Homemade Pancetta - making it at home from scratch! It's a game changer!
Why not trying making your own homemade Pancetta - from scratch? It takes some time, but it is not difficult and it is totally worth it! Follow these instructions and share with us your results @travelcdv
Check out our Cooking Vacations in Italy to have your dream vacation and learning how to make more recipes like this with us!
Consider how you will hang it in your fridge for curing. I had two pieces of wood cut that would fit the slots in the fridge (where the glass shelves go) and I will hang the pancetta (using the meat hooks and kitchen twine) from the wood pieces. Plan it carefully.
I suggest having a scale in grams and working with this recipe with grams instead of ounces. It is much more precise.
Place the pork belly on a cutting board and use a knife to
remove fat that appears to be too soft. Remove spots with blood.
Trim it the pork belly trying it to make it into a rectangle.
Weigh it.
At this point you need to season the pork belly with salt and the amount of salt needed is based on the weight after the trimming.
25 gr x 1 kg (2.5 teaspoons x lb.)
Example. Mine was 3.5 kg. I used 88 gr of salt.
Massage the salt on all sides.
Take a large cookie sheet and place a grate in a slanted position.
Place the grate on a cookie sheet and place the pancetta on top.
Keep in the fridge for 5 days.
Every day you need to rotate the meat. NOT flip but rotate 180 degrees so that the side that was on the top is not on the bottom of the grate. This will allow the excess water to drain evenly.
After 5 days, drain the excess liquid and use a cheap bottle of red wine and wash the meat well on all sides.
Dry with paper towels.
Mix all the spices together (calculate the amount of spices based in the weight after trimming NOT the weight the pancetta is now!) in a medium bowl.
Massage the spices on all sides.
Example: if the pancetta was 3 kg (6.6 lbs)
You would add:
18 gr (3 ½ teaspoons) of salt
27 gr (1 TBSP+ 2.5 TSPS) black pepper
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) garlic powder
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) of crushed chili pepper (Optional)
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) of ground nutmeg) Optional)
Make two holes about 2 inches below the corner of the pancetta. And thread the kitchen twine through the holes. Make a strong knot.
Massage the spices very well on all sides, including inside the holes. Move the thread back and forth so that the spices get inside the holes.
Remove a glass shelf from your fridge.
Slide the wooden sticks where the glass shelf is supposed to be.
Hang the pancetta using the meat hooks and the twine.
Place a cookie sheet below to catch any possible dripping of liquids.
Leave in the fridge for about 20-25 days. When it is ready it will look like the picture.
You can slice it using an electric slicer or a good knife. I suggest slicing all of it and then take each slice, wrap each slice in wax paper and place all the slices in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you need pancetta, you can take out as many slices as you want. It will defrost ion a few minutes.
If you do not want to freeze it, you can cut the block of pancetta into smaller pieces and vacuum seal them. Then place in your fridge and use as need it.
Ingredients
Directions
Consider how you will hang it in your fridge for curing. I had two pieces of wood cut that would fit the slots in the fridge (where the glass shelves go) and I will hang the pancetta (using the meat hooks and kitchen twine) from the wood pieces. Plan it carefully.
I suggest having a scale in grams and working with this recipe with grams instead of ounces. It is much more precise.
Place the pork belly on a cutting board and use a knife to
remove fat that appears to be too soft. Remove spots with blood.
Trim it the pork belly trying it to make it into a rectangle.
Weigh it.
At this point you need to season the pork belly with salt and the amount of salt needed is based on the weight after the trimming.
25 gr x 1 kg (2.5 teaspoons x lb.)
Example. Mine was 3.5 kg. I used 88 gr of salt.
Massage the salt on all sides.
Take a large cookie sheet and place a grate in a slanted position.
Place the grate on a cookie sheet and place the pancetta on top.
Keep in the fridge for 5 days.
Every day you need to rotate the meat. NOT flip but rotate 180 degrees so that the side that was on the top is not on the bottom of the grate. This will allow the excess water to drain evenly.
After 5 days, drain the excess liquid and use a cheap bottle of red wine and wash the meat well on all sides.
Dry with paper towels.
Mix all the spices together (calculate the amount of spices based in the weight after trimming NOT the weight the pancetta is now!) in a medium bowl.
Massage the spices on all sides.
Example: if the pancetta was 3 kg (6.6 lbs)
You would add:
18 gr (3 ½ teaspoons) of salt
27 gr (1 TBSP+ 2.5 TSPS) black pepper
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) garlic powder
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) of crushed chili pepper (Optional)
8 gr (2.5 TSPS) of ground nutmeg) Optional)
Make two holes about 2 inches below the corner of the pancetta. And thread the kitchen twine through the holes. Make a strong knot.
Massage the spices very well on all sides, including inside the holes. Move the thread back and forth so that the spices get inside the holes.
Remove a glass shelf from your fridge.
Slide the wooden sticks where the glass shelf is supposed to be.
Hang the pancetta using the meat hooks and the twine.
Place a cookie sheet below to catch any possible dripping of liquids.
Leave in the fridge for about 20-25 days. When it is ready it will look like the picture.
You can slice it using an electric slicer or a good knife. I suggest slicing all of it and then take each slice, wrap each slice in wax paper and place all the slices in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you need pancetta, you can take out as many slices as you want. It will defrost ion a few minutes.
If you do not want to freeze it, you can cut the block of pancetta into smaller pieces and vacuum seal them. Then place in your fridge and use as need it.