Boiled Pork Belly With Garlic Sauce Boiled Pork Belly With Garlic Sauce Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters Thanks, You're in! Health Tip of the Day Living Healthy There was an error. Please try again. Please select a newsletter. Please enter a valid email address. Did you mean ? Boiled Pork with Garlic Sauce. Liv Wan Updated July 02, 2016. Boiled pork belly with garlic sauce (蒜泥白肉) is one of my favourite Sichuan cuisine dishes. It’s absolutely delicious and it’s also a very popular dish in both Chinese and Taiwanese households. This dish originates from Sichuan in China, but it has become very popular in Taiwan. The main ingredient of this dish is pork but when people think about “pork belly” they normally think of a dish that is very rich, heavy and greasy to eat. But this dish is served cold with delicious garlic sauce and cucumber so it’s much lighter than you may think and is a very popular summer dish in the East. Traditionally in China during religious ceremonies and events, people will offer cooked chicken, meat and fruit for the Buddha.

One of the popular foods to offer to the Buddha is boiled pork belly and after the ceremony has finishes, Chinese people will make a dish out of the boiled pork belly and this boiled pork belly with garlic sauce is one of the popular dishes. When I was young I thought the way to prepare this dish is to just use water to boil the pork belly until it’s cooked. After my grandfather taught me how to cook this dish I found out it’s not as easy as just cooking the pork belly in water. But trust me, it’s not that complicated to make so follow my instructions and you should have no problem at all. My grandfather taught me to “season” the water when cooking the pork belly. So in this recipe you can see I added a few ingredients including rice wine, salt, star anise, cardamom pods, spring onions and ginger to the water. Of course if you don’t want to prepare so many ingredients you can just add rice wine, spring onions and ginger (or even just ginger and rice wine) when boiling the pork. When cooking you need to bring the pork belly to a boil over a high heat and then simmer for about 1 hour.

You can use a chop stick to poke the pork belly while cooking and if the chop stick can go through the pork belly then the pork belly is ready. Try to slice the pork belly as thin as possible so you won’t feel the pork belly is so greasy and heavy to eat. Crushed peanut is an optional extra but it does add extra flavour and texture to the dish. If you have a peanut allergy or think it’s too much hassle then just leave it. It won’t affect the flavour of this dish too much. There are many different ways to make the garlic sauce and this recipe was taught to me by my grandfather. You can add some chili oil or Sichuan pepper oil if you like your food hot and spicy. As usual, you can adjust the seasonings for this dish to suit your personal taste.

1.25 litres (40 fl oz/5 cups) water 1 tablespoon rice wine 2 knobs ginger, each about 2.5cm (1 in) 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) pork belly 1 cucumber, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon roasted crushed peanuts (optional) 2 tablespoon the stock from boil the pork belly 3 tablespoon light soy sauce 1 teaspoon sugar HCC 006| What Is Pancetta and How To Make It | Stella Culinary Home Cooking Videos House Cured Charcuterie HCC 006| What Is Pancetta and How To Make It HCC 006| What Is Pancetta and How To Make It Mar By jacob burton What is Pancetta? Pancetta in its simplest form is salted and cured pork belly that is native to Italian Cuisine and loved throughout the world. Commonly referred to as "Italian Bacon," pancetta's major difference from it's American counterpart is its lack of smoke. Pancetta is commonly flavored with different seasonings and spices, with each region of Italy, (and chef for that matter), having their own preferential spice blend.

Common flavorings include, but are not limited to, black peppercorns, garlic, fennel seed, nutmeg, red chili and coriander. I prefer some less traditional flavors when making my own pancetta at Stella, and so far, the pancetta police hasn't come-a-knockin'. Here's my take: How To Make Pancetta Just with any other culinary pursuit, before one even gets started making pancetta, you must first acquire the highest quality products possible. This is even more imperative when making charcuterie, especially a simple form like pancetta, which doesn't have smoke or prolonged cooking to hide the protein's inferiority if bought from a low quality source. Make sure you purchase pork belly from a reputable farm that raises happy pigs, preferably organically fed and all natural (meaning no hormones added). In fact, one of Europe's biggest secrets to their wonderful charcuterie is their happy, fatty pigs. Unfortunately, the US pork industry had a multi-decade identity crisis, attempting to breed the fat and flavor out of our pork, in a futile attempt to compete with chicken.

You can be the most skilled charcuterie expert in the world, yet if you start with an inferior piece of meat from a poorly raised animal, you may as well be attempting the Starfleet Academy's Kobayashi Maru if you're still expecting to produce a tasty piece of pancetta. Also, while we're on the subject of ingredients, please make sure that your dried spices are fresh. Just because they're dried doesn't mean they have an indefinite shelf life. If your spices came in a pack of 20 that was given to you as a gift two Christmases ago, you might want to look into buying some new spices. Spices Used Orange Zest (definitely not traditional but I like it) Sometimes cloves Sometimes garlic Sometimes nutmeg The spices really can be mixed to taste, using your nose as a guide. Toast spices in a dry pan until they start to release their essential oils and become aromatic. It is mainly this aroma that will be flavoring your pancetta. Grind toasted spices into a fine powder, making sure you have enough to sprinkle on the bottom side of your pork belly with the majority left over to generously rub into the fat cap as shown in the video.

