Recipe: Tuscan pancetta

Tuscan Pancetta

Courtesy of Chop Butchery, Portland OR

Ingredients

• 1/2 pork belly, skin off/rindless

• 2 c. salt

• 2/3 c. sugar

• 1 Tbsp black pepper

• 2 tsp allspice

• 1/2 tsp clove

• 2 tsp crushed chiles

• 1/2 tsp pink salt (aka curing salt, optional)

• 1 head fresh garlic

• 3 Tbsp thyme

• 3 Tbsp rosemary

• 3 Tbsp sage

Instructions

1. Find a quality pork belly from your local butcher shop or farmers market. 

2. Mix the salt and spices. 

3. Chop herbs roughly. 

4. Smash garlic cloves with a side of a knife. 

5. Roll out plastic wrap so that it can completely surround pork belly when folded over and lay down belly on it. 

6. Rub salt/spice blend liberally over pork belly.

7. Rub belly with fresh herbs and garlic.

8. Wrap pork belly with plastic wrap, then double wrap it. 

9. Let sit in refrigerator on a dish for 10 days, flipping it every other day.