Roast Porchetta with Caramelised Apples

26 Jan, 2026

Juicy porchetta, crisp, salty crackling and sweet caramelised apples is a flavour combination made in heaven. Add to that a beautiful blue cheese and pear salad and you’ve got a truly mouthwatering dish.

The key to ensuring the porchetta is beautifully tender inside with an incredible crackling on the outside is by taking it up to temperature slowly and on a low heat.

Roast Porchetta Temperatures

Roast at a higher heat for 35 minutes to get the crispy crackling
Turn down the oven temperature and cook slowly to 82 °C for tender pork
Use a leave-in thermometer like the RFX or DOT to monitor your pork temperature
To finish, probe the porchetta using a Thermapen to make sure it's at temp all over, and it feels nice and tender

Roast Porchetta Recipe

Ingredients

For the porchetta

2kg piece bone-in, skin-on pork (roughly 225g per person), fat trimmed to 1/4 in thickness and skin scored all over
4 tsp cumin seeds
5 smoked garlic cloves
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
60ml olive oil
Seasoning

For the apples

3 red eating apples
8 small 30g butter
30g brown sugar
8 cloves garlic
6 tbsp olive oil

For the salad

200-300g blue cheese, crumbled (50g per person)
200g rocket
3 pears, cut into batons

Directions

To make the roast porchetta

Blend the garlic, lemon zest, cumin seeds, salt and black pepper together. Pour in the oil.
Rub all over pork. Transfer to a large bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the pork from fridge 1 to 2 hours before cooking it.
Pre-heat the oven to 220 °C/ 200 °C fan / gas 7.
Transfer the pork to a deep baking sheet and roast for 35 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 170 °C / 150 °C fan / gas 3.
Cook until the meat comes to an internal temperature of 82 °C. We used the DOT
Digital Oven Thermometer to alert us once the temperature was reached.

To make the caramelised apples

Core the apples and slice into 3 cm slices.
Gently heat the butter and pop the sliced apples into the pan.
Add the sugar and allow both sides to gently caramelise.

Method for the salad

Toss all of the ingredients together.
Serve with the caramelised apple, some sliced pork and a piece of crackling.

Laura Tulloch

I love my Thermapen, it really helps me cook with confidence. As a caterer the health and safety of everyone you cook for is paramount, but that doesn't mean you have to compromise with your cooking. A simple reassuring check with the Thermapen throughout the process is all that's needed to allow you to enjoy, and confidently serve what you've made.