Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Guanciale - Ready to eat

The guanciale that was cured and put up to dry about a month and a half ago was ready to be eaten. How did I know it was ready, well, because I had a pasta I had to make with it!

I weighed it, but I forgot to write down what the finished weight was, oops. As you can see on the left, it doesn't look too different from what it looks like before drying, it is just firmer.


I used it for some pasta alla Gricia, and some amatriciana, and it was quite tasty. I think I prefer pancetta, as it seems more flavorful. I also noticed the fat on guanciale has a strange "soft/crunchy" texture if you don't render enough fat out of it...not really a texture I cared for much. The flavor was good, quite mild, porky and very very slightly herby.

If I were to remake this I would season more liberally with herbs and leave them on instead of rinsing them off before drying, like I did with this one.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great Jason! So would you make it again or just stick to pancetta?

Jasonmolinari said...

Given the pain in the ass it is to get jowl uncured, and the fact that i like pancetta..i'll stick to pancetta most likely...but then again, it might just be my method/spices/

Anonymous said...

Jason, I have plenty of fresh jowl for you over here in SC, and tenderloins for that matter...
Emile/CawCawCreek

Unknown said...

Where I can find guanciale in the Atlanta area?

Jasonmolinari said...

Robin, check Pine Street Market, and Star Provisions.