Three porchetta

Stephanie Clifford-Smith in Food
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“Everything is good on a pig” said lawyer turned gastronome Laurent Grimod de la Reyniere. It’s true. Only the bristles have no culinary purpose, but the paintbrushes they make just strengthen his argument.

For our purposes, we’re calling porchetta the stuffed, rolled belly and loin of this “king of animals” which is more about celebration than inventiveness borne of peasant frugality. That said there’s a popular street food incarnation stuffed into panini and sold from carts. Traditionally though, according to Gillian Riley’s Oxford Companion to Italian Food, it’s a whole boned and roasted young pig cooked with herbs. Or if you roll other meat or poultry around a herb stuffing then roast it you’re cooking it ‘al porchetta’.

Lucio’s

Porchetta alla Romana is spot on with its tender, herb spiked meat and crisp, salty crackling.

Sometimes you don’t want your Italian meal to be a victim of wheel re-invention. Sometimes you want your waiters flirty but informed, your table linen heavy and your cooks simply good at what they do. It’s business as usual at this artistically adorned Paddington stalwart, which is why it has an army of loyal locals keeping it going when so many other high-end places have failed. Porchetta alla Romana (AUD $48) is spot on with its tender, herb spiked meat and crisp, salty crackling. Tangy red cabbage, charred onion and green apple work a treat with the pork, as does a ballsy San Marzano Negroamaro (AUD $15/$58).

Address: 47 Windsor Street, Paddington. Telephone: +61 2 9380 5996

Osteria Coogee

Lucky Coogee having this appealing casual eatery opening just back from the beach last May. The headily herby porchetta (AUD $38) is a thick scroll of juicy, fatty meat with crackling charred, blistered and begging to be peeled away and scoffed. It’s only available on Sundays until sold out, so get in early and try it with a zesty Terre di Chiete Niro Pecorino 2016 (AUD $13/$33/$66). Order almost anything else from the loosely-structured sharing menu, like the octopus with capers or the porcini gnocchi and settle in for a good time. 

Address: 31 Alfreda Street, Coogee. Telephone: +61 2 9665 6797

Friggitoria

Does shoving a few slices of pork inside a bread roll (AUD $12) make the bendy crackling and dry meat any easier to bear? Does a mountain of chips help? Maybe, but only if you’re starving. Order it with a salad (AUD $19) and it’s very dreary indeed. It’s a street food place so it seems churlish to complain about eating out of a cardboard box, but that and the plywood cutlery don’t add anything to the experience. Maybe the lasagne, arancini or meatballs were better. There’s something getting this place good online reviews.

Address: 6/12 Bayswater Road, Potts Point. Telephone: +61 416 066 352

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