Now that your are spices ready to go, it's time to talk about salt. Whenever making any type of charcuterie, I prefer to use kosher salt, which is designed to easily adhere to pieces of meat. This makes it ideal for the curing process. To the kosher salt you'll be adding some type of sodium nitrite, whether it be pure sodium nitrite or some sort of curing salt mix that is nitrite cut with sodium chloride (standard salt) to make it easier to measure. As I demonstrate in the pancetta video, I prefer to use pure sodium nitrite, mixing it with kosher salt as needed. This allows me to easily adjust my nitrite levels from batch to batch, as needed for different charcuterie projects. My formula for the curing salt I use in this pancetta video is: Kosher Salt Weight X .002 (.2%) = Sodium Nitrite Weight added to my kosher salt. -For Example- 1,000g Kosher Salt X .002 = 2g Sodium Nitrite. Mix kosher salt and sodium nitrite together and you have your curing salt. A word of warning; 4g of Sodium Nitrite is considered a lethal dose.

This is why many charcuterie books recommend you buy pink curing salt, cut with regular salt and died pink. This makes it easier to measure and less likely that an unsuspecting family member will mix it up with the table salt when taking the initiative, (just to prove that miracles do exist), to fill the family salt shaker. But to put this into perspective, maybe during a full moon at the end of February in a leap year, my entire pancetta recipe will contain 4g of sodium nitrite. This means you will have to consume an entire side of cured pancetta to kill yourself. My humble conjecture is, if you consume a whole log of pancetta in a single sitting, sodium nitrite is the least of your concerns and in a weird twist of irony probably won't kill you because you're body is obviously acclimated to substantial forms of abuse. If using pink curing salt, Michael Ruhlman, author of Charcuterie, recommends every 450g of kosher salt be mixed with 50g pink curing salt (that's 11% pink salt based on the baker's percentage). For more information on Ruhlman's Pancetta Recipe, see the external links section at the end of this post.

Now that you understand the finer details concerning salting and spicing, the rest of the process for making pancetta is fairly straight forward. Take your happy, well produced pork belly, rub it with toasted and ground spices, and generously salt both sides. Place in your refrigerator and allow to sit in salt mix for about 7-10 days. I prefer to press my pork belly with weights during the salting process, but this is just a matter of taste and it will lead to a slightly saltier end product that is more shelf stable. See video at the top of this page for more information. After the salting period, the pork belly (which is now technically pancetta), is thoroughly rinsed under cold, running water. Most forms of pancetta available in the United States are rolled, as demonstrated in this video recipe, but that is not always the case. Once rinsed, some people prefer to stick a string through one corner of the pancetta and hang as is. Whether or not the pancetta is rolled is purely a matter of taste and style.

At this point, the pancetta will need to be hung in a cool, dark place with moderate humidity for at least 2-4 weeks before enough moisture has evaporated to intensify the "porky" flavor and make it a finished product. Some forms of pancetta can easily be cured for 3 months or longer before serving. At Stella, I simply hang the pancetta in my walk-in refrigerator, which has a temperature of around 36°F/2°C, and a relative humidity that hovers around 70%. Generally speaking, an ideal "curing room" is about 60°F/15°C with 60% humidity; at least when hanging pancetta. There are three main things that can possibly ruin your pancetta during the hanging process; temperatures over 70°F/21°C, extreme humidity (both high and low), and direct sunlight. The temperature will allow for harmful bacteria strains to grow in or on your pancetta, but if using salt mixed with sodium nitrite this is fairly rare. What's more common is that the high temperatures will cause the fat in your pancetta to go rancid, as will direct sunlight.

If your humidity is too high then the pancetta will never "dry out" or "cure" properly, and if your humidity is too low or non-existent, then the surface of your pancetta will become dry before its interior moisture can evaporate. Devoid of temperature and humidity extremes, pancetta can be hung in a cool place out of direct sunlight for the 2-4 weeks required for proper curing. After that, loosely wrap finished pancetta in plastic wrap and store in your refrigerator. If properly stored, you're pancetta will last at least three months in the fridge. If the cut end oxidizes and turns grey slightly, simply trim and discard, and continue to serve as normal. Related Videos Links Submitted by LizAbbott on Sun, 2012-06-24 23:13 Thank You Chef, I just read your reply to my husband and he said that it makes better sense now and he is willing to try it as long as I do it right. And he could not stop laughing cause you pegged him perfect on the well and often very well done meats. Myself I love a nice medium to medium rare steak especially on the grill and eaten with fingers.....lol.

