okay okay
[Music]
welcome to chopstick travel I'm Luke
Martin and today we are in beautiful
Rome but for this episode we are
skipping the city and heading straight
to the countryside to the hills of
arisia the famous city of porchetta to
meet with Piero the king of porchetta
and go to his factory centuries-old
seeing the traditional process of
preparing this quintessential Italian
meat from start to finish and then
trying it for ourselves and we're doing
this all with our friends at eating
Europe if you'd like to book a food tour
here in Europe they're available in tons
of cities across the continent so hit
the link down in the description box and
book your food tour so let's meet up and
then we'll head to Aditya it's about a
one hour drive let's go
[Music]
so we have made it to aditya the town of
porchetta we are at the famous porchetta
roastery this place has been around
since 1823 this branch I guess it broke
off from one part of the family to the
next has been around since 1940 and
we're just in this little Valley of
Aditya which is famous for the porchetta
it's actually like the porchetta town
and I'm really really excited to check
this out or gonna learn about the
process we're gonna see the factory and
of course we're gonna taste it I'm
already getting hungry getting suited up
to go into the factory hygiene comes
first I think it's probably to keep the
meat clean and not you yeah exactly
alright we were going inside you can
definitely feel the drop in temperature
in here
[Music]
we are just checking of the first
station and in this room they're
starting with pretty much the entire pig
and they're deboning doing a little bit
of trimming breaking it down just to the
preferred cut for the porchetta and
they're working really fast these guys
definitely know what to go
so the porchetta made here has a dop
certification which is given to the
factory by the government and it
basically just surprised that they're
doing in a traditional way and in order
to get that certification they need to
be here in Aditya this is the town of
porchetta that makes this really
interesting is that everything is done
by hand none of this is done by a
machines very traditional just manpower
here so this is the final cut that these
guys are working towards it's sort of
the midsection torso and mainly the
belly lots of fat on there it really
gives it that flavor this facility is so
clean and nice
[Music]
all of that extra trimming and a little
bit of meat that's attached to the bones
they'll actually use all that's a no
waste and it's put into this sausage
making thousands of these sausages what
do you think of the factory Wow
so incredible just you know like a line
word everyone knows what they're doing
it's so professional and we're gonna go
see the ovens now so we're in the oven
room right now you could definitely feel
the temperature increase these ovens are
running but there's nothing inside they
always keep the temperature going and
they'll actually cook the porchetta
overnight so it finishes around 4 a.m.
and then it's delivered to the shop
still hot out of the oven around 7 a.m.
and they'll cook it at 280 degrees for
about four hours and then drop it down
to 260 degrees and then maybe two to
four more hours depending on the size
these ovens are massive huge so the ones
we just saw him prepare those will be
refrigerated and then tonight they'll be
cooked but just yet besides these things
huge
although the porchetta is very simple
and ingredients the process is very
complex
everything is temperature controlled and
everything is done precisely it's quite
amazing so they've got one Pig that's
been completely wrapped it's just
getting ready for shipping I think
they're gonna show us give us a little
peek
so this is the final product here is
absolutely beautiful and this one
actually has like the top half and the
lower half on and this will be shipped
out to some hungry customers
[Music]
so now they're starting to spice up the
inside of this and this is really where
the magic happens
[Music]
so we're starting with just salt and
pepper and you can see that he's
actually distributing the spice
differently compared to what part of the
animal it is so a little heavier on the
thighs
[Music]
so the last two ingredients very simple
only four things salt pepper and then we
put rosemary and dried garlic big chunks
of garlic very simple ingredients but
this is a true best way to do the
porchetta
before you
so the next step is to tie the porchetta
around this metal pole which will be
used to feed it into the oven he's using
this big needle and a bit of twine to
tie this thing up
and that is it that was super super fast
really just a simple tie almost like
tying a shoe and that looks pretty crazy
that is huge okay
[Music]
he added a couple holes to the outside
of the skin just let it breathe a little
bit there'll be no oil or anything added
to this just that skin get nice and
crackling
okay okay
because you know what they thought was
is for very been at work
[Music]
so these ones here are just kind of
dripping and it's cooler in here these
ones will be sent out they'll actually
be vacuum sealed and sent out across
Italy across Europe just tried some that
