Pancetta: Two Ways part 1

I never like to follow a recipe. I think this stems from my stuborn streak (ask my folks they had plenty of stories) and not always having the ingredients on hand that the recipe called for. So when I read the ingredients for this months challenge from Charcuterie I knew I wanted to try two different spice combinations. One was a more traditional combination (Black Pepper, Rosemary, Garlic, Bay Leaves, Nutmeg, and Honey) and more of an Asian slant (Star Anise, Cinnamon, Chili, Cloves, Ginger, Satsuma Orange Peal, and Honey).

On The 8th Day God Created Pork Belly

I bought a 4.5 lb pork from a local farmer here in Louisville and I trimed it square and then divided it into two pieces.

I then ground spice rub that I was going to use. Here is the traditional rub consisting of Black Pepper, Rosemary, Garlic, Bay Leaves, Nutmeg, and Honey.

The second spice rub I used a combination of Asian spices, Star Anise, Cinnamon, Chili, Cloves, Ginger, Satsuma Orange Peal, and Honey. I then added the Basic Cure mixture to both spice mixture and rubbed down both sides of the pork belly and sealed them in ziplock bags to cure for a week or till they are firm to the touch.

Next post I will show how I rolled them and put them in my homemade curing chamber.

Things Happen for a Reason (or how I got here)

I guess things happen for a reason. I was in Seattle last October visiting friends and revisiting old haunts when I ate a piece of culinary inspiration. I had always heard of Salumi when I lived in Seattle but never had gotten there because one reason or another. I made a point of visiting the store and that’s when my life changed. I was waiting in the line to get in the cramped little store and ordered a cow tongue sandwich for lunch and a half a pound of the mole salami for snacking later. I unwrapped the sandwich, took a bite and uuuuuggggmmmm. You know those moments when something tastes so good that all you can grunt and say single syelbol words like WOW over and over. The joy and pleasure that you experience can’t be described in words so why try. So my culinary inspiration was born and I know that I wanted to learn how to cure meat. I did some research and found Michael Ruhlman and Brain Polcyn’s Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing. I loved it I read through it twice in a week and started doing further research for all the tools I would need to start charcutering it up.
Like I said earlier things happen for a reason. I have had a twitter account for a couple of years not really using that much but for checking a few things on occasion. Then I saw the hash tag of #charcutepalooza popping up on tweets and I explored. Charcutepalooza is the brain child of @TheYummyMummy and @MrsWheelBarrow and is a yearlong charcuterie challenge with a new challenge each month. Participants blog their triumphs and failures, crowd sourcing for helpful hints and overall fun playing with meat, plus the best blogger gets a trip to France. So I am getting my meat on and I hope you will put up with my terrible writing and join the fun that is charcuterie.