In Honor of Eric - Pancetta

[Gonna Smoke]

Before his sudden passing, Eric and I had been in discussion about making pancetta, something I had never done. This thread is what really got me interested...

Panchetta-esque Bacon

I’ve posted this before, but it’s worth posting again just because it’s so dang delicious and easy for any bacon maker to do. This is a cured belly in my regular cure mix, 1.5% salt .25% cure #1 .75% sugar. Dry rub, bag and cure this time just 5 days. Then we start the magic. Take the 5 day...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I bought a whole belly and cut it in half with half destined for bacon and the other half for panchetta...

Both halves seasoned as I would for bacon and into bags in the fridge...

After 5 days, the pancetta was patted dry and back into the bag with some Merlot for an overnight soak...

Removed and patted dry...

Coarsely cracked some fennel and red pepper flakes...

Seasoned the meat side with this, some white pepper, and some garlic powder...

Rolled as tight as possible and tied...

More of the same seasoning on the outside...

Wrapped in collagen sheets and back in the fridge for a couple more weeks...

I'll be back in a couple of weeks to update. I hope I do justice to Eric's recipe and technique...

 

[kilo charlie]

Watching for the results! Looks amazing so far!

 

[Brokenhandle]

Watching as well! Great job of passing it on!

Ryan

 

[Jim_C]

This will be interesting to watch. I am the "old-school" cheese cloth and hang in a cool place for two weeks. I also have not tried marinating in wine before hanging. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[indaswamp]

I'm in-great tribute!

 

[Gonna Smoke]

This will be interesting to watch. I am the "old-school" cheese cloth and hang in a cool place for two weeks. I also have not tried marinating in wine before hanging. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

I have read every thread on here that I could find then reached out to Eric back in May. He coached me along, but I didn't commit until after his passing, unfortunately. This is his recipe and technique that has been slightly tweaked over the years. In some way I think his thread I posted above was his way of nudging me to do this...

 

[sandyut]

Im in for the ride

 

[JLinza]

Very cool, im definitely in...

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Nice tribute cook in honor of Eric. Very cool Charles and I am definitely in for the finish!

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

That's good stuff. Still have a few in freezer. I getting ready to make one of his Hatch Chile dishes.

 

[radioguy]

Oh I gotta see this! Skin on?

RG

 

[mneeley490]

Looking forward to seeing the end result. I've waffled on trying to make a pancetta myself. I'm assuming this could be made in an Umai bag. That's more my speed.

 

[indaswamp]

I'm assuming this could be made in an Umai bag.

Yes. But being a thick piece, as long as it has quite a bit of fat on the outside to slow drying, it should do fine.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Skin on?

No, skinless...

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I'm assuming this could be made in an Umai bag.

Yes, but Eric had been using the collagen sheets recently. I was going the umai way, but he said the sheets worked just as well, were cheaper, and a lot easier to use. The collagen are also another first for me. I'm looking for a 20%-25% weight loss...

 

[gmc2003]

I'm in for the finish. Eric would be proud of you Charles.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[forktender]

This will be interesting to watch. I am the "old-school" cheese cloth and hang in a cool place for two weeks. I also have not tried marinating in wine before hanging. I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

That is how my family did it as well.
Curing meat was always done in the winter , fall or early spring.
My Gramp's/ Pappa always had Italian sausage and pancetta hanging over large gavinized washtubs that were filled with wood chips and saw dust from the garden. It made it easy to scoop out the drippings. Everything wash hung in his root/wine celler/ un finished basement. The basement had concrete floors, the walls were quater saw'n 1x12 oak boards that he milled by hand, using nothing more than an old hand saw. The man was amazingly stubborn, he was an old commercial tuna fisherman in San Diego, he also tuna fished in Sicily before the came to the US. All of my aunts and uncles either commercial fished for tuna or worked in Delmonti's tuna packing house in San Diego. A few of the tamily members that were "connected" to the old country owned wholesale fish markets and restaurants.

Man I wish I was a little older back then, so I could've learned the process they used . Im sure their so called recipes/ more like methods would be considered dangerous by todays standards. I know a lit of my canning that I learned by Noni are.
When poeple tell me that I can't do this that way, I laugh, and say my family has been doing it that way for only about 200 yrs, and nobody has got sick or died from thier methods that I know of yet. LOL!!!

Care to share your method with me?
Id live to give it a try.
Dan.