Pancetta

[curious aardvark]

As per amounts for cure in grams.
And the cure salt I'm using requires 15g per kg

Cure Recipe per kg

15g cure salt
20g sea salt
15g dark muscavado/molasses sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp whole peppercorns
1 tsp garlic powder


The only vaguely intact belly pork I've found was at costco (of course) and it'd only been cut into three decent sized pieces.
It was thoroughly rubbed and coated and fridged for 7 days.
Soaked with some potato when removed from the fridge (in water that is).

Decided I would cold smoke this lot, also decided I'd hang it to avoid the lines you get if you can't be arsed to clean the smoke off the grates after each smoke ;-)
Made some hooks out of paper clips and hooked it below the second tray. First tray had cheese on it.

I've come to the conclusion that the bradley tends to smoke much more intensely than conventional smokers so gave the pancetta 5 hours of oak.
Looks pretty good. The texture is excellent and to be honest I'd quite happily eat it without cooking :-) (me and the dog)

[Darrin]

Looks good! Our Costco does not carry pork bellies.

[Texas-Hunter]

Nicely done...Looks good...

[Slanted88]

Right fine job!

[curious aardvark]

Our Costco does not carry pork bellies.

yeah but you're in the states so most other stores do :-)
Over here costco is about the only place I've seen them without being cut into strips.

[Walking Dude]

wow, i didni't know you SMOKED pancetta........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancetta

when i do mine, this is the method i want to try to use

http://www.chow.com/stories/10131

[bb53chevpro]

For all of the NON metric people....

Cure recipe per 2.2lb

15 grams = .529 oz

Thanks for sharing the recipe.

[SmokinLee]

Looks Great CA

[DanMcG]

For all of the NON metric people....

HEY I can do metric!!!
my digital scale starts metric and then with the push of a button goes to Lbs
I wish the USA people weren't so thick headed 30 years ago when we thought about going metric,,,,it's a dang bit simpler and More accurate

[wutang]

Looking good.

[curious aardvark]

wow, i didni't know you SMOKED pancetta........

well traditionally they don't.
You cure it, roll it very tight and hang it to dry for a bit.

BUT I smoked it (you can't possibly object to that, can you ? ;-)- it's going to be used for adding flavour to food - so smokey flavour as well now.
Plus i'm leaving it uncovered in the fridge to dry out a bit anyway. Got nowhere to hang it that fits the conditions.
So I figure a few days uncovered in the fridge (the only other thing in my workshop fridge is a bag of wine gums - which now taste like smoky bacon, different lol)

So this is smoked pancetta :-)

I keep slicing bits of and eating it. texture's like proschitta but taste is much better. And it's drying out a treat.

Ran a few thin slices through the dehydrator yesterday as well. mmm.
Going to have to vac pack it soon though or I'll have eaten it all lol

In the United Kingdom, Pancetta is more commonly sold as packs of cubed belly (rather than rolled).

Told you so, lol
Oh yeah and I list cure amounts in grams simply because BOTH rytek kutas and michael ruhl (charcuterie) say you should - yep even in the states you should measure with grams. Given the generally small amounts required it just makes sense. And if rytek says to do it - who am I to object :-)

[sweet_magnolia]

Looks good, CA!

[DangerDan]

Ran a few thin slices through the dehydrator yesterday as well. mmm.
Going to have to vac pack it soon though or I'll have eaten it all lol

Dehydrator Pancetta... Nothing like instant gratification eh?


Sorry, after your review of the St Pats day dishes, I couldn't resist..

[curious aardvark]

Dehydrator Pancetta... Nothing like instant gratification eh?

lol well the instant gratification was just slicing and eating it - I had to wait hours for it to cook in the dehydrator :-)
Figured I'd better process it before I ended up eating most of it :-)

Finally got round to processing the pancetta today.
As I had 3 pieces I decided to bacon slice one, chop up one into cubes and turn the other into thick strips - great for chunking into stews, soups etc.
And while I wouldn't usually use streaky bacon for sarnies or meals, we do use it in cooking :-) Mainly for adding a little fat to pheasant and venison, partridge, rabbit etc.

It's had 4 days uncovered in the fridge to dry out - and I got to say it's amazing stuff. Sliced thin it's got the exact same texture as proscietta (if anything a little firmer) but a much richer taste (well the cold smoke and seasoning helps).
In fact I can see fridge drying as a way to make an acceptable proscietta analog in a week rather than the usual 18month drying period. As long as you've got a thin enough piece of meat it dries out pretty evenly.
You'd need a lean cut - probably a wide loin would be the best cut to start with. Hmm, another project for the weekend lol.

Anyway heres pics of what I ended up with :-)

[irishteabear]

Looks like it turned out well.