rss
21 March 2010

Pancetta: home-cured goodness

Photo courtesy of Flickr and phunkstarr Photo courtesy of Flickr and phunkstarr
I'm curing pancetta at home in our basement again. I'm following the instructions from Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie and several food bloggers who have tested his recipe and method.  This process requires that I buy pork bellies - pork bellies with the skin still on them. For flat pancetta, I leave the skin on, but for the traditional rolled pancetta (excellent excellent video and photo tutorials here on CHOW), I need to remove this. Not wanting to waste anything, I've been freezing the pieces of pork skins in a big Ziploc until I have enough to make a good feed of pork rinds. 

The pork skin often has the nipples still on it, and my specimen last night was no different. After removing it, I held the skin up to myself and walked out into the living room to show my husband saying, "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again!" There is no way to describe the look he gave me. He instead wordlessly closed his laptop and went upstairs to watch Keifer Sutherland fight terrorism in peace, and to perhaps rock quietly in the fetal position.

Well, won't he be a believer when we have lovely lardons of pancetta in our salads and pasta! Stay tuned for photos of the process, finished product and recipes for using all this pancetta!

, ,
Written by: Shana Hillman

Shana Hillman

Shana Hillman grew up in a small town in northern Ontario where she gained experience in animal husbandry and strawberry farming. She has called Toronto home for the last 13 years. She loves cooking, preserving and growing Beagle-resistant vegetables in her sunny backyard. Recent highlights have included cheesemaking on the kitchen counter and curing pancetta in the basement, much to the horror of her adoring, yet dubious husband, and to the delight of her two ravenous Beagles (who are now banned from the basement until further notice).

 

Responses to “Pancetta: home-cured goodness”

2
Kenneth Moyle Says: March 23, 2010 7:20 PM

You think that your husband's not happy about this? My wife is quite knicker-knotted about you doing this, because I will not rest until we have pig nipples curing in _our_ basement.

Reply
Shana Says: March 26, 2010 7:57 AM

He's not as open minded about "snout to tail" eating as I am - I blame his waspy Burlington upbringing ;) But pork fat always brings all the boys to the yard......eventually.

Reply

Leave a Reply