How to make porchetta – recipe | Felicity Cloake Masterclass

Roast pork, Italian style, is traditionally prepared with a whole suckling pig stuffed with herbs and slowly roasted until tender and succulent and with a crisp, tanned skin. Perhaps fortunately few of us have the means to replicate this at home or we'd never find the time to do anything else, but a smaller cut is dangerously doable.

Preparation 25 minChill 8 hr+Cook 4 hours 30 minFor 8-10 people

1 x rectangular piece of boneless pork belly and 1 x piece of pork loin about the right size to roll inside, skin left over – weight of each piece depends on shape, but aim for a total weight of about 3½-4kg 1 tbsp fennel seeds 1 tbsp tsp dried chilli flakes (optional) 50g garlic (about 10 cloves) 30g sea salt flakes 2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary or thyme leaves 1 tbsp lard or olive oil, at room temperature200ml white wine (optional)

1 Choose your meat wisely

Although you can making porchetta from a single cut of pork belly the shoulder, a combination of fatty belly and lean, tender loin – with the skin left on the belly for maximum crispiness – offers the best of both worlds . You'll probably have to go to a butcher to make sure you get pieces of the right shape.

2 A note on portion control

Because the belly slice has to Being large enough to wrap around the loin, it's difficult to make porchetta in small batches, so if that's a problem, cut it in half once assembled and freeze a piece to cook later. Leftovers also make great sandwiches.

3 Grind the spices and garlic

Briefly heat the fennel seeds and chili flakes, if using, in a skillet dry until they smell toasty, then grind both into a powder.

Peel the garlic cloves and crush them too; I add them to the mortar with the spices, although you can use a knife or a garlic crusher, if you prefer.

4 Add the herbs and season