll: it should be tender and offer little resistance. If it is still firm, roast for about another 30 minutes before browning the skin.

Increase the oven temperature to 240°C, still without convection, and roast for about another 20–30 minutes, until the skin is deeply golden, blistered and crisp. Watch it during this final stage; if patches darken too quickly, turn the roasting pan or reduce the temperature to 220°C. Do not use the broiler and do not baste the roll. The meat should already be tender before this short browning stage.

Transfer the roll to a clean cutting board and rest for 20–30 minutes without covering the skin tightly, so it does not soften in the steam. Remove all the twine and use a sharp serrated knife to cut the meat into slices about 2 cm thick. Divide into eight portions and serve warm. Do not add the roasting liquid or rendered fat to the portions; this recipe does not include a sauce or side dishes.