Making my first load of Panacetta

markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Making my first load of Panacetta

Post by markjass » Sun May 05, 2013 08:21

Was at a farmers market and Panacetta was being sold At $9 nz for 250g nice stuff, but there were one or two additaves that I have yet to look up. I do not know the source of his pork.

I know that top of the range free farmed pork boned belly can be bought at $18 a kilo (sure I have to order it from the farm's butcher 2 days before I want it and it is only 15 mins drive for me; neither of which are issues for me) and from the Mad Butcher (chain store) bonless pork belly can be bought for #14 a kilo.With these prices I thought that I would give it a go.

This is from the Recipe section of this web page (and the book)
Pancetta

Pancetta is Italian bacon which is cured and air dried but not smoked. There are many varieties and each region produces its own type. Pancetta Placentina and Pancetta di Calabria have been protected by the PDO mark.

Meats Metric US
pork belly (pork belly slab may weigh about 4.5 kg (10 lbs). 1000 g 2.20 lb.
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat

salt 28 g 5 tsp.
Cure #1 3.2 g 3/4 tsp.
sugar 5.0 g 1 tsp.
white pepper 4.0 g 2 tsp.
nutmeg 1.0 g 1/2 tsp.
fennel 2.0 g 1 tsp.
red peppers 1.0 g 1/2 tsp.
garlic powder 1.5 g 1/2 tsp.

What are red peppers, is it capsicum (fresh), cayneen, paprikia or something else?
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Thu May 09, 2013 13:24

Got my answer. It is red pepper from crushed chillies (I have a book that has some very old mustard recipes in it. It mentions ground sweet pepper. It also has recipes that are for a gallon or so of mustard).

Have bought a 1 kg peice of pork belly and will start making some pancetta. I bought the best quality pork that I know of. It is free farmed ie the pigs are free to wander about the field and have small shelters). It blows all the cheap supermarket pork off the shelf (does have its place and I do use it).

There is no organically certified pork available in NZ (there was until last year, spoke with a person who works for the body that deals with promoting pork in NZ).The reason being the cost of suplementary certified organic feed that may have to be used at certain times of the year. I learned how to make sausages from a guy who rears his own pigs. He said that the problem of suplementary feed and the cost of certification are the issues.

Anyway, I only bought 1 kg because I do not want to throw away a lot of money should things go wrong. We are in the last month of Autumn, winter may be to cold to dry cure, but spring will give me another chance.
ssorllih
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 4331
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 19:32
Location: maryland

Post by ssorllih » Thu May 09, 2013 13:56

Mark you may find these pages to be interesting reading while you wait for the pancetta to finish. http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/e ... redirect=2
Ross- tightwad home cook
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Fan and drying chamber

Post by markjass » Mon May 20, 2013 13:08

Have made a air drying cabanet for my pancetta. I have cut large holes in a plastic container and put a fine mesh over the holes. I am going to place it in my garage. There is minimal air flw there, but more there than anywhere else in the house.

I have an old standard fan would that work or be too powerful. If it is a goer how far away should I place the fan from the box. As this is going to be a temporary set up I do not want to invest much in this project.
User avatar
Chuckwagon
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 4494
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
Location: Rocky Mountains

Post by Chuckwagon » Mon May 20, 2013 22:45

Hi Mark,
Pancetta is best hung in a slightly cool, dark, moderately humid place where air can circulate freely around it. A basement is ideal at around 60°F and about 60 percent humidity. Be sure to keep it out of direct sunlight and away from air vents. It will dry sufficiently (without the use of a fan), in about two weeks. You will detect the savory-sweet aroma of the curing process. If it produces a rancid or rotten odor, then the spoilage bacteria has affected it and it should be tossed. When the pancetta is firm throughout, yet pliable (much like leather), then it`s ready. Wrap it tightly in plastic and store it in your refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks, or in the freezer up to 3 months. Please remember, pancetta is not meant to be eaten uncooked. Just as you would any bacon, be sure to cook it before eating.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Tue May 21, 2013 02:58

Thank you C.W for the reminder that the pancetta needs cooking. Good that I do not need a fan. I am not sure now that I bought the ideal pork belly. I cured it for a week in the fridge and then have 'hung'it in the garage for a couple of days. I cut the skin off this morning. The cut is very, very lean and there is virtually no fat. Is that going to be an issue, next time should I get a fatter piece of pork belly?

