In Search of Great Guanciale

[Howie]

Lidia,

Thanks so much for joining us for a chat; needless to say, I am a big fan.

I have to say that my all-time favorite pasta dish has to be bucatini all'amatriciana and have never enjoyed it more than when made in the Bastiniach/Batali manner.

I've tried my best to duplicate the recipe at home. I think I have everything down, but for some reason, I can't seem to get the same quality of guanciale retail vs. what's in the dishes at one of your restaurants. I've tried the butcher at 28th & 8th in Manhattan (though I forget the name) and have even tried curing my own pork jowls... Any suggestions? Do you cure your own guanciale?

Thanks again and congratulations!

[Lidia Bastianich]

Yes, at Felidia, Becco, Babbo and the other restaurants, we cure our guanciale. And that is the single most important ingredient next to good San Marzano tomatoes in the "amatriciana." I would say the rest is in the technique and simplicity in cooking.

Guanciale is not readily available in New York, or for that matter in the U.S., but the ethnic butcher shop you are talking about on 28th Street does make a good guanciale. Try following the recipe in Lidia's Italian American Kitchen on page 137, in which I have indicated the use of pancetta since it's difficult finding guanciale. Let me know how that works.