It is impossible to speak about the roman kitchen without mentioning Guanciale. The ‘bacon’ of central Italy. This delicious cured and spiced piece of meat from the pig is essential in iconic dishes like bucatini alla amatriciana, spaghetti alla carbonara, spaghetti alla gricia, coda alla vaccinara and other dishes as well.
Its name is derived from guancia, the Italian word for ‘cheek’. Guanciale is mainly produced in Lazio and Umbria. It is a common perception that guanciale originates from Rome, but it actually comes from Amatrice in the Northern Lazio, close to the Abruzzo region.
When producing guanciale, the meat is rubbed with salt and spices, could be thyme, rosemary, fennel, chili pepper, sugar, bay leaves and sometimes garlic. After salting it will be covered in black pepper cured for three or more weeks. It loses approximately 30% of its original weight in the entire process of salting and curing. It also comes in a less common version as smoked, ‘guanciale affumicato’.
Its flavor is stronger than other pork products, such as pancetta or bacon, and its texture is more delicate. This, despite being way more than 50% fat. When guanciale is being fried, a lot of the fat melts away, but the fatty parts still keeps a crunchy texture, in contrast to bacon or pancetta. I usually remove some of the excessive amounts of melted fat, and keeps it
Guanciale can be very hard to get outside Italy, and I guess most people making the famous roman pasta dishes prescribing guanciale, are using pancetta or bacon. Which also works, in lack of the real thing.
But you can actually make it yourself. Below you find a simple and easy to give it a go at home.
What you need
A raw piece of cheek with skin on, like 1,5 kg meat, parted in two.
4-6 bay leaves
1,5 kg coarse salt
3 cloves of garlic
200 gr. Finely ground black pepper
Put the meat with the skin side down towards the cutting board. Break every bay leave in 2-4 pieces, and distribute evenly on the side of the meat pointing upwards. Slice the garlic finely and distribute in the same way.
Take a plastic bag that easily can accommodate the two pieces of meat. Cover the bottom of the bag with a generous amount of salt. Transfer carefully one of the pieces of meat to the bag, still with the skin side downwards. Make sure your garlic and bay leaves stay in place. Cover with salt, and transfer the second piece on top of the salt. Cover it all in salt, and tie a knot on the bag.
Put the bag in the fridge for 7 days.
Take the bag out of the fridge, and remove the salt, garlic and bay leave pieces. If needed, use a bit of white wine to dissolve elements that got too stuck.
Cover all sides (not necessarily the skin side) with finely ground black pepper.
Cut a hole in the edge of each piece of meat, and put a meat string through. Make sure it goes through the skin part.
Hang the meat on a cross bar or something similar at room temperature for two days, and then transfer to a fridge for 14 days.
You can find a good video with the receipe here.
