Homemade Guanciale Recipe - Curing Pork Jowl at Home

Making guanciale at home is easier than you'd think, and once you've tasted the real thing, you'll understand why Italian cooks refuse to substitute it.

Guanciale is an Italian dry-cured meat made from pork jowl (the cheek and jaw). The name comes from guancia, Italian for cheek, and it's the authentic fat for Roman classics like carbonara and amatriciana. The higher fat content and more intense flavour compared to pancetta is what gives these dishes their signature richness; bacon and pancetta are common substitutes, but they're not the same thing.

The curing process is simple: salt, sugar, black pepper, and your choice of aromatics, rubbed into the jowl and left to cure in the fridge for around two weeks, then hung to dry for another two to four. No smoking, no cooking, no specialist equipment beyond a bit of patience.

I came to guanciale after making pancetta regularly, and the process is almost identical, the main differences are the cut of meat and the spice profile. If you've made pancetta before, this will feel very familiar. If you haven't, this is a great starting point for dry-cured meats.

I cured mine with the skin on, which helps it hold its shape during the drying phase, though you can ask your butcher to remove it if you prefer.

• 530 g pork cheek, skin on
• 1.3 Cure No 2
• 13 g Salt
• 5 g Black pepper
• 5 bay leaves, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

• Mix all the salt cure ingredients and put in a zip lock freezer bag
• Add the pork cheek to the bag and make sure it is covered in the cure all over
• Leave this in the fridge for 7 days, turning it over every day (this is important)
• After 7 days take the cheek out of the bag and rinse it and pat dry
• Weigh the pork cheek and note this down
• Hang the pork cheek in the fridge for 3 weeks or until it drops about 30% of its weight