Porchetta, all day long

For The Union-Tribune

You might think that with the holidays behind us, we’re stuck with a few dreary months of chill and rain and barren trees, not to mention the same old same old when it comes to meals.

But you forget, we’re in San Diego. The post-solstice days are growing longer. We suffer from very little chill and gloom. And we live in a year-round bounty of food.

So, I’m celebrating — specifically with a delicious meal of porchetta, served with homemade mustard and pickles with a side of grilled focaccia. I learned how to make it from chef Sid Hilarides, who leads the Oceanside kitchen of Allmine restaurant, owned by Roxana Pavel. Hilarides will be preparing this dish, which is on the menu as an appetizer and will be their featured dish for Oceanside’s Swell Plates Series from Jan. 14 to Feb. 11. The series showcases locally sourced dishes at restaurants across the North County coastal city.

Pavel opened the restaurant in May 2022. While she intentionally avoids using the cliched “farm to table” descriptive, Pavel’s philosophy is to serve food that is seasonal, locally grown and handmade. Sometimes — in the case of San Marzano tomatoes, cheese, flour and other Italian specialties, local means Italy. But her pork, for both the pancetta and the sausage Hilarides makes, comes from Thompson Heritage Ranch in Ramona. Most of the vegetables are from D’Acquisto Farms in Bonsall, although Pavel will also pick up produce from San Diego producers she likes, like J.R. Organics.

“Sometimes I’ll ask them, ‘What didn’t you sell?’ They’ll tell me and I’ll come pick it up,” she said. “We’ll pickle it, or we’ll do a sauce.”

While the restaurant is known for its pizza and lasagna, the porchetta is one of the first things Pavel and Hilarides developed. Porchetta is an herb-stuffed Italian boneless pork roast with a crusty exterior of fat. Allmine’s is filled with a medley of fresh herbs — thyme, parsley, tarragon and dill — along with Chinese five spice, garlic, shallots, orange zest, mirin and smoked shoyu (Japanese-style soy sauce). Despite the long cooking time, the meat is oh so moist and those seasonings mellow in the roasting to marry well with the meat.

“Right when we opened, we wanted something that’s Italian, something that would add a lot of flavor to the pizza,” Pavel explained. “The porchetta takes a lot of time to prepare, but then it’s ready. And it’s a great topping.”

It’s also incredibly versatile. Yes, it can be shaved to be turned into a great pizza topping, but you can slice it thick as a pork chop for a great main course and it makes a fabulous sandwich. Pavel joked that it’s the original BLT — just slice a ciabatta roll horizontally, add tomato slices (or leftover tomato sauce), a nice slice of porchetta and heat it in the oven. Take it out and add some arugula and a dash of olive oil and you’re set.

You’ll want all these options because unless you’re feeding up to 12 people, you’ll have plenty of porchetta around (yes, you can also freeze it).

It turns out that while it takes a long time to make, most of that is passive time — and well worth the wait. You’ll want a 5- to 7-pound whole pork belly with the skin on, butterflied. You’ll score the skin and arrange all the aromatics and spices — well, all the ingredients — across the belly meat. Then roll it up and tie the cylinder with string in three or four places so it will stay put. Cover the skin in kosher salt and refrigerate it, uncovered, for 24 hours. That time and exposure to chilled air will leech the moisture from the skin so it will be nice and crispy after cooking.

That’s the hardest work you’ll do. After that, it’s just a matter of rubbing off the salt, patting the skin dry and then drizzling it lightly with olive oil. Place it on a sheet pan outfitted with a rack to absorb dripping and into a 400-degree oven for up to 10 minutes — just to crispen the skin. Then turn the temp down to 300 and let it roast until the meat’s internal temperature is 165 degrees. That could take two to 2 1/2 hours. Then crank up the temperature back to 400 for final skin crispening — another five to 10 minutes — before removing from the oven.

Now, it’s going to look and smell divine. But be patient. Hilarides is adamant that you need to let the porchetta rest uncovered for an hour or two. That way, all the muscle fibers can reabsorb the juices. There’s a payoff for postponing pleasure. The porchetta will be more tender, moist and flavorful.

While porchetta alone is delicious, adding mustard — particularly your own homemade mustard — elevates it another couple of notches. And once you make your own, it’ll be hard to go back to the yellow stuff in a squeeze bottle. Because this recipe makes a full quart, you can put some in small jars and gift them.

Hilarides said you can come up with your own flavor combinations, but don’t go much over four spices or you’ll end up with a muddle.

“It’s kind of a choose-your-own-adventure,” he said. “If you want grainy mustard, if you want a smooth mustard, you want it more sweet or saltier, you can adjust it. You can adjust the amounts of honey, the amount of salt or paprika. If you want it to be more yellow, leave out the brown mustard seeds. There are so many different variations of mustards that you can really make it your own.”

Hilarides makes his mustard with both yellow and black mustard seeds, which soak in equal parts apple cider vinegar and beer (Hilarides is partial to IPA) for a full 24 hours at room temperature. The seeds will absorb a lot of liquid but not all, so don’t worry if it’s still watery. You can add the mixture to a blender or to a tall container and use an immersion blender — whatever you prefer. To the seeds and liquid you’ll add honey, salt, ground turmeric, garlic powder and paprika. Blend it well but leave a little texture. Taste and adjust until it’s just right for you. Then refrigerate it for three days. That time lets the seeds absorb the liquid since it’ll still be a little loose after blending.

