Cooking with and Serving Pancetta

[hillvalley]

I have about 1/3 lb. sitting in my fridge. What should I do with it?

[Bux]

Pancetta is not unlike bacon, but it's not smoked and has a different flavor. We cut it into dice or matchstick pieces and cook greens (spinach, kale, chard, etc.) with it. If it's a fatty cut it can provide grease to cook with, if not you may need to add some oil, but it really provides flavor. It can provide great flavor when making chicken fricassee. It's better than bacon in Coq au Vin as it's closer to what the French would use. We like to cook dried beans with it.

[iriee]

sliced thin and wrapped around fruit,,(figs,,mango,etc) and cheese,(gorgonzola,,) then drizzled with olive oil and grilled,,,,,,yummmmmmm!

[MobyP]

Pancetta is smoked (pancetta affumicata), is not smoked, is rolled around shoulder meat, is rolled around itself, is not rolled (tesa), is salted, marinated - and comes in inumerable other iterations, depending on which region of Italy you're in, and what the local specialty is.

It is not not unlike bacon. It is bacon. Taken from the belly cut (in the UK called streaky, as opposed to 'back' bacon which includes the loin and is more familiar in the UK, and Denmark, and sometimes Canada).

It is also more worthy of having a love affair with than any other foodstuff I know. Personally I would risk serious prison time for a good piece of pancetta - and almost did when I was stopped by US customs from smugglings in a magnificent 2 foot piece of 'Tesa' into the states.

What to do? In small dice or 'matchsticks' in pastas, salads, stews, risottos, braises, fricasees, sliced thin and draped over stuffed poussin, or loin of tuna, or monkfish, or anything which doesn't run away from you too quickly (boyfriends/girlfriends included), or sliced thinner and fried along with your morning eggs, or sliced even thinner still and stapled to your tax return and sent to the Inland Revenue.

[Stone]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta. A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

[JosephB]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta. A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

Is the pancetta avaiable in the US all produced in North America?

[sput]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta.  A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

If you are lucky enough to live near Manhattan, these guys have the best domestic pancetta I have ever tasted... It is all I will use... Their salame, sausage and other regal pork products are all mighty fine also...

They will probably ship to you if are fanatical enough.

Salumeria Biellese

378 8th Ave. NY NY 10001

212-736-7376

Edited March 25, 2004 by sput (log)

[Kim WB]

Wrap it around a leg of lamb, "stick" it on with a paste of garlic, anchvovy paste or tapenade, EVOO and salt. Or heat it gently, add a poached egg and some onion confit. It's the food that, if a few leftover slices are in the fridge, I have a hard time thinking about anything else until I just give in and eat it with some gorgonzola.

[Stone]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta.  A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

If you are lucky enough to live near Manhattan, these guys have the best domestic pancetta I have ever tasted... It is all I will use... Their salame, sausage and other regal pork products are all mighty fine also...

They will probably ship to you if are fanatical enough.

Salumeria Biellese

378 8th Ave. NY NY 10001

212-736-7376

Thanks. I'm sure this will beat the stuff I was getting at Safeway and Whole Foods.

[Cusina]

This is pretty darn good. Nothing like doubling up your pork products.

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Mix:

3-4 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons kosher salt (or less if your pancetta is more heavily smoked)

freshly ground black pepper

Rub all over trimmed pork tenderloins. I used 2 at about 1 lb. each.

Then take pancetta slices and wrap up the tenderloins, tying them up with string to hold it together like a package.

Grill them up and serve. I do them over indirect heat for about 20-30 minutes then over direct heat for the last minute or two to crisp the bacon if it needs it.

Also enjoy Blue Cheese Creamed Spinach with Pancetta. Very rich and flavorful.

Enjoy your bacon tryst!

[Stone]

This is pretty darn good. Nothing like doubling up your pork products.

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Sorry for going off topic, but I recently laid out some slices of prociutto to form a flat sheet, sprinkled it with S&P and a bit of chopped sage and oregano, and rolled a pork tenerloin up snuggly. Browned on the range and bunged in the oven. Mmmmm. Pork.

[Ratguy]

Penne a la Carbonara. Mmmmm.

Recipe from Food Network

[SobaAddict70]

Coq au vin. (thanks, Mrs. B!)

Soba

[Bux]

Pancetta is smoked (pancetta affumicata), is not smoked, is rolled around shoulder meat, is rolled around itself, is not rolled (tesa), is salted, marinated - and comes in inumerable other iterations, depending on which region of Italy you're in, and what the local specialty is.

It is not not unlike bacon. It is bacon. Taken from the belly cut (in the UK called streaky, as opposed to 'back' bacon which includes the loin and is more familiar in the UK, and Denmark, and sometimes Canada).

Once again we may have two countries separated by a common language, or so I fear. Pancetta affumicata is smoked pancetta. I would assume therefore that just pancetta would be unsmoked and as defined in my previous link to the Food Network Encyclopedia definition which is credited to The New Food Lover's Companion, by Tyler Herbst. In any event, all definitions I find on the web say it's cured and not smoked and the pancetta most commonly available in New York, is not smoked.

Also, in the U.S., bacon is commonly defined not just by the cut of meat (side of pig), but as being cured and smoked. I suspect unsmoked, or even uncured bacon would be more commonly found in the U.K. than in the U.S.

[Adam Balic]

Smoked pancetta is common in Italy, especially the northern regions with more Slavic/Germanic influences. The word "Pancetta" is the Italian dimuntive of "Pancia" which means "Belly". Therefore, "Pancetta" is simply cured pork belly, irrespective of smoking or not, the exact methods of curing varing from region to region.

