Le Zucchine

Method:

A little background

This recipe is inspired by the old pastoral cooking traditions of Sardinia, where shepherds and country people cooked with what they had around them: fire, wood, herbs, earth, time and good meat. Sardinia is famous for porceddu, or porcheddu, the slow-roasted suckling pig traditionally linked to shepherds, feast days, family gatherings and the island's agro-pastoral culture. Modern Sardinian pork is often cooked on a spit or near embers rather than fully buried, but the spirit is very similar: slow cooking, aromatic herbs, wood smoke and patience.

Cooking underground is also found in many other food cultures. In New Zealand, the Maori hangi cooks food in a pit with hot stones; in Peru, pachamanca uses heated stones, herbs, meat, potatoes and corn; in Hawaii, the imu is used for dishes such as kalua pig; in Fiji, the lovo uses hot stones and banana leaves; and in parts of Mexico, traditional barbacoa is slow-cooked in a pit, often with agave leaves. These traditions are different from each other, but they share the same beautiful idea: the earth becomes the oven.

This is a rustic and celebratory dish, the kind of recipe you prepare when you have time, space, friends and a reason to gather around the fire.

Prepare the pit

Choose a safe outdoor place where you are allowed to make a fire. Dig a hole about 50 cm deep and wide enough to contain the pork shoulder comfortably, with plenty of space around it. The hole should not be tight: you need room for the embers below, the wrapped pork in the middle and more embers above.

This is part of the charm of the recipe. You are not using an oven with a dial; you are building the oven yourself from earth, fire and heat.

Make the fire

Build a good wood fire inside the hole. Let it burn strongly until the flames die down and you are left with a deep bed of very hot embers. This takes patience. You want heat stored in the coals and in the earth around the pit.

The fire is not there to burn the pork directly. It is there to create a hot underground chamber that will cook the meat slowly for many hours.

Season and wrap the pork

While the fire is burning down, prepare the pork shoulder. Chop the rosemary finely. Mix it with the olive oil and salt until you have a rough, aromatic paste. Rub this paste all over the pork shoulder, pushing it into every fold and cut of the meat.

Lay out the banana leaves and place the pork shoulder in the centre. Wrap it tightly and generously, using several layers if needed. The banana leaves protect the meat from direct contact with ash and embers, but they also help trap steam and juices around the pork. If you have myrtle leaves, you can add a few inside the wrapping or around the pork. Myrtle is very Sardinian in spirit and is often associated with roast pork on the island.

Cook underground

When the flames have finished and the embers are glowing hot, place the wrapped pork shoulder in the pit, directly on top of the embers. Add more hot embers over the top of the wrapped pork. Then cover the whole pit with earth, sealing it well so the heat stays trapped inside.

Leave the pork underground for 8 to 10 hours. This is slow food in the most literal sense. The meat should become tender, juicy and deeply infused with the aroma of rosemary, smoke and banana leaves.

Serve

Carefully remove the earth and embers from the top of the pit. Lift out the wrapped pork and open the banana leaves carefully, because there may still be steam inside. The pork should be very tender, easy to pull apart and fragrant with herbs and smoke. Serve it simply, with bread, salad, roasted potatoes or grilled vegetables. A glass of Sardinian red wine would be very appropriate here.

Food safety note

Use a meat thermometer if possible. Pork should reach at least 63°C internally followed by a rest, though for this long, slow style it will usually go much higher and become pull-apart tender. Make sure the pork is properly cooked all the way through before serving.