Phase 1:
- 4,797g Fresh pork belly (this one is skin off however you can also cure with the skin on)
- 114.22g Kosher salt (2.4%)
- 54.83g Light brown sugar (1.1%)
- 11.42g Cure #2 (0.26%)
- 89.08g Fresh groung black pepper (1.9%)
- 20.58g Crushed jumiper berries (0.43%)
- 9.11g Ground nutmeg (0.19%)
- 5.71g Ground Thyme (0.12%)
Spices, salt and sugar weighed out and put in the Ninja bullet to grind the pepper and mix the other ingredients together.
Cure weighted out to exact amount
Ground spices and cured mixed toughly incorporated
Spice/Cure "cure" mixture loaded into shaker for even distribution
Fat side
Fat side covered in 1/2 the cure
Flip the meat over to expose the meat side
Coat the meat side and ends with the remainin cure
Put lid on bus tote and label. Then into a 37 degree fridge for 14 days flipping the meat over every couple of days
In 14 days I'll pull the meat from the cure rinse in fresh water to remove any remaining cure then rinse with wine. Prior to rolling in cheese cloth and trussing the meat will also get a fresh light coating of fresh round black pepper.
Fast forward 15 days and onto Phase 2:
Pancetta out of the cure rinsed blotted dry and onto a clean single layer cheese cloth ready to start rolling.
The idea is to roll it as tight as possible leaving no air voids for bad molds to establish.
Rolling and squeezing
Now pull the cheese cloth over and roll the Pancetta up in it. Repeat with 4 separate layers of cheese cloth.
Now twist the ends as tight as possible and secure with either butcher twine or a zip tie
After the Pancetta is wrapped and ends secured truss the meat to prep for hanging. Trussing also helps keep the meat rolled tightly. After Trussing weight the Pancetta so you have a baseline for the drying process. I'm going to target 40% loss before sampeling.
Pancetta hanged in the curing chamber and the wait begins.
