Guanciale

[Tom G]

I can never get my guanciale to taste as good as yours in your bucatini.

A) Where do you get it? Rumor has it your source is Sallumeria Biellese, can you confirm?

B) What's the best method for preparing it, then cooking it?

[Mario Batali]

yes you can buy guanciale from biellese, as wellas from niman ranch, but if you are really into it andhave a couple of weeks to wait, which you should, since you have already waited a lifetime, then order the jowls from a espectable butcher and make it yourself... the recipe is in the babbo cookbook and is easyissimo... as far as techniques to use the pork gold once you have it in the house, for thebucatini, start it in a cold pan with 3 tb oil and about a 1/4 lb of the guaciale sliced thin render it over low heat 8 minutes with the onions and then add the tomato sauce and chiles and then proceed... the romans grind it into a paste in a mortar and then use it like the southerners in the us use lard for their vegetables... you can just as easily cut into 1/4 inch dice and use it with a touch of evo even to saute chicken thighs.. it adds a perceptiblbl brilliance to anything it touches..as it should... it is the holy pork mb