After three days, pull out your mustard, blend it again so it reintegrates. Then refrigerate for another three to four hours. By then, it should have the thickness you associate with mustard.

Now porchetta is pretty rich, so Hilarides likes to cut that with some acid — specifically, homemade pickles. And he’ll pickle pretty much anything, depending on the seasons. He changes up his brine and seasonings to complement the flavors of the produce at hand. Vinegars can be white distilled, champagne or white balsamic. Maybe he adds chiles, maybe not.

For our cucumber pickles, he created a brine of equal parts white distilled vinegar and filtered water, along with salt and sugar. That mixture is brought to a boil. Meanwhile he divvies up thick slices of Kirby cukes in clean, sterilized jars and layers them with smashed garlic, yellow and brown mustard seeds, coriander seeds, whole black pepper, dill fronds, star anise, dry arbol chiles and bay leaf. Once the brine is boiling, Hilarides carefully ladles it in each jar over the ingredients.

The most important part here is to be sure the vegetables are covered by the brine. Leave a bit of room as you stuff the jars for that. But veggies like to float, so if pickling or fermenting becomes a passion, it’s worth buying “pickle pebbles,” round glass weights you place on top of the veggies in a jar before pouring in the brine.

Seal the jars and let that hot brine come to room temperature. Then refrigerate at least overnight, but preferably for two or three days. Again, patience. That will give you the most flavor.

In fact, if Hilarides has any tips for home cooks making these dishes, it’s a respect for time.

“I keep saying time is my secret ingredient,” he said. “Don’t rush any of these recipes or skip any of the steps. Don’t be in too much of a rush, and if the pickles or mustard aren’t where you want them, they probably just need to go back in the refrigerator for a little bit longer. They’re just going to improve over time.”

Porchetta

Makes 12 servings, depending on how it’s sliced

INGREDIENTS

One 5- to 7-pound whole pork belly, skin-on, butterflied and scored

1 tablespoon Chinese five spice

1 to 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

1 tablespoon fresh tarragon

1 tablespoon fresh dill

6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced

1 to 2 tablespoons garlic oil

2 to 3 tablespoons mirin

1 to 2 tablespoons smoked shoyu

Zest of 1 orange

Salt and pepper

For the skin:

Kosher salt (enough to fully cover the skin in a thin, even layer)

Olive oil to drizzle on the skin

DIRECTIONS

1: Score the skin and season the inside of the belly with all the herbs, aromatics, five spice, sugar, mirin, shoyu, garlic oil, orange zest, and salt and pepper.

2: Roll and tie with string.

3: Cover the skin completely with kosher salt and refrigerate uncovered overnight.

4: The next day, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush off the salt and pat the skin dry. Drizzle on a little olive oil.

5: Place pork belly roll on a sheet pan with a rack and place in oven to let the skin sear, about 8 to 10 minutes.

6: Lower the temperature to 300 degrees and slow roast until tender and the internal temp is 165 degrees, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

7: Return the oven temperature to 400 degrees to crispen the skin — about 5 to 10 minutes.

8: Remove from oven and let the porchetta rest, uncovered, for 1 to 2 hours. To serve as an appetizer, slice very thin and serve with mustard, pickles and slices of focaccia, brushed with olive oil and grilled. You can also enjoy it as a main course with thicker slices or as part of a sandwich — think ciabatta sliced horizontally, toasted, with your favorite (leftover) tomato sauce, a nice slice of porchetta, and pickles.

Yellow Mustard

Makes 1 quart

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds

1/2 cup black mustard seeds

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup beer, such as an IPA

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

DIRECTIONS

1: Soak the mustard seeds in equal parts cider vinegar and beer for 24 hours at room temperature.

2: Combine all the ingredients in a blender or a tall container if using an immersion blender. Blend but leave a little granulation for texture. Taste and adjust spices to taste. The mixture will be a little loose.

3: Refrigerate for 3 days before using. The mustard will thicken during that time. Blend again, then refrigerate another 3 to 4 hours for it to come together fully.

Pickled Cucumbers

Makes 5 pounds

INGREDIENTS

5 pounds pickling cucumbers, thickly sliced

2 quarts white distilled vinegar

2 quarts filtered water

1 1/2 cups salt

1/4 cup sugar

10 cloves of garlic, smashed

1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds

1/2 tablespoon coriander seeds

1/2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns

12 sprigs of dill

1 star of anise

3 dry arbol chiles

1 bay leaf

DIRECTIONS

1: Clean and sterilize jars.

2: Make brine by bringing the vinegar, water, salt and sugar to a boil. Periodically stir to fully incorporate the salt and sugar.

3: Meanwhile, layer the cucumber slices, garlic, dill and spices, dividing as evenly as possible among the jars. Once filled, push down on the cucumbers on top to fully fill each jar.

4: Carefully ladle the brine over the ingredients. Make sure that they are fully submerged. If you have pickle pebbles, use them to weight down the ingredients. Seal the jar.

5: Let sit until they cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate at least overnight, but optimally for 2 to 3 days for full flavor.