Pancetta is dry cured bacon made from pork belly, and its generally found rolled and unsmoked, but may be left flat.
To make pancetta, you’ll need:
- A slab of pork belly around 5lbs and rectangular or square if you intend on rolling it, skin off.
Pork Belly Ribs Removed
- Curing salt, pink salt, or Insta-cure #1
- Sugar
- A place to cure the belly in the fridge for a week
- A place to hang your pancetta
Those are the basics, but we’re going a little traditional with this one, so if you’re following along, mix up this cure:
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 12 grams curing salt (if you’re using a premix, make sure that 6% of your total cure mix is comprised of curing salt)
- 50 grams kosher salt
- 75 grams brown sugar
- 20 grams crushed black peppercorns
- 10 grams juniper berries, crushed
- 4 grams nutmeg, grated
- Mix up your cure.
- Remove the skin from your pork belly using a very sharp boning or chefs knife. Cut just under the skin, pulling back on it.
Pork Belly, skin off
- Square off the pork belly, and save the trimmings for sausages if you like.
Trimming up the belly
Pork Belly, squared off
- Rub the cure all over the belly on both sides and put it in a big zipper bag or in a shallow pan that can be covered with saran wrap.
Pork Belly in Pancetta Marinade
- Every other day, redistribute the liquid that is released from the belly.
- After a week, the belly should be firm throughout, if not, let it cure for another day or so.
Once cured, take your pancetta from the brine and rinse it well. Pat dry, and cover both sides in a thin dusting of black pepper. This will help keep the bugs away. Roll and tie your meat very tightly if you wish, otherwise cut a small hole and hang the meat in a slightly cool, humid area. Mine was hung in my utility/laundry room, and I forgot to take photos. Hang unrolled pancetta for about 7 days until it begins to firm. If it gets too dry and crusty, wrap the driest bits, and put it in the fridge to dry the rest a little more. Hang rolled pancetta for 4-8 weeks, and put it in the fridge if it begins to dry out too much.
Shark Week has nothing on this. I’ve got about 20lbs of pork sitting here that I need to deal with, so it’s PORK WEEK here at Culinary Tips. I’m not normally the biggest fan of pork. It is a cheap meat, and can handle tons of abuse before becoming completely inedible, which leads most people to show it little respect, flavour it terribly, and cook it poorly.