My dad used to cook steaks for us that way and he would always cut us off little pieces and we would run around outside with pieces of steak in our fingers and blood running down our chins. My husband on the other hand thinks that the blood is just nasty and that a steak should be brown throughout. He said it is not so much the bacteria (since he got food poisoning in a restaurant from untoasted bread), its the thought of eating a raw animal. I greatly appreciate you helping me convince him that he should still at least try it even though it is not cooked conventionally. He just wants me to make sure I do it right before he eats it.....lol. Wonderful, thank you for Submitted by Roman on Thu, 2014-01-23 05:58 Wonderful, thank you for pointing me to the video. I have an order of different curing salts coming in and now I have a much better idea about what they are and how to use them. I will try to make a pancetta like yours, I already have a few cheese cloths so once the salts come in and I find a suitable belly I will get to it. Any experience with doing a flat pancetta?

Few people told me that for my first try maybe I should not roll it as if I don't do it properly I could spoil it and rather try a flat one first. Should I be worried or if I really make sure I press the roll right I should be good? Submitted by Brian P on Tue, 2015-05-26 06:06 Hi Chef, Well, I attempted my second crack at making pancetta. The previous time, you indicated that the greenish tinged fat might have been a reaction between the aluminum sheet trays and the salt bleeding into the fat. Well, this time I covered the trays with plastic wrap, seasoned the meet and covered in the sodium nitrite/salt mixture, weighted down the pork belly and waited ten days. I washed of the salt and guess what, the fat has a greenish tinge to it. What the heck could it be? I would prefer not to throw it away again so any ideas or recommendations would be appreciated. Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks Jacob, pancetta : Encyclopedia : Food Network Categories: Bacon , Pork Called "Italian bacon," pancetta is cured with salt and spices but not traditionally smoked (though there are now a few beechwood- and oak-smoked versions). Flavorful, slightly salty pancetta comes in a sausage-like roll of pink meat and white fat from the hog's belly portion. It's used in Italian cooking to flavor sauces, pasta dishes, forcemeats, vegetables and meats. Pancetta can be tightly wrapped and refrigerated for up to three weeks, or frozen up to six months. From The Food Lover's Companion, Fourth edition by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst. Copyright © 2007, 2001, 1995, 1990 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Related Recipes From Food Network Recipe: How to Make Pancetta Arrotolata — Our Daily Brine Pancetta Arrotolata (Rolled) January 17, 2014 Kyle Hildebrant Be forewarned: Pancetta is quite possibly the gateway drug.

The melt-in-your-mouth quality paired with simplicity and gratification of making your own at home, will have you hooked. Before you know it you’ll be butchering a pig and building your own curing chamber for your next salumi project—or at least you’ll never buy the cheap store-bought stuff again. I’ll teach you how to make pancetta at home. Pancetta, a Primer Pancetta is Italian cured pork belly. But unlike it’s American counterpart, bacon, it is not smoked (aside from smoked pancetta, but that’s a different story!). Pancetta comes primarily in three forms: Arrotolata (rolled), Tesa (flat) and Steccata which can be made rolled or folded then pressed and tied between two sticks. The rolled variety is typical of Northern Italy, while the flat variety is common to the Central and Southern regions. Like any salumi, the spice variations are endless. Each region, village and family has their own rich history and tradition. Black pepper, juniper, bay, garlic, thyme, oregano, and rosemary are all common. An Introduction to Salumi If you’re flirting with the notion of making your own salumi or salami, pancetta is an excellent introduction.

It’s dead simple to make, takes the least amount of time and requires much less environmental control (more on that below). Sodium Nitrite Prevents Botulism In order to make rolled pancetta safely you need sodium nitrite. Sodium nitrite is used to prevent the growth of botulism -causing bacteria and decrease the growth risk of Listeria monocytogenes . It also retains the rosy-red color and enhances flavor. Botulism grows and thrives in anaerobic environments (environments without oxygen). The bacterium that cause botulism is present on the outside of meats. When you roll your pancetta, you are creating the perfect environment for botulism. Nitrite prevents this. If you are dead set on making pancetta without it, make the flat (tesa) kind. It’s much safer. The thick layer of black pepper (a natural antibiotic), rolled into the pancetta, also aids in preventing bacterial growth and rot. Insta Cure #1, also called Pink Salt, is colored pink so as not to be confused with regular salt. Cure #1 contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt.

