Guanciale

So the Bacon of Doom went so well I decided to see if the guys at Sea Breeze could pick me up a hog jowl for some Guanciale. (Italian Jowl Bacon)

And lo, they did provide.

Here's the jowl, skin on. Note again that their pigs are seriously fatty. Nom nom nom. Probably weighed in at just under two pounds.






Goodbye skin. Also, goodbye anything that looks glandular, nobbly or otherwise unappetizing. There are little gland "bubbles" that should be trimmed off. Also, it turns out I have a first edition of Charcuterie, and the second edition has a Guanciale recipe. D'oh!

Flying blind here.

I knew I wouldn't get to this post for a while, so I took a photo of the spices I ended up using. Eh, eh? Thinkin' ahead here.

Looks like I used Basic Dry Cure, Herbs de Provence, Marjoram, Basil, Nutmeg, Thyme, Bay Leaves, Black Peppercorns, and Roja Garlic. So, um, you should too.

Into the bag with you for a week and maybe a bit (I seem to remember it taking a day or two longer to cure.)






After it cured I gave it another coating of kosher salt just for good measure then hung it to dry. It'll go three weeks, there's a week left. First it went into this fridge, but then my Oktoberfest Lager needed the real estate so I moved it to the small dorm fridge, which I think will become the official meat fridge. That's a dish of salt saturated water in there, to keep the humidity up.