After only three days the pancetta is starting to take shape. The aroma is amazing. Compare this picture with the first day of drying and you’ll be able to see quite a change already.
Today marked the end of the seven day curing period for my first pancetta effort. It’s got nice color and a fantastic aroma. Here’s a shot of the pancetta when it first came out of the refrigerator.
The pancetta has been curing for two days now. It was time to turn it over. The smell, with the Juniper Berries, thyme and rosemary is simply amazing. In just two days the color is turning a nice red. I’m pretty excited about how this is going to come out. Pancetta is an Italian style bacon that has been cured with salt, pepper and other spices. Unlike English and American bacon, Pancetta is not normally not smoked. Pancetta is usually rolled into sausage type shapes unlike other bacon.
I purchased a 6 pound piece of fresh skin on pork belly earlier in the week. The first step in the pancetta curing process is removing the skin. You need a very sharp boning knife to accomplish this. Start in one of the corners with a little slice under the skin. A few weeks ago I used the Pro-Q Cold Smoke Generator to smoke some fresh sausages I picked up. When I came home from work recently and found an orphaned “Little Chief” smoker on my front porch I knew the Pro-Q and the “Little Chief” were destined to come together. This morning they came together to smoke some cheese.  I filled the Pro-Q Cold Smoke Generator with some hickory wood dust and placed it inside the "Little Chief." The Pro-Q sits perfectly inside the smoker on the stand for the normal wood chip holder. The end result was not what I had hoped for. Everything during the process worked just as I had hoped it would. But the bacon didn’t taste like bacon, it tasted like ham. I’ll still use the hammy bacon in beans and other dishes, but it’s not going to work as “Bacon.” I’m going to have to do a little research into what caused the “hammy” flavor and figure out what to do. But in a nutshell this recipe wasn’t what I was looking for. Day 10 and the pork bellies are out of the salt/sugar cure. Actually they are no longer pork bellies, they are, what is know as, “green bacon.” This is bacon that has been cured but not smoked yet. This stage is also known as salt pork. The bacon has been rinsed and soaked a little to remove the salt. The process now requires the bacon air dry on a rack in the refrigerator until tomorrow. After work it will get smoked for an hour or so and then it’s ready to eat. Here are a few shots of the bacon out of the cure. It sure looks good.  All rinsed and on the rack ready for air drying in the refrigerator.  Close up of the end cut.
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