One of the special occasion dishes in Italian households, along with standbys like ravioli and veal, is porchetta, a boneless pork roast originally from central Italy, cooked with the fat and skin still intact and usually stuffed with a savory mélange of garlic, rosemary and fennel. It's then sliced as one would a loaf and served either hot or the next day in a sandwich, preferably in a good roll, which can sometimes be even better.

Porchetta is not too difficult to find in places where Italian immigrants settled, such as along the iron ranges of northern Minnesota in the Midwest or on the East Coast, but it can be a bit difficult to find in the Dallas area. This isn’t made easier by the fact that it often goes by other names such as “Italian pulled pork” or “Italian roast pork,” and occasionally is spelled “porketta” (we’re looking at you, Jimmy’s Food Store.).