Cure #1 is commonly used in bacon, hotdogs and other products that need less or no drying time. Insta Cure #2 contains both sodium nitrite (at 6.25%) and nitrate (at 1%), with the remaining 92.75% being salt. Simply put, nitrates act as a time-released nitrite. Nitrates are employed in salumi that requires longer periods of curing and drying. The time-release of nitrite continues to protect the meat over time. If you are making pancetta which will be cooked, you can use cure #1. If you intend to make a traditional pancetta arrotolata, which is fully dried and eaten without cooking, you should use cure #2. Nitrites/Nitrates: A World of Misinformation There’s been a whole world of misinformation around nitrates and nitrites and how they may “increase risks of cancer”. While I won’t delve into this topic here, it’s simply not true. Dr. Terry Simpson has an excellent article , backed by a multitude of studies and references debunking the myth. I’d encourage you to read it if you’re of the “nitrates/nitrites are bad” camp.

“Where you receive it (nitrite) actually makes no difference because nitrite is nitrite. In other words, the nitrite derived from celery or other vegetables is exactly same as the nitrite found in cured meats.” — Jeff Sindelar, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Nitrates are commonly found in leafy greens and root vegetables like spinach, beets, celery and lettuce. The nitrate in these foods are converted to nitrite when it comes into contact with human saliva. Then, when it is swallowed, the nitrite becomes nitric oxide—an essential and critical compound used by the body to maintain normal blood pressure levels, fight infection and support the nervous system. Here’s the kicker: Those “naturally cured” and “nitrate-free” marketed products available at your local “health food” store contain nitrite, because they use ingredients like celery juice/powder, rich in nitrite, as a “natural” curing ingredient. Moreover, the amounts of nitrite in these products is typically much higher than that of the conventional method. It’s just marketing, friends. A Word of Caution: On its own, pure sodium nitrite/nitrate is dangerous. This is why cure #1/#2 is dyed pink.

A single teaspoon of pure sodium nitrite/nitrate ingested is enough to kill a grown man. It’s important to pay close attention to amount added to the cure. In almost all salumi this amounts to 0.25% of the total meat weight. In the example below our pork belly weighed 2,855 grams. 0.25% of that weight is 7.25 grams. That’s not a lot, and emphasizes the importance of weighing our ingredients. The reality is this: Anything used inappropriately can be dangerous. 2-4 pills of acetaminophen can be used to cure the effects of a long night of drinking, while a fist-full could cause your liver to fail, and you to die. In the same, nitrates and nitrites are only dangerous if used improperly. Always Source Natural, Good Quality Meats As with all salumi, quality and freshness of meat is of paramount importance. Find a good local butcher or source directly from a farm. Let them know what you are doing with the meat, try to get the freshest available and use it as soon as possible.

For this pancetta I sourced my pork belly from Carlton Farms , one of the larger suppliers (read: competitive prices) here in Oregon that still practices ethical, natural farming. Freshness is important because bacteria multiplies over time. In fact, every 20 minutes the bacteria present on the outside of meat doubles. Reduce the possibility of bad bacteria by using fresh meat. Special Ingredients & Tools Needed: BBC - Food - Pancetta recipes Pancetta recipes Stuffed chicken breast wrapped in pancetta By Gino D'Acampo An Italian type of bacon produced from belly of pork which is seasoned, then rolled up like a salami and dry cured. Flat slabs of pancetta are also available and this is normally how you’d find it in Italy. It can be bought here pre-packed and either in cubes (cubetti di pancetta) or slices, the latter often smoked. Thinly sliced, unsmoked, streaky bacon rashers will make a suitable substitute if you can’t get pancetta.

Recipes using pancetta See all recipes using pancetta Preparation The cubes are fried and used in soffrito (the Italian version of a mirepoix) to give a base flavour to all kinds of dishes or incorporated in pasta dishes such as spaghetti carbonara. It has a delicious sweet-spicy taste. Sliced pancetta can be served as part of a selection of cold meats, or grilled until crisp and then crumbled over pasta, rice, salads and soups. Wrap pieces of fish, chicken or meat in slices of pancetta and oven-bake them, or use it as a pizza topping. On this page What's the Difference Between Bacon, Pancetta, and Prosciutto? — Ingredient Intelligence | The Kitchn (Image credit: Faith Durand ) Bacon & Pancetta: Cured Pork Belly Bacon and pancetta have the most in common. They are both typically made from pork belly and both are cured for a certain length of time. Both are also considered "raw" and need to be cooked before eating. What's the Difference? The Curing Process The process for making the two is slightly different. Pancetta is simply cured, and the focus is really on how this happens.

This can be done simply with salt, but spices and other aromatics are often added to infuse the pancetta with particular flavors. Pancetta is sometimes sold sliced paper thin, or cubed. The thin slices can be wrapped around vegetables or meat before cooking. The pancetta cubes are often used like bacon, sautéed with onions or garlic to form the base of a soup, pasta, or risotto. (Image credit: Faith Durand ) Bacon is also cured, like pancetta, but it takes things one step further: the meat is smoked after it's been cured. This is usually a cold-smoking process, meaning that the bacon isn't actually heated or cooked during smoking and remains raw. Smoking can be done with a wide range of woods, from apple to maple, which each give their own distinctive, delicious flavors to the meat. Make perfect bacon every time with no mess and no fuss. Watch the video —-> So pancetta is cured and unsmoked, while bacon is cured and smoked, but both need to be cooked before being eaten. They can be used interchangeably in dishes, depending on whether or not you want a smoky flavor. Prosciutto from Trader Joe's.

