Friday, November 25, 2011

The Trifecta of Pork Porchetta Style

Sausage stuffed pork wrapped in bacon

 I admit it. This dish started out as a joke. I like to make nontraditional dishes for Thanksgiving. I wanted to do my own take on a Turducken; so, I decided on a three-pork roast. Porchetta style pork is perfect for this. A butterflied pork shoulder filled with pork sausage and wrapped in bacon. My own little pork version of a turducken. I am calling it a pork pork porkin. Catchy isn't it?
I have never made my own sausage. So this year, I decided to make my own sausage. It was easy to make and will be the subject of a later post. For safety reasons (Alton Brown would be so proud), I decided to cook it before stuffing into the center of the pork. I was worried that the temperature would not get high enough to fully cook the sausage without drying out the pork (ground pork needs to cook to a high temperature than a pork roast. (For more information see my post Recommended Temperatures for Pork)). Also cooking and draining the grease off of the sausage would keep the trifecta of pork from getting too greasy. I had a pork shoulder (Boston Butt) butterflied and I had three pieces of pork. I turned one into pork sausage and the other two I stuffed and wrapped in bacon. 

Butterflied pork shoulder

Stuffed Porchetta Style Pork

Stuffed pork
1 Butterflied Pork Shoulder
Approximately 1 Cup of Cooked Pork Sausage
4 Slices of Bacon

Sausage covered pork

The Rub
1 Tbsp of Fresh Herbs, Finely Chopped (Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary)
1 Tsp of Kosher Salt
1/2 Tsp of Freshly Ground Pepper
3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp of Olive Oil

Combine ingredients together and rub on porchetta style pork.
The rub


Stuffed Pork with Sausage and Apples
1 Butterflied Pork Shoulder
One Apple, Peeled and Diced
1 Tsp of Cinnamon
1/4 Tsp of Allspice
Approximately 1/2 Cup of Sausage, Cooked
4 Slices of Bacon

Apple and sausage covered pork

Assembly

A Whole Bunch of Toothpicks or Twine

Lay the butterflied pork shoulder flat and place stuffing on top of the pork. Starting at the outer edge, roll up like a jelly roll. If you are more coordinated than I am, secure with twine. I secured the pork with toothpicks. Wrap bacon around the roast. Rub the rub on the porchetta sausage stuffed pork. Refrigerate until ready to roast.
Assembled roasts


Roasting

1 Cup of White Wine
1 Onion Sliced

Preheat oven to 425F/218C/Gas Mark 7. Place the onions on the bottom of a baking pan, and place roasts on top of the onions. Pour wine into the bottom of the pan. Bake for approximately 1 hour and fifteen minutes or until temperature reaches 145F/63C. Let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
Roasted sausage stuffed pork wrapped in bacon


The bottom line: Will I make this again. There were a fair number of steps, but I broke them out over two days.The result, was some of the best pork I have ever had. The combination of the tastes was amazing. I could not decide which pork I liked better. It also resulted in a visually stunning dish. I will make this again.
Apple sausage stuffed pork

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