Home cured Pancetta recipe

Super easy to make at home, Pancetta is really rewarding to make, and incredibly versatile as an ingredient.

Pancetta is essentially an Italian recipe for cured pork belly and has its roots in the ancient traditions of pork preservation that date back to the Roman Empire. This salt-cured meat originated in the regions of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, where families developed preservation techniques to ensure their meat would last through the year. Unlike its northern European counterparts which relied heavily on smoking due to damper climates, Italian pancetta emerged from the Mediterranean tradition of dry-curing, taking advantage of Italy's drier climate and readily available sea salt.

While modern bacon production became industrialized during the 18th and 19th centuries, pancetta maintained its artisanal character in Italy, with each region developing its own subtle variations. Some areas roll the belly into the distinctive cylindrical form (pancetta arrotolata), while others cure it flat (pancetta tesa), traditions that continue to this day. This recipe describes the flat version, but i also have a recipe for the rolled form: Pancetta Arrotolata.

It’s very similar to Bacon but is not smoked and is cured and dried for longer. Some recipes call for the addition of curing salts but this version doesn’t. It can be sliced thinly or thickly depending on your wants and what recipe it is to be used for!

As there are two processes to this recipe, i’ve separated out the ingredient lists below.

• 450g pork belly

salt cure

• 15 g salt
• 1 tsp Juniper berries
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, roasted and crushed
• 1/2 tsp pink peppercorns
  

spice cure

• 2 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 1 tbsp juniper berries
• 3 dried bay leaves, ground up
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes

• Mix all the salt cure ingredients and put in a zip lock freezer bag
• Add the pork belly 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 belly out of the bag and rinse it and pat dry
• Mix all the spice cure ingredients together
• Coat the pork belly thoroughly with the spice cure
• Weigh the pork belly and note this down
• Hang the pork belly in the fridge for 3 weeks or until it drops about 25% of its weight