Similarly, "Bacon" is the "back and sides of the pig, ‘cured’ by salting, drying, etc. Formerly also the fresh flesh now called pork" (OED). Bacon in the UK also varies a great deal depending on the region or the cure used. Many bacons are un-smoked, but although this may not be obvious in the USA, which seams to have a more restricted range of bacon types.

Obviously Pancetta and bacon are not identical as the two terms cover a broad range of product types. But they are very similar and some UK bacon types resemble pancetta more closely then the resemble other UK bacon types.

[haberdasher]

Fry it up with some red onion, make some homemade perogies and add a dollop of sour cream. You can also use it in a thin-crust pizza with some portobello mushrooms and good cheese. I love it also in ciabatta sandwiches with chicken breast, sprouts and avocado. Pancetta has a million and one uses.

[kiliki]

Fabulous with brussel sprouts-blanch the sprouts 'til just tender and saute with pancetta, garlic and a little white wine. Mmmm.

[hillvalley]

I have a rendering pancetta fat question. If I let it render long enough, will all the fat eventually melt? I usually end up with these little nonrendered bits. They taste wonderful but......

By the way, made a wonderful roasted tomato pancetta sauce last night with a side ofsauteed spinach in rendered pancetta fat.

Thanks for the ideas, keep 'em coming!

Edited for clearity and spllng

Edited March 26, 2004 by hillvalley (log)

[Stone]

I have a rendering pancetta fat question. If I let it render long enough, will all the fat eventually melt? I usually end up with these little nonrendered bits. They taste wonderful but......

I'm guessing that those are bits of connective tissue. And if so, I'd guess that if you cooked them long and slow, they'd turn to collegen. But it's probably not worth it.

[MobyP]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta.  A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

Is the pancetta available in the US all produced in North America?

Because of concerns over something called 'Swine Flu,' a disease no one in Europe has ever heard of (and I suspect is an invention of 'Our Friend's' in the New Jersey Pork Industry), pork products from Italy or elsewhere in Europe are severely restricted.

Of course there are exceptions! It would hardly seem civilised to prevent the importation of prosciutto, or mortadella - but don't come near us with any of that pancetta stuff! I did find the odd place that imported Italian pancetta unaware that they were breaking the law (can you imagine - the savagery of a law against bacon?), but most of what you get is either American or Canadian.

The Whole Foods Pancetta is pretty bad - large rolls of fatty pork with half an inch of pepper. Time for a taste test! Google all the Italian delis in your area, and go from there.

I'm really lucky. A woman in London imports the most most amazing pancetta I've ever come across - from Italy. It's laced with rosemary and peppercorns - it's completely trancendental. She tells me she's sent some through the post system to the US, but I was stopped at customs, and they took at least two feet off me. Ah well. Now I'm back in London, so my supply is back.

[trillium]

I find it difficult to get good pancetta.  A lot is way too salty, way too fatty, or covered in an overly thick "crust" of cracked pepper.

When it's good, it's wonderful.

If you are lucky enough to live near Manhattan, these guys have the best domestic pancetta I have ever tasted... It is all I will use... Their salame, sausage and other regal pork products are all mighty fine also...

They will probably ship to you if are fanatical enough.

Salumeria Biellese

378 8th Ave. NY NY 10001

212-736-7376

They have guanciale too.

Another good place to buy pancetta or tesa on the west coast is at Armandino Batali's salumeria near Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Salumi

309 3rd Ave S

Seattle, WA 98104-2620

Phone: (206) 621-8772

regards,

trillium

[tsquare]

Another good place to buy pancetta or tesa on the west coast is at Armandino Batali's salumeria near Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Salumi

309 3rd Ave S

Seattle, WA 98104-2620

Phone: (206) 621-8772

regards,

trillium

Yea yea yeah.

Best cooked straight up for breakfast. Also good in pasta sauces, drapped over a chicken for roasting, or most recently, in a big pot of cranberry bean and farro soup. Armandino used to coat it with (too much) spice - was it nutmeg? - but my last purchase was better balanced.

trillium - your idea of "near" is similar to mine - walkers beware - it's a fair hike. At least 13 blocks - and not Portland, OR's little ones.

[mamster]

It would hardly seem civilised to prevent the importation of prosciutto, or mortadella

The importation of Italian mortadella is a relatively new thing--there was a to-do about it when they started importing it maybe five years ago. Although my food-related memories go dim before that, so it's possible it was just in exile for a time.

trillium and tsquare, last time I bought pancetta at Salumi, a few months ago, they had two different kinds to choose from, one with the cinnamon cure (I'm pretty sure it was cinnamon when I got it, though they may vary it) and one more traditional which was better. Although even the cinnamony one was far from bad. My only complaint about Salumi's pancetta is that it comes with a pretty hefty rind on it, which I usually trim off.

[Sentiamo]

Well, this is my first post here at egullet and I am delighted to join you all!

I ditto all that has been said ( and learnt some things) but never try to do Spaghetti/Fettuccine Carbonara without Pancetta! It is absolutely an integral part of that dish. Regular bacon will not do! ( well, it will do, but.....)

I used it as a good flavour base for many Casseroles and in Chowders etc.

I say used, because it is not easily obtainable in NZ and I miss not being able to pop out to the Salumeria for my Pancetta or whatever. after 9 years living in Italy.

[MobyP]

Sentiamo - welcome to eGullet! I hope we get to hear more stories about your time in Italy.

Did you ever eat a carbonara or amatriciana in Rome or the environs (Amatrice?) - and had the traditional cured cheek guanciale instead of pancetta?