Mark
ssorllih
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 4331
Joined: Sun Feb 27, 2011 19:32
Location: maryland

Post by ssorllih » Tue May 21, 2013 04:32

In a frost free fridge the meat will dry at any storage temperature. So panacetta is just bacon that I cured and hung to develop a pelicle and forgot to smoke?
Ross- tightwad home cook
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Tue May 21, 2013 07:22

Hi Ross

Thanks for your comment. I am so in the mind frame of bacon being smoked and cooked that I forgot that pancetta is cured hung bacon. Down here in New Zealand we are almost into Winter. It has been raining for the last six days and temperatures average out at about 12 degrees. Late may through to early July is horriable. Overcast skys, frosts rain and that kinda dark dank weather that naws into your soul. From Late July onwards the weather settles. We tend to get Cold nights, frosty mornings, but clear blue sunny skies during the day. It can be warm enough to have a coffee outside with a coat on at lunchtime as long as you are protected from the wicked southerly (no land mass between Antartica and NZ) and the beasterley easterly. So it is the right time of year to cure and hang Pancetta.

Later on in the year (late spring onwards) it would be worth using the fridge. A question, is the low humidity of the fridge not a problem? Having said that I tend to store my bacon and ham in bags that are made of Calico (is a plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_(textile). I soak the bag in 1 L. of water that has 2 teaspoons of vinegar in it and then wring the bag out. I repeat the soaking of the bag every 2-3 days.

Mark
User avatar
tazplas
User
User
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:10
Location: Perth

Post by tazplas » Tue May 21, 2013 14:22

Hi Mark
I lived in Hobart for 10 years and cured the meat by hanging in my basement garage during winter. The climate is about the same as Christchurch as we too got the great southerlies directly off Antartica or from the West over the ocean and mountains. Humidity was on average about 60-80% during winter.
Once the meat was cured and dried appropriately, i usually vac pac it all. At least it keeps it fresh and keeps the moisture as it should be.

Cheers

Steve
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Mon Jun 10, 2013 05:32

Just tried my first lot of pancetta. Uncut it looked mankey. Looks are deceiving. I sliced a couple of strips and fried it. It tastes amazing. I have a second batch will be ready in a couple of weeks. It is difficut finding thick slabs of pork belly. Has anyone used any other cut of pork that is thicker.
User avatar
Chuckwagon
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 4494
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
Location: Rocky Mountains

Post by Chuckwagon » Mon Jun 10, 2013 05:44

Mankey? Is that like exfluncticated? :shock: Or is it more like absquantulated? :lol:
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Mon Jun 10, 2013 09:36

Ops a typo from me. I meant to manky (not nice/distasteful/unclean person or unclean act). Anyway, two lovely words C.W. I had to look them up. I would have to practice them a lot to get them into my usual vocabulary.
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Post by markjass » Wed Jun 12, 2013 11:47

I have just checked my second peice of pancetta. It has been hanging in my garage for two weeks. Ruhlman suggestests that pancetta is ready after it has lost 30% of its weight. My pancetta has lost about 32% of weight. As Iam not experienced enough to tell by squeezing it wether it is ready I have to go by their suggestion of weigt loss. I thought that it would take at least three weeks to loose 30% weight. The mean outside temperature has been less than 10 degrees C. We have not had that much rain (June is usually wet and frosty here. Does the weight loss suggest that it has not been humid enough or is it just one of those things.

I am wondering if I should go to a local delli and buy some imported Italian pancetta ($70 a kg). To use as a comparison. I know that the taste will not be anywhere near but the texture and toughness/chewiness (probably not the right term) may give me an idea. The pork belly that I used on this slab was from a local supermarket, it was of inferior quality to the first slab, but it was much thicker. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

Oh yes I got home from Australia at at 2 am on monday morning. one side of the pork had a lot of white mould on it the other had none (a little fat on this side) I washed this offwith a dilute mixture of white wine vinegar.. This evening Wednesday at 10 pm there was a lot of white mould. The pancetta has been hung in a muslin bag.
markjass
Passionate
Passionate
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 14:46
Location: Canterbury

Batch two -

Post by markjass » Wed Jun 19, 2013 05:25

Have just weighed my second batch of pancetta. As and as it has lost 38% of its pre drying weight I have decided not to leave it to dry until Friday (That would be 3 weeks of air drying). It was from a much thicker piece of pork belly.

Yea ha, it looks and tastes great. My only comment is that it is not quite salty enough (this is from a person who only uses 16 g per kg of salt in his fresh sausages). Next time I will let it cure in the fridge for a few days. I should have tasted it before I washed the salt off.

I sliced it as thin as I could. I then wacked it with my cooking hammer (not sure what its name is) so that it was broader and wafer thin. This worked and I will wrap it around some monk fish and oven bake it.

Time is getting on and I had better get on as I need to shower (smell of smoke, been smoking the csabaii (today). Also need to get on with sorting tea out.


Mark
User avatar
Chuckwagon
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 4494
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
Location: Rocky Mountains

Post by Chuckwagon » Wed Jun 19, 2013 07:51

What are the chances of a few photos? :mrgreen:
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
Post Reply