skin is really crispy good really oily
so they'll only do about 10 of the full
pigs a day which are about 80 kgs before
their oven roasted but the bellies
they'll do about a thousand a week and
just shipping them off everywhere or
watching the process pretty crazy right
so that was quite the tour of this
centuries old since 1823 porchetta
roastery really modern interior but
traditional process a lot of fun we're
gonna head back into Rome but first
we're actually gonna stop and check out
aresia the little town the porchetta
town and just see the sights of Tim
[Applause]
[Music]
so we're now in the town of RDT yeah
this is just a 45 minute drive from Rome
and everywhere you look here there is
another shop selling porchetta and it is
a beautiful little town on the hillside
and there's this really cool bridge
right here that they say is at least 500
years old but likely even older
[Music]
so we are back in Rome in Trastevere
where the shop pierrots pork at the shop
is we're gonna go inside and I think
we're going to be tasting a couple
things I know for sure we're gonna be
tasting the porchetta so the time has
finally come really excited
[Music]
so we're having a couple little samples
this shop has all kinds of meats the
first one they're giving me is called
for is a low and it is a beef cured beef
oh yeah scoobert then not very oily oh
man you can tell that this is quite
different
still thinly sliced like that lovely
Piero's prepared as portaloo for us and
this is the best porchetta in the world
right yes yes so I have the porchetta
the moment has come such a cool
atmosphere super local lots of locals
just buying their meats and this is
served on a nice piece of toasty warm
bread looks like a little bit of oil and
you can see that piece of the skin on
top I'm gonna move that over here
because I gotta have that in my first
bite okay let's dig into this
[Music]
that is delicious
yeah you can taste the rosemary a little
bit of pepper and the meat was just so
tender it just completely falls apart
the layers of fat and then lean meat
Multi pumper get a sandwich with other
things
no no all you don't need anything yes
yes wow that is so good I love the
rosemary in there a little bit of garlic
too yeah so good rosemary we talked this
up I am starving I'm just gonna go right
in piquant
yeah if I got spicy fennel little fennel
fennel I'm a little spicy it's almost
like a jerky it's almost like candy
tastes a little sweet next up we've got
a piece of the homemade prosciutto that
one's always your favorite so soft
because it's cut so thinly it just melts
super good this is such a cool shop and
the products are just fabulous you can
get olives you can get a smoked fish
they have sausages they have cured meats
and we're gonna put the information for
the shop down in the description below
or you can book a tour with eating
Europe and visit here with an expert to
tell you all about the different needs
that gopala days cake we locate chippin
ago L'Aquila desta Canaries so when they
are preparing the pig they don't use the
head for the porchetta in fact they
actually send it off to somewhere else
and they cut up the different pieces
like including the ears the cheeks and
they boil it and make it into this la
copa so this is like a mixture of the
different bits of the head and people
either love it or hate it and we're
gonna give it a try it has a bunch of
different textures
it's made with some pepper and some
orange as well so here goes
Oh yep
some of the bits are very jewy luckily
you can taste a lot of that orange zest
very citrusy okay let's try this if
there is a lot of different colors and
textures going on there the orange it's
like chewy and then stuff melts you and
then kind of gelatinous lis alright guys
that's it for today's video what an
incredible day traveling to the hills
surrounding Rome to see how the
traditional porchetta is made this is
one of the most famous meats in all of
Italy and actually we saved ourselves
and did not try it on our whole trip
here until now so wow just mind-blowing
ladle it's just so juicy so tender so
strong
yeah and Piero was such a friendly guy
really interesting process he showed us
through the whole thing and just really
traditional since 1823
I do want to give a huge thank you to
eating Europe they have food tours all
across Europe in I don't even know tons
of Sydney's you've got to check out
their website and if you're coming to
Europe and you want to do a food tour
walking tour or anything just click the
link down in the description box and I'm
sure they will give you a great great
tour if you didn't check out the
previous episode hit the link down in
the description as well we took you for
the ultimate street food tour of
Florence incredible city beautiful
Tuscan food Wow that was awesome
what was your favorite meat other than
the porchetta I don't know I
spicy jerky I can't remember exactly
what it was they were so good texture
yeah I mean piano had amazing needs the
whole store was just filled with
delicious food yeah
really traditional place but it is hard
to kind of navigate yourself through an
Italian deli so I do recommend booking
the tour and we will see you on the next
episode of chopstick travel soon bye bye
bye