I have three salumi projects: pancetta, soppresata, and guanciale. Several recipes in The Babbo Cookbook call for pancetta or guanciale. Keeping with the "from scratch" mantra here, I decided to make them myself. (I don't think any recipe calls for sopresatta, but since I was devling into the belly and jowl, I figured I can dry cure some shoulder too.)
None of Mario's books, however, have a recipe for pancetta. There's a recipe in "The Babbo Cookbook" for guanciale, and the same recipe appears in "Molto Italiano." Mario, why no pancetta recipes?
My dad said that when his father cured pancetta it was pretty basic. Salt the pork belly for about a week, then dust it with black pepper and let it hang for a month or so. Sounds good to me, but NJ doesn't have the same temprature and humidity level as Naples, nor would I have belly that was so fresh that it was "in the pig" less than 24 hours ago. So my back up resource is "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn. The process is pretty much as my dad described, only with additional spices in the cure, and a safety net to prevent funky, and potentially harmful mold and bacteria--the addition of pink salt.
I procured a full 9 pound fresh pork belly from Niman Ranch. I ordered it through Whole Foods and it came skin-on and with ribs. I had the butcher skin, bone, and trim it for me and told him to pack it all:
That's the skin on the left, some fat above it, the ribs in the middle, and the belly on the right. My dad recommends adding a three inch square of the skin to any tomato sauce that you simmer for at least 30 minutes, especially a Neapolitan ragu. Apart from adding flavor, it adds a velvety texture to the sauce. My mother said to save it and use it as a braciole--make a mixture of garlic, parsley and pecorino, roll it in the skin, and tie it into a braciole. Sear it and then let it braise in your tomato sauce.
I used the "Charcuterie" cure, which calls for:
4 minced garlic cloves
2 teaspoons of pink salt
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons of coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons of crushed juniper berries
4 bay leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
5 sprigs of fresh thyme
Here it is:
This was a particularly good, lean piece of belly:
Rub in the cure:
At this point, the pancetta goes into a resealable bag and sits in the refridgerator for 5 to 7 days, until it is firm. It took exactly 7 days.
I rinsed the belly under cold water and it looked like this:
Now cured, we can take this into one of two directions. We can make pancetta rotolata or pancetta stesa. Panetta rotolata is when you coat the inside of the belly with black pepper and then roll it it into a log and tie it like a roast before hanging it. Stesa is leaving the belly as it is, flat, much like slab bacon. You would still give it a good coating of pepper, but it would hang in its natural state. I divided the belly with my dad. He went the more traditional route and made pancetta stesa. He said they never rolled it when he made it and he doesn't really remember seeing rotolata all that much in Italy. I opted for rotolata. Once rolled and tied, it's wrapped in cheese cloth and hung in a humid area for 2 weeks. My basement maintains a temperature of about 60-65 degrees with 65-70 percent humidity, near ideal for curing.
Rolled, tied, and wrapped:
Into the basement for 2 weeks, and it's ready.
I sliced off the ends and put them in the freezer for stock, risotto, sauce, etc. No waste. And here it is, pancetta rotolata:
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