Pancetta--Work In Progress

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Mucho Bocho
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Pancetta--Work In Progress

Chef Jacob has inspired me to make another pancetta. I thought it would be fun to post for others to see this as a WIP (work in progress).  I'll be updating this thread over the next few months, maybe longer. I'm hoping it can be instructive but more so spark discussion and shared experience. I'm not at all saying this is the best way to do it, just that it works for me. I recommend viewing Chef Jacobs how to video on the process, if nothing else to check out his belly ;-).

My formulas and recipe process was based on this template:
http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Pancetta.pdf

Note: I've added Long pepper and some charcuterie curing additives (the antioxident sodium erthrobate 1 gram per pound and a sodium phosphate blend 0.25 gram per pound for moisture retention). I'm not recommending the use of these additives and they're certainly not necessary to product a quality product. Just that if your going to repeat my process, I think its important for the recipe to be transparent.

Here we go... So I live in the wonderful southern city of Raleigh, North Carolina, but i'm originally from Plymouth, Massachusetts. We're lucky to have access to quality pork here, but quality does vary. I wanted to find a whole belly (technically a half belly).  The one I got was about 27 inches long by 10 inches wide and weighted about nine pounds. 

Fun fact: Pig Belly's can range in price from $7. LBS (Whole Foods Step 4) to $1.75 LBS (a commercially manufactured conventional product--Smithfield). Mine was $3.79 LBS at my Grand Asian Market. I was lucky to be able to select the belly from a case,  they even trimmed it to a rectangular shape. I have a good relationship with my Asian butcher, even if neither of us can understand one another. HA

I'm not going to recreate each step in the process but will reference the recipe template for you to follow. 

Right now I'm finished with steps one through five. That is: I've made the salt (curing mixture) and spice mixture (herbs garlic peppers). For the first three days use 1/2 of the curing salts and none of the spices. They're applied to the meat side of the belly only. Note: the other side (fat side) is still covered with skin, yep those are nipples. Now in the fourth day, I added the spices and covered them with the rest of the curing salt. Note: because I am curing this belly folded over like a closed book, there is a potential for the seam to get over salted, you can see in the pic that I scraped some cure off from this area, not sure if it matter but just to be safe.

Post again in a few days after the cure and before the water bath.