You will need: Rotisserie with drip tray
Top heat: approx. 160-180°C/250-280°C
Preheating: approx. 15 minutes
Working hours: 30 minutes
Barbecue time: approx. 3-3.5 hours

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork belly
• approx. 500 g salt
• 3-4 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 ½ tsp fennel seeds
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp rosemary, finely chopped
• 6-8 sage leaves
• 10-12 sprigs of thyme

In addition:

• approx. 250 ml dry white wine
• approx. 250 ml water

The day before:
Pat the pork belly dry and remove the ribs and gristle if necessary. Put enough salt in a dish or on a tray and place the pork belly on the salt bed with the rind facing down. Cover and place in the fridge for 4-8 hours.

Remove the pork belly from the salt bed, wipe off the salt from the rind and dab with kitchen paper.

Now it's time for the filling. You first need to prepare the pork belly so that it can be spread over a large area. (Alternatively, you can ask your butcher to do this for you).
Place the piece of meat on the work surface with the rind facing downwards. Cut into the bottom layer of fat with the knife from the long side, but do not cut through! Now you can unfold the pork belly. If the meat is thick enough, you can now make another cut in the next layer of fat from the center outwards and unfold it. Again, make sure that you don't cut through it. You now have a large piece of meat in front of you, waiting for a delicious filling.

Finely crush the salt, pepper and fennel and rub into the meat.

Finely chop the herbs and garlic and spread on top. Roll up from the meat side towards the rind and tie with kitchen twine or secure with a meat net. (Perhaps your butcher can give you a piece of roasting net to take home. It is best to pull it over a burr-free plastic tube (DIY store) like a stocking. Knot the net. Pass the roast through the tube. Tie a knot on this side too. Done!

Wrap the porchetta tightly in foil and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.

On barbecue day:
Insert the rotisserie with the drip tray into the Merklinger.
Remove the porchetta from the fridge and heat the Merklinger to approx. 160-180°C.

Push the fire all the way to the back.
Place the roast in the middle of the rotisserie spit and secure it on both sides with the stainless steel clamps. Insert the spit into the rotisserie, start the engine and off you go!

Grill the porchetta until the meat has reached a core temperature of approx. 73°C.

Meanwhile, keep basting the roast with wine and water. To maintain the temperature, occasionally add one or two logs to the back.

Tip:

After approx. 2-2.5 hours grilling time, mix the potato wedges, rosemary sprigs, onions and garlic with a little olive oil and place in the tray under the spit. Season with salt and pepper.

Now it's time to crust!
(Remove the pan with the potatoes beforehand and keep warm).

Add a few logs to increase the temperature to approx. 250-280°C.
Push the fire all the way back again to prevent fat or meat juices from dripping into the embers.

As soon as the rind has plumped up all over and is crispy and the meat has reached a core temperature of 80°C, you can remove the roast from the spit. Leave the porchetta to rest for a few more minutes and serve with the potato wedges. 

Pizza Porchetta

Fancy a very special pizza variation?

Mit „Resteverwertung“ hat das eigentlich nicht viel zu tun, denn diese Pizza schmeckt einfach nur genial!

You can use this recipe for the dough and tomato sauce: https://www.dermerklinger.de/rezept/pizza-diavolo/

The pizza is topped with sliced mozzarella di bufala and sliced herb mushrooms. Drizzle with a little olive oil and it can then go into the fiery hot Merklinger.
Tip: Dry the mozzarella well on kitchen paper beforehand!

Remove the pizza from the oven and top with thin slices of porchetta. A delicious herb oil as a topping adds even more wonderful Mediterranean flavors.

For the herb oil:

Finely chop 1 clove of garlic and the needles from 4-5 sprigs of rosemary. Mix with a little lemon zest, approx. 4 tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt.