A short passage about arista (I think maybe porchetta is the more correct term) in Heat got me thinking. Why can't I -- here in the pork-multiplying American Midwest -- procure a boned-out half of a hog, dump on a few pounds of salt, pepper and herbs, roll it up on itself and cook this Tuscan masterpiece? Here's how Bill Buford described it: "Dario used half the pig, the torso, which was boned and rolled up with an extravagance of herbs—garlic, thyme, fennel pollen, pepper, rosemary, and double-ground sea salt—and then cooked it in a hot oven for four hours until it emerged as a noisy sizzling racket, the fat rendered and popping, trailing a black acrid cloud of smoke, a glistening and rather beautiful thing. When sliced, you got the carré, tasting like a tender steak, the bacony stomach, and everything in between." Why can't I indeed. First of all, almost every recipe I've come across directs me to a roast of loin. That's great for Tuesday night, but what am I supposed to do all Sunday? Second, the local butchers and hog producers around here have no idea what I'm talking about when I call. "You want what? A halfa hog, boned out. Long pause. Whatcha planning on doin' with it?" Two more calls and a promise to get back to me have brought me no closer to what I'm looking to do here: namely, eating slices of loin-bacon-ribmeat all in one delirious bite. The third question is about how I'm going to cook a giant hog-roll in a) my oven or b) my large-enough-but-not-designed-for-roasting smoker. But just assuming I'm able to track the business end of this delicacy down, anyone out there tried to pull this off before? The difficulty in even getting step one taken care only makes me want to try it more. Any experience with this? What'd you season it with? How'd you cook it? I just gotta know. Thanks.
