Bershire Pancetta


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

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I had a bit of nice piece of belly left over from a hunk that came home with me from nyc and I thawed out for this meal. I had neglected it for a few days and I feared it was rotting away, but I dug it out and it had no signs of spoilage so I thought I'd turn it into pancetta.

I followed the recipe for the basic cure in Charcuterie (with dextrose), and scaled it to the required 30g for the 1350g of belly. I added 10g of crushed black peppercorns and 20g of rosemary sprigs off of my new plant.

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I figure a week or so in the bag and then I'll hang it.

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more to come, I suppose...
 
Nice. My big question: This time of year... where ya gonna hang it?
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I haven't given it much thought. I do all my charcuterie in a small room in my basement (the previous owner's photography darkroom) which is running at 75*/65%. Earlier in the year I had hung some jowls and a previous piece, which did fine, so we'll see how it goes.

Eventually, I'll get some kind of chamber set up.
 
Nice.

Yeah, a chamber would be good. I'd planned one for Fla but then couldn't get to it. Not sure I have the room in Okla - well, it means cleaning out more of the garage or shed (could happen!) - but I'd like to get one done this year.

An advantage to living in the oft-gray, dreary Buffalo...
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A good start Jeff.
btw, I just finished reading the librabry's copy of Ruhlman/Polcyn's Charcuterie book. Truly fascinating stuff. It's on my wish list. Meanwhile, I'll copy the bacon recipe. Will let you know...
 
Yeah, a chamber would be good. I'd planned one for Fla but then couldn't get to it. Not sure I have the room in Okla - well, it means cleaning out more of the garage or shed (could happen!) - but I'd like to get one done this year.

An advantage to living in the oft-gray, dreary Buffalo... Big Grin
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For your chamber, are you planning on building something like a wine cellar, or going the modded fridge route?
 
This seems hot, shouldn't it be more like 55*?
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from Charcuterie:

...hang the pancetta in a cool humid place to dry for 2 weeks. The Ideal conditions are 50 to 60 degrees F./8 to 15 degrees C. with 60 percent humidity, but a cool, humid basement works fine, as will most any place that's out of the sun. (I often hang mine in our kitchen neaxt to the hanging pans on either side of the stove.)
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Is there any reason for using dextrose instead of regular sugar?
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once again, from Charcuterie:

Brian and I prefer to use dextrose, a refined corn sugar because its less sweet and, because the grains are very fine, it dissolves more easily and therefore has a more uniform distribution
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I had it on hand to make a fermented sausage that I have not made yet, so I figured I'd see how it works here.
 
I left the cured belly hang in the basement for about a week and a half while I was on vacation. I cam back to pretty ugly sight:
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the belly was a cornucopia of different molds. It did have a few patches of non-fuzzy white mold, which I think is the good kind. However it had some nasty blue, green and yellow stuff growing too.

I think I'm going to invest in a mold culture and see if I can potentially avoid some of this bad mold growth.

I gave the piece a vinegar rub which removed all the fuzzy stuff but left a dark patch on the one edge. I decided to cut off most of outside and still had a a lot left (more than enough for a few months):
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I tasted a bit and I'm extremely happy with the cure. Its mildly salty, not at all sweet, and just a hint of rosemary.

I'm thinking it could have dried longer, but with a thick end and a thin end, I didn't want the the thin end to dry too much.

next time, I'm adding garlic.
 
Sorry to hear about the green and fuzzy stuff, but glad it all worked out. That last shot made it all worth while.
btw, thanks for the inspiration Jeff. I've got home-made bacon on my to-do list, and am currently reading and very much enjoying David Chang's Momofuku book. Cheers!
 
Sorry to hear about the green and fuzzy stuff, but glad it all worked out. That last shot made it all worth while.
btw, thanks for the inspiration Jeff. I've got home-made bacon on my to-do list, and am currently reading and very much enjoying David Chang's Momofuku book. Cheers!
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yup, I'm still alive, so it appears as if it did work out. Everything is so new to me, so I never now what to expect. I'm pretty sure surface mold isn't lethal (heck I eat moldier cheese). I always hope if I eat a tiny modicum and have no ill effects, eating a lot will be ok too, but somehow I still worry.

get cooking in that book. Make the ginger scallion noodles now!
 
just a quick update, no pics.

We fried up some of this and used it as a topping on some homemade pizzas and it was out of this world good! The cure worked well as the pancetta was perfect in terms of salt, and the berkshire belly had a special fattiness that's really nice.

I splurged for another piece and its waiting in my freezer. I'm really excited to get it going now. I'm thinking of doing a similar cure (minus the rosemary) and then smoking like american bacon.
 
Really interesting post, j.

I haven't read much on these processes - but wouldn't some additional air circulation help retard the mold ?

Feel free to say "Newbie read the post <insert url> here".

I was in a meat shop in our local Chinatown today, and stood in the build-a-pig section. I was looking a the pork bellies and thinking about trying stuff like this...
 
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