I have been looking for a good source of guanciale, which I believe is this same pork jowl, but is not smoked, but rather cured like pancetta. I first had it in a few dishes of various pastas Amatriciana that were suddenly everywhere on menus in Italy, I believe in tribute to the town that had been recently ravaged by earthquakes just prior to our last visit, and loved it. It is much more tender than pancetta and I think that pasta carbonara would greatly benefit by it's use in place of pancetta as well. Amazon has some, but with mixed reviews.
HC
