The Italian market roast, home-scaled: pork belly rolled around loin with fennel, garlic, and herbs — crackling outside, perfumed spiral within.
What you need
Ingredients
Servings
8
1 1/2 kg
🥓 Pork Belly ›
skin on, butterflied flat
600 g
🥩 Pork Loin ›
2 tbsp
🌾 Fennel Seeds ›
toasted and crushed
6 cloves
🧄 Garlic ›
2 tbsp
🌿 Rosemary ›
1 tbsp
🌿 Sage ›
1
🍋 Lemon ›
zest
2 tbsp
🧂 Kosher Salt ›
Add all to shopping list
Mise en place
Before you start
40m
Prep
150m
Cook
190m
Total
8
Serves
Equipment
Large skillet
Chef's knife
Cutting board
Prep checklist
Pork Belly — skin on, butterflied flat
Fennel Seeds — toasted and crushed
Lemon — zest
4 steps
Method
1
Score the belly skin finely. Flip; rub the meat side with the crushed fennel, garlic, herbs, zest, and half the salt. Lay the loin along one edge, roll tightly, and tie at 3 cm intervals.
💡
A tight, even roll cooks evenly and slices into those spiral rounds. Recruit a second pair of hands for the tying.
2
Salt the skin; refrigerate uncovered overnight.
3
Roast at 160°C to 60°C in the loin core, about 2 hours; then blast at 240°C until the skin blisters to crackling, 15–20 minutes.
4
Rest 20 minutes. Slice thick with a serrated knife and serve with the fennel-scented juices — or stuff into crusty rolls, market-style.
From the chef
Notes
Taste before serving and adjust salt and acid — the last 30 seconds of seasoning matter more than any single ingredient.
Afterwards
Keep, reheat & pair
Storage
Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days; reheat gently with a splash of water.
Freezing
Freezes well up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
Reheating
Reheat gently: covered in a 160°C oven for 15 minutes, or in a pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock. The microwave works at 50% power in short bursts — full blast toughens proteins.
Make ahead
Most braises and sauces improve overnight. Sear-and-serve dishes: do every step up to the final cook, then finish fresh.
Wine pairing
Match the weight of the dish — ask the AI Chef for a specific bottle.
Beer pairing
Match intensity: lagers for delicate dishes, amber ales for roasted flavors, stouts for the rich and braised.