Prep the roast

A day or two before you plan to cook this roast, make your spice mix.  In a skillet, toast your peppercorns and fennel seed until fragrant.  Remove from the hot pan immediately, and once cooled, grind.  Mix these spices with clove, salt, minced fresh rosemary, and hot pepper flakes.  Pick the leaves off the sage stems and very thinly slice the Meyer lemon.  Set all this aside for a bit.

Remove the belly piece and the pork loin from the package.  Pat dry with paper towels.

Place the pork belly, skin side up on a cutting board and score the skin by cutting crossing diagonal lines about 1″ apart.  I have found the best (and safest) way to cut through pork rind is to use a serrated knife and a gentle back and forth sawing motion.  If the belly is slightly frozen (put in the freezer for 30 minutes prior to scoring), it’s a little easier.  Cut all the parallel lines first and then come back and cut the lines going in the opposite direction so you end up with a grid on the diagonal.  Careful not to cut too deep into the meat.

Score the belly and cut flaps in the ends that will come together around the loin.

Place the belly skin side down on a cutting board.  Score the pork belly all over, cutting a grid about 1/2″ deep into the meat.  Cut a flap on each of the two ends of the belly that will come together when you wrap the pork loin.

Rub the meat side of the pork belly and the pork with the spice and salt mixture.  Lay the lemon slices and sage leaves all over the pork belly.  Place the loin on top.

Season the meat.  Oh, and did you notice how sweet that knife is?  My buddy and old sous chef makes those under the name Lost Bison Forge.

Wrap the pork belly around the pork loin, overlapping the flaps over the pork loin.  Tien the roast tightly with butcher twine.  For a how-to video on how to tie a roast, here’s a good one, How to Tie a Roast.

Sprinkle the outside of the roast with a little more salt and refrigerate uncovered in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.

Prior to cooking, press tinfoil onto the open ends of the roast and secure with twine.  This will insulate the loin while the skin crisps up at 500 F.

Cook the roast

Preheat your oven to 500 F.  Rub the roast with oil.  Place the roast on a rack on a baking sheet covered with tin foil and cook at this high temperature for 45 minutes.

Tinfoil on the ends insulates the pork loin interior while the skin crisps up at 500 F.

Remove from the oven and reduce the heat to 250 F (or preheat your smoker to this temp).  Remove the tinfoil.  Continue cooking the roast until the internal temp of the loin reaches 145 F (2 1/2-3 hours).  Remove the roast from the oven or smoker and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

While the roast is cooking and resting, make the Pistachio Gremolata.  Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.  Using your fingers break up the clumps of grated garlic so all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Slice the roast and serve with Pistachio Gremolata and bread.