Porchetta is a roast pig, an ideal picnic food and also quite good as part of a festive, though not tremendously elegant, meal. Larger pigs, roasted the same way, are sliced to stuff sandwiches in fairs. This recipe is drawn from Giovanni Righi Parenti's La Cucina Etrusca, and though not authentically Etruscan (they left no recipes), it's something they would certainly have eaten.

Arezzo's porchetta is an institution, and no fair or festive gathering would be complete without it. In general, it's made from a young animal weighing less than 45 pounds (20 k) and in some cases the animal is considerably smaller.

Clean it, scrape it, and fill the cavity with a goodly amount of garlic, onion, and rosemary, a few bay leaves, and season everything well with salt and pepper before you sew the cavity shut. Some cooks also add a pinch of the spice mixture commonly used in making salami, which consists of cloves, coriander seed, nutmeg and of course black pepper. The rough proportions are 1/6 cloves, 2/6 black pepper, 2/6 coriander, and 1/6 nutmeg, though this will vary from cook to cook because each does things slightly differently. Finally, to keep the porchetta from drying out it's rubbed with abundant olive oil.

The pig is attached to a pole that functions as a spit and oven roasted, at a temperature that's not too high [I would suggest 320-350 F, 160-175 C]. Some cooks baste their pigs with red wine, thus cooling the outer layers, preventing the fat from rendering out, which would make the meat dry. The roasting should proceed slowly, and will be done when the skin has assumed a rich hazelnut shade of brown, while the meat inside is still very faintly pink.

To know when the meat inside is done, stick the porchetta with a clean wooden skewer; it should emerge as white as it was when it went in, without the slightest trace of blood, which would mean raw meat.

Put a large roasting pan under the pig to catch the drippings, and fill it with finely sliced onions and potatoes, which will work perfectly as a side dish.

The wine? A zesty red, for example a Chianti d'Annata or a Carmignano, or Carmignano's Barco Reale in a picnic.

Mr. Parenti notes that roasting a pig is not a practical proposition these days except under truly special circumstances, and suggests an alternative:

In modern day homes, it is quite difficult to prepare a sumptuous porchetta that requires time, a large oven, and… many mouths to feed. Though it may be appropriate for a festive gathering (especially a picnic), many modern housewives will find roasting a porchetta close to impossible.

Ducks are viable alternatives: their savory, fat-laced meats are in some ways similar to pork, and this means they can take the place of porchetta with considerable success. Goose, especially white goose, is also ideally suited for this. A large bird is necessary, and after cleaning it flame the carcass to remove all traces of pinfeathers, using tweezers to pull them if need be. Stuff the bird with abundant diced prosciutto, and if it's sausage season (the fall in Italy) crumble in a couple of links of mild Italian sausage as well, together with the herb mixture given above, adding a few leaves of sage and rosemary for more flavor. Sew the bird shut.

Next season a couple of thick slices of lard with abundant pepper, and tie them around the bird, slipping a couple of bay leaves between fat and bird. Bast with olive oil and put the bird on a rack in the oven, or on the spit over the coals. The roasting should take place at a low temperature (320-350 F, 16-175 C), and will require a couple of hours or more (the juioces from a a skewer thrust into the wing joint will run clear). Use a pan to catch the drippings, and stir a glass of red wine into them before you add some sliced potatoes, which will make an ideal accompaniment. If you are turning the duck on a spit, bast it occasionally with a 50-50 mixture of red wine and oil.

This dish requires a tossed green salad, preferably with tomatoes and celery too, to which a few leaves of fresh mint have been added, while the potatoes should be dusted with freshly minced thyme.

The wine? A light, zesty red, for example a Chianti d'Annata.

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