(Image credit: Faith Durand ) Prosciutto: Cured Ham Prosciutto is very different from either bacon or pancetta, but we think it gets confusing because the words prosciutto and pancetta can sound similar to our non-Italian ears! Prosciutto is made from the hind leg of a pig (ie, the ham), and outside Italy, calling it prosciutto indicates a ham that has been cured. The quality of prosciutto is entirely in how it's cured. The outside of the ham is usually rubbed with just salt and sometimes a mix of spices. This draws out moisture and concentrates the flavor while the ham slowly air-dries (very much like dry-aged beef). This process can take anywhere from a few months to a several years depending on the desired result. Delicious prosciutto. (Image credit: Faith Durand ) Once cured, prosciutto is usually thinly sliced and eaten as is. In other words, uncooked — although we wouldn't exactly call the meat raw after it's been cured for so long. Sometimes prosciutto gets lightly cooked as a finishing touch to a pasta sauce or other dish, but this is more to bring out the aroma and merge flavors than it is to cook the prosciutto.

So now we have to ask — between the three, do you have a favorite? Post updated from article originally published March 2009. Home Cured Pancetta » Mamaliga » Romanian Expat Living in Chicago Romanian Expat Living in Chicago Home Cured Pancetta Home Cured Pancetta Pancetta or pork belly (aka bacon for us in the West), is the easiest meat that can be cured at home even without the need of a curing chamber. Inspired by Jason Molinari’s Cured Meats blog , I mustered enough courage to get this project running along with the others ones that are still sitting in the curing chamber . What IS Pancetta? It is basically pork belly that was cured and air-dried typically with a certain spice rub. That’s it in a nutshell. It is never smoked, as that would turn it into bacon (not as if that’s bad) but it is just not the traditional way of preparing Pancetta. It comes typically in a rolled pinwheel shape but often found (depending on the region) as a flat slab. Pancetta is generally used as an ingredient in other foods for instance like pastas, sauces, pizza, etc.

Makes a great substitute for Guanciale (hard to find but not if you make it yourself!) the main ingredient in pasta alla Carbonara or all’amatriciana. Your Friend, The Butcher! Ok, if you are seriously considering making Pancetta, you’ll need to start a relationship with your butcher. Seriously, a butcher who’s your friend will provide the best cuts that are not always available by the counter for everybody. It’s a precious asset! That’s what happened to me while on my pork belly quest. I had high hopes for finding pork belly in the meat section at my local grocery store but that hope quickly disappeared – pork belly was nowhere to be found! Discouraged, I asked the butcher (convinced that his answer will be NO!) if there’s any chance they’ll get pork belly any time soon. He waived to me to come by the end of the counter and asked “How much you need?” – I said “Maybe 2 Lbs?”. He disappeared and came 5 minutes out with a beautiful piece of pork belly (with the spare ribs on still). Great score! Felt like I am purchasing a contraband item of sort.

So, since then I’ll go to him if I need certain special meat cuts for my charcuterie adventures. I love my butcher! I’ll vote for him anytime! Let’s Cure! I took Jason’s Pancetta formula as a reference mainly because he is showing the percentages of ingredients to the 100% of meat and fat. He is calculate all ingredients as a percentage of the meat+fat. For instance 100g meat, 100g fat, 20g salt would be: meat + fat – 100% Salt : 20/200 = 10% This makes it easier to adapt all the ingredients to the weight of pork belly you happen to find. Next, I prepped my curing mix. I was missing the myrtle berries , Jason is using juniper berries instead, since they are impossible to find in the US. I might need to get them from Europe. A note on curing salt #2 (aka Prague Powder #2). Let’s put it this way – would you risk eating cured meats with the thought that you might get botulism ? I won’t, so that’s the first reason this curing salt #2 is added to the mix.

It is a mix of sodium nitrate (3.63%), sodium nitrite (5.67%) and salt (90.7%), and functions mainly as an oxidizing agent making the meat safe of the evil Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Next step is to literally massage this curing mix onto the pork belly all over so there are no exposed spots of fat, or skin, etc. Plop it into a zip lock bag, label the date, place it in the fridge (NOT freezer!) and forget about it for 10 days. The cure mix will do its magic and the spices will impregnate the pork belly turning it into this wonderful thing! Also, the salt will pull out some of the moisture from the pork belly – it’s OK! Looks like the water content depends weather or not the meat was previously frozen. Not important – it’s brine anyway. During the 10 days make sure you turn it every now and then to evenly distribute the brine. Mine didn’t have any liquid but I still did the turns.

