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Posted

I've got a recipe from an American cookbook that calls for pancetta and I'm in France. Does anyone know what the charcuterie equivalent of this Italian meat would be here?

Posted

My understanding of American recipes is that if smoked lean pork belly is wanted, the recipe will call for bacon. It cured, but not smoked lean belly is wanted, the recipe will call for pancetta. I recall buying pork for lardons from a butcher in France, but I can't recall if it was cured or fresh. As I recall, we were making some classic dish such as coq au vin and it was whatever the butcher recommended. As I recall, we were buying the chicken and said we wanted a bird for coq au vin. He said we'll need lardons as well then, which preempted our request. :biggrin:

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

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Posted

I think it is ventreche in most of France, and in the Languedoc or wherever Catalans live, cansalada.

“C’est dans les vieux pots, qu’on fait la bonne soupe!”, or ‘it is in old pots that good soup is made’.

Posted

And in the Southeast, where there are lots of Italians around ... pancetta.

Jonathan Day

"La cuisine, c'est quand les choses ont le go�t de ce qu'elles sont."

Posted
How about lardons fumés or poitrine fumé?

Pancetta is not smoked, or am I incorrect about this?

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

Posted
Is this a traditional thing (eg. Some ex-house of Savoie "French" towns like Nice spoke Italian before the formation of the Italian republic) or more modern?

Adam, I don't know. But along the Cote d'Azur, you find lots and lots of Italians, and French people with Italian names, and Italianesque products such as porchetta, often with Italian names.

Jonathan Day

"La cuisine, c'est quand les choses ont le go�t de ce qu'elles sont."

Posted
Is this a traditional thing (eg. Some ex-house of Savoie "French" towns like Nice spoke Italian before the formation of the Italian republic) or more modern?

Adam, I don't know. But along the Cote d'Azur, you find lots and lots of Italians, and French people with Italian names, and Italianesque products such as porchetta, often with Italian names.

Well I guess at one point they were as 'Italian' as any of the other regions. I have read that one of the greatest dispointments in Garibaldi's life was the desision of his home town of Nice to become French. Many locals in Nice still have Italian surnames.

One would think that having a biscuit named after him would be enough for any man.

Posted

Thanks, everyone. I'll use lardons.

While we're on the subject, what would prociutto be? (I hope it's jambon du pays because we've got plenty of that.)

I'm in the central Pyrenees, by the way.

Posted

Prosciutto = jambon de Parme (or jambon San Daniele)

Jonathan Day

"La cuisine, c'est quand les choses ont le go�t de ce qu'elles sont."

Posted

I've just received advertising from a wholesale French charcuterie in San Francisco. They offer a poitrine roulée which they translate as "rolled bacon (pancetta)." I have no idea if this is a typical French product, or even one that could be found in France and I am still of the opinion that bacon is smoked and pancetta is not. The more I learn, the less I know somedays.

A good aged cured ham (jambon de pays) should substitute well for prosciutto. A good serrano or iberico ham might even be an improvement.

Ventreche is belly, is it not. I have seen ventreche de thon--tuna belly--in France. In a butcher shop or charcuterie, does the term imply cured pork belly. In any event, would not lardons come from a ventreche?

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

Posted
Bacon = Pancetta. Don't you have un-smoked or rolled bacon (Ayreshire cure) in the US?

Ayreshire cure? I'm not even aware we had Ayreshire disease. :biggrin:

Robert Buxbaum

WorldTable

Recent WorldTable posts include: comments about reporting on Michelin stars in The NY Times, the NJ proposal to ban foie gras, Michael Ruhlman's comments in blogs about the NJ proposal and Bill Buford's New Yorker article on the Food Network.

My mailbox is full. You may contact me via worldtable.com.

Posted
I am still of the opinion that bacon is smoked and pancetta is not. The more I learn, the less I know somedays.

Bacon = Pancetta. Don't you have un-smoked or rolled bacon (Ayreshire cure) in the US?

Pancetta affumicata (smoked) - is pretty common around these parts (London), as well as the dry cured kind.

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

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"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

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