Pancetta

A simple cured ham in the style of Pancetta. Traditional Pancetta is rolled and stuffed with herbs. I don't roll and stuff it, I just like it au naturel. This is my own recipe - it's very simple indeed.

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Ingredients

Per Kg belly pork

25 g Salt (Sodium Chloride) Sea salt, table salt, whatever salt you like.
12.5 g White sugar You can use brown but I don't like the flavour that it imparts.
2.4 g Cure #2 0.24% which gives 150 ppm Sodium Nitrite plus 96 ppm Sodium Nitrate based on UK supplied Cure#2.

Instructions

Weigh out and thoroughly mix the cure ingredients

I weigh each ingredient and add it to a small storage jar so that I can shake the jar to mix the ingredients. You want a homogeneous mixture.

Prepare the meat

This is usually made with a thick piece of Belly, I remove the bones before weighing, save them for bbq ribs (although there won't be much meat on them because you will have dissected them out to leave most of the meat for the Pancetta).

Add the cure

Rub the cure into the meat on all sides. I do this in a plastic tub to catch the inevitable cure that falls off. You will need to work quickly as the cure will draw moisture from the meat straight away.

Vac pack

Place the meat and cure in a vac bag. Tip in any residual cure from your plastic tub and vacuum seal it.

Leave to cure

Leave the vac packed meat in the bottom of the fridge for 10 days minimum, 2 weeks max. Give the meat a daily massage at least in the first few days to distribute the cure.
After your desired time give the meat a brief rinse under cold water and pat dry with kitchen roll.
This is where you need some ingenuity. Hang your cured meat in your alpine cave, or cold garage in a UK winter, to dry out slowly and naturally. You want the meat to loose at least 30% of its weight in moisture. It helps if you weigh it at this stage so you can keep track of its weight loss.
An alternative drying method is to use your domestic fridge. In theory this is far too dry and the meat will dry too quickly and harden on the edges, preventing the centre from drying properly. However, if you vac pack it at the point it starts to harden on the outside and leave it for a week or so in the vac bag the moisture will be drawn from the centre to the outside and you can then dry it further. Not for the purists but this does work and it means that you can make Pancetta all year round.
Once dry to your satisfaction slice very thinly and enjoy as a fine starter with some fresh figs, dressed with some good olive oil or however you like it.