The cured pork belly which now officially can be called Pancetta emerges gloriously after the curing period ready to be rinsed, rubbed with the traditional Pancetta spice rub and hung in the curing chamber or placed on a cooling rack with a tray underneath in the fridge. Rinsed and patted dry: I used butcher twine to make a small loop so the Pancetta can be hanged in the curing chamber: Next, I prepared the spice rub mix (black pepper, red pepper and crushed bay leaves). Tweak the mix to your tastes, varying the ingredient amounts. I used Jason’s amounts: five crushed bay leaves i’m a baking enthusiasts from China. I like your website very much:) so,can i translate your articles in my blog and use your picture? I want to introduce them to more friends in China. I will credit all the recipes with your original post URL so that they know of the source. Looking forward to your reply. Thx~~ July 26th, 2010 21:31 6 Hi, do you know where I can get curing salt mixtures that use sea salt or other natural salts?

In my search the curing mixtures just list “salt” as an ingredient but they don’t say what kind of salt. Any ideas? Thanks, btw you posts are very informative! Thanks for sharing. July 27th, 2010 14:35 7 Thanks Valerie – Hmm… not a clue. Might be an idea to contact the sources directly. I suspect they use natural salts since there’s no point in using the other kind, which is iodized table salt. Just a thought. 8 Hi… i read your post.. nice post..it is!I must say, this looks fabulous…..really. Thanks for sharing it. John Doe March 22nd, 2011 18:35 9 for curing whole muscles, you don’t actually have to use curing salt. Botulism require an anaerobic environment to develop which is not usually possible with a whole, intact muscle. Fermented sausages are definitely susceptible to botulism which is why they are always made with curing salt. Prosciutto is traditionally cured without any nitrates/nitrites and is a safe product.

Now the curing salt does give the preserve the red color of meat and firms the meat, both of which may be desirable depending on what you are curing. Virginia May 9th, 2011 12:03 10 You inspired me to try my own pancetta! Into day 5 in the curing process with 5 to go. Problem is … only have refridgerator to continue curring in Is that a problem? Will my fridge be ok ??? How long shall I leave it in there? thanks! Anxious to see finished product geoffrey swain September 19th, 2011 05:20 11 Superbly prepared article….the photos are tops and the process clearly described without BS…..thankyou from Geoff Swain. January 11th, 2012 14:52 12 Pretty much followed the instructions to a “T”. I Cured it for 11 days as I did not feel it was firm enough. I rinsed it , then soaked it for 3 hours. My experiance with bacon and lox recipies have got me into this because of the final product being to salty.

Hung in garage for a month. The garage was well insulated and with cold temperatures it probably stayed aroud 55. Checked it from time to time , smelled great and no sign of mold. Just sliced off a piece and fried it up. Perfect! Thanks Colin Clive 13 Very Lovely,Now the silly question, on cooking out the fat, it reaches all expectations, being easy digestible. But eaten ” Raw ” as thinly sliced Anti-pasta, we find is Tough, and hard to chew. Question is, Is it this could be left for longer than 23 day as it is just now, it will get tender with age, akin to Dry cured Ham as an Hog’s rear leg, when aged appears to melt in the mouth, especially if is over a year hanging. So in your opinion, is it unlikely to be served as an anti -paster Colin Clive. January 27th, 2013 19:53 14 I tried to replicate this recipe to perfection. However after a month I got something that looked like your picture, but smelled and tasted like dried raw meat.

As a fellow romanian, I have a decent feel for what this should taste like, and honestly it was WAYYYY off. I’m completely dejected and depressed February 13th, 2013 11:38 16 It might need to be left indeed longer. But my impression is that it needs to be sliced really thin and in small bites. And pancetta is typically used more for cooking than for anti pasta. Colin Clive February 13th, 2013 14:46 17 Thanks Gabi, but who are you referring to,( as two different inquires here ) if it’s me Colin Clive, Ill except age might make it tender, but slicing it realigh thin, is as it suggest age, before thin. suppose looking for a combination of both, the product is 34 % lighter in weight at 13 weeks drying time, so I then actually went out and bought some that suggest Palmer ham, that mine is in comparison to texture on the chew. In any event I hung it again for further period of time say 6 months, and will recalled the weight loss, But hey Good result considering my first attempt.

