Another awesome DIY from the book, Charcuterie. This time it’s how to make your own Pancetta, which is an Italian Bacon. It’s pretty much the same steps as making your own cured bacon, just with the extra step of hanging it to dry.
Ingredients:
- 2 Cups Kosher Salt
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Pink (pickling) Salt
Directions:
- First you will start with a good cut of pork belly, about 5 pounds. Mix the Salt, Sugar and Pickling Salt in a large bowl and dredge the pork in the pickling mix.
- Put it in a 2 gallon Zip Lock bag and add some seasonings and aromatics. (1/4 Cup Brown Sugar, 2 Crushed Garlic Cloves, 2 Tbsp Fresh Cracked Black Pepper and a Bay Leaf is recommended).
- Seal the bag and rub the seasonings into the Pork Belly. Store the bag in the back of the refrigerator for 7 days, 9 if it’s extremely fatty, (more than 3 inches), and make sure to shake / rub the bag to evenly cure the meat.
- Remove the Pork Belly from the bag and rinse off all of the cure mix. Cut a hole in the thickest corner or roll it up then wrap with butchers string and then hang in your kitchen, out of direct sunlight and the heat/AC vents. Let this dry for a week and it’s ready for use.
