Pancetta is a large slice of pork side, cured with salt, spices, and herbs. Unlike some other cured cuts of pork, it's easy to make, and this is handy because it's a common flavoring agent in Italian dishes.
Ingredients:
- Pork side, the cut used to make bacon (precise quantities below)
- Salt
- Garlic
- Peppercorns
- Mixed spices
Preparation:
Purchase a piece of pork side weighing about 4 - 41/2 pounds (1.8 - 2 k) and lay it flat in a deep flat-bottomed container, rind side down. Dust it lightly with finely ground (as opposed to coarse) salt. Grind a couple of cloves of garlic to a fine paste in a mortar and spread them uniformly over the meat. Cover it with cracked peppercorns and spices (just a touch of cinnamon, cloves, or nutmeg -- for this amount I'd go with a half teaspoon or less). Next, cover it with a uniform, thick layer of salt, pressing down so it sticks throughout.
Leave the meat lie for 20 days, then shake off the excess salt, make a hole in one end with an awl, run a string through it, and hang it up in a cool well-ventilated place for a month.
It's now ready; you can use it in thin (1/8 inch, 1/4 cm) slices in whatever recipe calls for it.
A note: in southern Italy they also make a fiery variety of pancetta in which ground red pepper figures prominently in the spice mixture rubbed into the meat before the salt is added.
Leave the meat lie for 20 days, then shake off the excess salt, make a hole in one end with an awl, run a string through it, and hang it up in a cool well-ventilated place for a month.
It's now ready; you can use it in thin (1/8 inch, 1/4 cm) slices in whatever recipe calls for it.
A note: in southern Italy they also make a fiery variety of pancetta in which ground red pepper figures prominently in the spice mixture rubbed into the meat before the salt is added.
