Hello, and welcome to a very special edition of Will It Sous Vide?, the column where I usually make whatever you want me to with my immersion circulator. Not only are we finally cooking a long-requested dish—porchetta di testa—but we, as you can see, have video.


The (very instructional) video will walk you through the process but, as Nic Cage will attest, the hardest part is taking the damn face off. I found this video from Chris Cosentino—the pig head master—to be helpful, but the key is to keep your very sharp blade very close to the bone and just slowly follow the skull. There’s also a pocket of tasty meat down in the cheeks, so make sure you get those.


Once the face is removed, you’ll need to season it. I used:

2 tablespoons of Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper (Just grind it right over the face so there’s pepper all over.)

A lot of garlic (I used six cloves.)

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Red pepper flakes to taste (A teaspoon or two is good.)

The zest of one large lemon

Rub that delightful nonsense all over the face, let it hang out in the fridge overnight, and then sous vide it according to the video above at 185℉ for 15 hours. For the rest of the details, including the answer to our question: “Will a pig face sous vide?,” you’ll have to watch the video. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed eating this pig face.