Making your own Italian Style Pancetta
Using our Prague Powder #1 at the rate of 2.5g / 1Kg of pork belly. All you need to do is att an additional 27g of salt / 1Kg of meat together with italian herbs. That’s all you need to make delicious Italian Style Pancetta. folow the instructions below.
Ingredients: per 1Kg of meat
1kg Pork Belly
2.5g Prague Powder #1
27g salt
5g dried Thyme
5g dried Oregano
5g cracked Black pepper
Method
Trim the belly pork removing any loose pieces of meat from the surface and edges.
Remove the skin carefully leaving a layer of belly fat. You can ask your butcher to do this for you if you aren’t confident.
Weight you pork belly and calculate how much ingredients to use.
Rub the cure and herbs on both sides of the meat 75 % of the cure should be applied to the meat surface and 25% applied to the fat surface.
Place the seasoned belly in a plastic zip lock bag or vacuum bag and cure in the refrigerator for 1 day for every 1/2 inch (13mm) of thickness plus 2 days. Belly pork can vary in thickness so take an average thickness when making your calculation.
Turn the belly every day to ensure an even cure on both sides. You should see some fluid in the bag. Ensure you keep this fluid in the bag for the duration of the cure.
After the curing period, remove the pancetta from the bag and rinse under cold running water. Pat dry with kitchen towel and air dry in the fridge for 24 hours.
You can purchase Prague Powder #1 here
Uses
Pancetta is a versatile product which can be used in several ways. Diced, it can be fried and added directly to several pasta and rice dishes. Pancetta can be further dried to turn it into a product that can be sliced wafer thing and eaten raw. Some pancetta is rolled and tied after curing to make a decorative charcuterie when sliced thinly.