Cheersa Colin clive. Geoff 18 Hi Gabi, You’ve inspired me to make my own pancetta (and now I’m thinking about bacon, dried sausages and who knows what else!). Thank you for that. One thing I thought I should point out is that on Wikipedia, it says never to use curing salt #2 for anything your going to cook at a high temperature (such as bacon) because it forms nitrosamines which are carcinogenic. Instead, it’s recommended to use curing salt #1 (prague powder #1). Here’s the link to the ariticle: Anyway, thank you again and I’m very much looking forward to my pancetta being ready! Can’t wait! 19 Hi Geoff! Glad to hear that although I am not sure of it myself now. I didn’t cure since 2011 so I am a little rusty. But one of the reasons I stopped curing was the issues you are mentioning. I thought I’ve been there, done that and that’s about it. I am sure folks from forum.sausagemaking.org/ could elaborate on this. But it is worth trying this once at least. Good luck and let me know hoe it turns out!!

Geoff 20 Hi again Gabi! Thanks for the reply. I’ll look into sausagemaking.org, especially since I’m thinking about taking a stab at that next. I live in Hawaii where our weather rarely gets down to 55 degrees (yes, life here is rough) and don’t have a curing chamber, so I have to dry the pancetta in the fridge. So, today I took it out of the ziplock and have it on a rack and, hopefully in 2 – 3 weeks, I’ll have something resembling your pictures. I’ll write back when it’s all done and let you know how it came out. Thanks again Gabi! Geoff 21 Hi again Gabi, I just wanted to let you know that my pancetta turned out simply wonderful! Amazing flavor, just a bit too salty because I eyeballed everything except the pink salt (I just ordered a kitchen scale so that next time I can actually measure it all out properly). Also, just on a side note, I made cured salmon (lox aka gravlax) which is super easy and very tasty and have just started my first batch of sauerkraut.

Anyway, it all started here with your pancetta and I owe you big thank you for helping me get started on what is quickly turning into a new full-blown hobby for me. Mahalo, 23 Hi Gabi, The salmon came out great and was incredibly easy! I can’t remember exactly which recipe I used (and I actually combined a few), but here’s the main one I followed: After that, I just went through a few other recipes and kind of mixed and matched some of the herbs/spices. I think it’s honestly pretty hard to screw up. Also, just started my next round of pancetta and fresh bacon yesterday. I recently bought Ruhlman’s book Charcuterie and Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation. I’m getting into all kinds of new fun stuff. Thanks again Gabi for getting me started on all of this. (^^) – Geoff August 24th, 2014 17:43 24 I have tried curing pork tenderloins and pork shoulder. Taste was great color and flavor.

But damn it was too salty even for me I have been covering with #2 kosher salt and seasoning heavily Everything looks good after I wash it off but man is it salty Any suggestions What is pancetta bacon? | Reference.com What is pancetta bacon? A: Quick Answer Pancetta is an Italian style of bacon made from pork belly side and highly seasoned with salt and pepper. Other herbs and spices are sometimes used to season pancetta. The pork belly side is rolled tightly, wrapped in a casing and cured. Full Answer Both bacon and pancetta are made from pork belly side. The main difference between bacon and pancetta is the preparation method, which produces two distinct products. Bacon is brined unlike pancetta. Both are cured, but only bacon is smoked. After the pork belly side is rolled, the pancetta hangs until it dries. Panetta is used in recipes sliced thin and fried. When used in recipes, the meat is often cut into chunks. Pancetta adds a pork flavor to the dish without the smoky flavor that comes with bacon. Regular bacon is a suitable substitute in recipes. Blanching bacon in boiling water before using in place of pancetta helps reduce the smokiness, states Fine Cooking.

Delis often have pancetta available. The meat comes in the large roll with casings. The deli can slice the meat for customers who want thin slices rather than chunks. If a regular grocery store doesn't carry pancetta, an Italian grocer or deli likely carries the meat. Easy Pancetta Recipe - Chowhound 3 medium garlic cloves, minced 3 fresh or 5 dry bay leaves, torn into small pieces 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves For the pancetta: 1 (5-1/2-pound) piece of fresh, skin-on pork belly (1/2 of a whole belly slab) Summary Pancetta is cured pork belly, the Italian equivalent of bacon. Unlike American bacon, however, pancetta is cured with a variety of herbs, spices, and garlic, and is left unsmoked. Pancetta is usually rolled and tied in a cylindrical shape, then hung to dry. Some versions, such as the variety made in Florence, are left flat. Our pancetta recipe is the rolled kind, and it’s amazing when prepared with our Pasta Carbonara with Peas . If you’re visually inclined, see our illustrated step-by-step guide .

What to buy: Pork belly is the same as fresh bacon. You can order it from a good butcher or buy it online from Niman Ranch . A whole fresh pork belly with the skin on weighs around 11 pounds, of which you’ll need half (a 5-1/2-pound slab) to make 1 pancetta. If you like, you can ask your butcher to remove the skin for you, making the total prep time minimal. Curing salt, also known as pink salt or saltpeter, contains 6.25 percent sodium nitrite. It is colored pink so as not to be confused with regular salt. Curing salt is available at Butcher & Packer . We like to use kosher salt in our recipes. It’s especially important to use kosher salt here to ensure that your quantity is correct. We prefer Diamond Crystal brand, available in most grocery stores. Special equipment: In addition to your chef’s knife, you’ll also need a boning knife to remove the skin. Be sure to have a spool of cotton butcher’s twine for tying and hanging your pancetta.

