- Food is one of the most important cultural,
historical treasures, something to be preserved,
something to be honored, and that's not more apparent than
this place that we're going to right now
in the Esquilino neighborhood.
It's called Er Buchetto, which does a porchetta,
which is a pork roast.
Crispy skin on the outside, tender, juicy,
flavorful on the inside.
The person we're gonna talk to is named Alessandro,
he is a fifth generation porchetta master.
He's been doing it, and generations above him,
back until 1890, so this place has been
in business for 128 years, and they've been doing
the porchetta the exact same way.
So we're gonna head over there,
we're gonna grab a quick lunch with Lesley Suter,
who is the new Eater Travel editor.
We're gonna get her insights on this place,
we're gonna have some porchetta,
we're gonna chat, it's gonna be a great time.
(light techno music)
- I am so excited, it looks like everything that
I have ever wanted in a place.
I think this is gonna be really good.
Do you remember when you learned how to make the porchetta?
- (speaking in Italian).
- But it's in your blood.
- (speaking in Italian).
- Your son, Luca.
- Luca.
- You taught him the tradition,
the porchetta, yes?
- (speaking in Italian).
- Luca.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, I like your name,
you have good name, Luca.
(laughter)
How do you feel about Er Buchetto and learning the business?
Do you feel pressure, do you feel like?
- Yes, yes I do.
- You do?
- Now I just want to help my father, and learn his job.
My grandfather and then my father,
they did a great job to keep this place.
- [Lucas] Yeah.
- Maybe my son will do the same.
- [Lucas] Wow.
It kind of doesn't get more perfect than where we are
right now, just every detail about this place, Er Buchetto.
- [Lesley] Er Buchetto.
- [Lucas] Which I learned means hole in the wall.
- [Lesley] Yeah, that's exactly what it is,
this is about as everyday as it gets.
- People stop in, they get a sandwich or they get a
piece of paper with some pork on it,
and then they just leave and go about their day.
It's so straight forward and simple.
- Yeah it's unexceptionally exceptional.
The sandwich is all parts of the pig.
Literally, an entire pig (laughs) rolled up.
There's like a little bit of guts in there,
you get a little bit of those extra delicious
bits which Romans are so fond of.
(crusty bread crunch)
- I'm really impressed with this.
As you said, it's got that kind of funky gut overtones,
but I taste a lot of rosemary, and the idea that you need
some sort of lubrication to have a sandwich,
I mean in this case, it's the wine.
- It lubricates both you and the sandwich.
- That's right, to have something help it go down,
you just have a sip of wine.
- The temptation would be, "Let's put a little
smear of mustard on there, let's give it
a little something extra."
No, don't do it.
- Nothing
- You've got different texture notes of that,
like crunchy skin that kind of sticks in your teeth.
There are little bits of cartilage and tendon
that you can find in it too, that give it
little pieces of chew and, again, that little slightly
gamey, sorta funky gut flavor, and then just pig.
Just good tasting, clean pig.
- Tasting this for the antipasti.
Delicious.
- Oily, these sun dried tomatoes.
- [Lucas] Would eat anytime.
- Yeah, at all times.
These artichokes, Romans love an artichoke.
This time of year in particular,
we are at peak artichoke season.
There's not a better time to be in Rome.
This salami you must get in on.
- Oh salami, great.
- [Lesley] What do you think?
- [Lucas] I love that.
- [Lesley] Also these little Slim Jims here.
- [Lucas] Slim Jims are great.
- [Lesley] (laughs) Little Slim Jims are pretty great.
- [Lucas] I love fermented and cured meats.
- Italian food in general tends to favor
that kind of thing that is deceptively simple.
It's not a technique driven cuisine.
This is not like French, where it's a lot about
staple sauces, and that kind of thing.
Italian food is about ingredients, and what you start with.
You do as little as you can to it, just to highlight
what's delicious and natural about it,
and it's actually really hard to do that.
Something like this, like this porchetta,
is really emblematic of that, because again,
it's a pig rolled up with stuff, sliced,
served on bread, and if not every element
of this sandwich is perfect, it's not gonna work.
The same way that there are sort of rules about preserving
the buildings and the architecture here,
there are rules about preserving the food.
The food is a tourist attraction, and Italy knows that.
There are certain foods, porchetta being one of them,
that has a lot of really intense rules
about how it can be made, where it can be made,
in order for it to qualify as official porchetta.
So, this is one of the places where you can
be a hundred percent guaranteed the food cops
are not gonna come in and handcuff us.
We are eating the authentic porchetta.
- I sort of love that, I love the idea that a culinary
tradition deserves to be protected as much as a building.
- Yeah.
- It deserves to be protected as much as a monument,
which, when you think about it, that makes complete sense.
It's as much, if not more, a part of the integrity,
and the tradition of a place.
- Yeah, we are officially eating
a national treasure, (laughs), enjoy.
- We're like eating the Colosseum,
that's what you're saying.
- Not as crunchy, not as crunchy.
(light, upbeat music)
- I really hope you enjoyed this episode of
"Dining on a Dime", from Er Buchetto,
in the Esquilino neighborhood of Rome.
If you'd like to watch more please click here.
- [camera man] Do like a, "Ooh, wow"
- (laughs)
(held musical note ending)