We found that giant storage bags, like these jumbo 2-gallon bags by Ziploc, were perfect for holding the pancetta during the curing process. Game plan: Find a cool place to hang your pancetta, away from windows and direct sunlight. And of course make sure you allow enough time for the curing and hanging processes. by Regan Burns Instructions 1Place the peppercorns and juniper berries on a rimmed baking sheet. Use a heavy pot to crush them. Combine them in a mixing bowl with the rest of the cure ingredients. Mix the cure very well to evenly distribute the ingredients. 2Place the pork belly meat side up. Using a sharp boning knife, make the piece more level by trimming off any extra bits of muscle or fat. Square off the edges with a chef’s knife. 3Rinse the pork belly and pat it dry. Place it on a cutting board, skin side up. To remove the skin, use a sharp boning knife. Starting at the bottom left corner, slice in horizontally just under the skin but above the fat layer. Pull the flap of skin toward your body, holding it taut as you loosen it from the fat with a series of small horizontal cuts.

Be careful not to remove too much fat or cut too deeply. (Pulling the skin toward you as you cut helps prevent this.) 4Keep cutting until the skin is completely removed, then use your knife to even out the fat layer a little. 5Place the pork belly on the rimmed baking sheet and rub the cure all over its surfaces, making sure to coat both the fat and lean sides, and all the edges and corners. Carefully place the belly in a large (2- to 2-1/2-gallon) sealable bag. Once it’s inside, rub the belly to redistribute the ingredients that may have fallen off while you moved it. Fold over the excess plastic and press down to remove as much air as possible. Seal the bag. (Alternatively, you may place the cure-coated belly in a glass baking dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap.) 6Place the bagged pork belly on a baking sheet and place it in the refrigerator. Weight it by placing a pot or dish that is roughly the same size as the pork right on top of the bag, and place a 3-pound weight in the dish.

(A box of salt or a few cans of tomatoes work great.) 7Refrigerate the weighted belly for 7 days, flipping it over every day. After 7 days, remove the belly from the refrigerator and press down on it to check the firmness. It should feel uniformly firm throughout, as if you’re pressing down on a soccer ball. If the belly is still squishy like raw meat, return it to the refrigerator for up to 3 more days. 8Remove the pork belly from the refrigerator and rinse off the curing mixture under cool running water. (It’s OK if there are still a few bits of pepper or spices on the belly.) 9Move the pork to a clean cutting board and pat it very dry with paper towels. Place it meat side up. Crush the remaining tablespoon of black peppercorns with a heavy pot and rub the crushed pepper over all the meat sides to create an even coating. 10Roll the pork belly very, very tightly into a cylindrical shape, starting at whichever end makes the roll most uniform. Make sure there are no air pockets inside the pancetta. Tie it very tightly with butcher’s twine at 1- to 1-1/2-inch intervals.

Be sure to leave enough extra twine to hang the pancetta with. 11Hang the pancetta in a slightly cool, dark, moderately humid place where air can circulate freely around it. (Ideal conditions are around 60°F and around 60 percent humidity.) Keep it out of direct sunlight and away from air vents. A basement is ideal, as is a bathroom that isn’t used often (a shower curtain rod works great for hanging, but not if you’re showering in there!). We hung ours both next to the kitchen sink and in the bathroom, and we never had one pancetta go bad. 12Let the pancetta hang for 2 weeks. It will emit a subtle smell, sort of savory and sweet like the cure. If it smells rancid or rotten, take it down and trash it. When the pancetta is completely firm but pliable like leather, it’s ready. 13Cut down the pancetta and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Store it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Note: Pancetta is not meant to be eaten uncooked. Be sure to cook it, just as you would bacon, before eating.

Pancetta vs. Bacon Tweet Pancetta vs. Bacon Bacon and pancetta are both made from pork bellies; the difference between them lies in how their prepared and cured. by Jennifer Armentrout fromFine Cooking Issue 58 " Bacon makes everything better.” That’s one of our favorite sayings in the test kitchen, and it helps explain why our recipes frequently call for it , or for its Italian cousin, pancetta . Bacon and pancetta are both made from pork bellies; the difference between them lies in how they’re prepared and cured. To make bacon, pork belly sides are brined and then smoked (Here's a DIY bacon from Bruce Aidells , if you'd like to try this). Pancetta, the Italian version of bacon, is made by seasoning a pork belly side with salt and lots of pepper, curling it into a tight roll, and wrapping it in a casing to hold the shape. It’s cured, but it isn’t smoked. Pancetta.

Question: In Italian cooking, what kind of food is spiced to make Pancetta?
Answer: PORK