Have used the Ruhlman cure but did not do the aging, and used it more like bacon, before I had smoke capability. Delicious.
A point of quibble with Ruhlman/Polcyn... I was in Italy back in 2017, and was served pancetta, thin sliced, raw as part of a charcuterie plate at breakfast. And if you check at the grocery, it's sold with cold cuts and not with bacon, and is safe to eat uncooked. I'm not saying theirs is, but nearly all the sliced pancetta I've seen has been marked safe to eat without cooking.
I Thought the same about eating raw. And when I buy it, it’s always with the specialty cold cuts and sausages by the deli. But I don’t remember if they had it sliced, usually it’s just a small roll that I dice.
I have read elsewhere of people eating it raw but I have not compared processes of curing. I’ll have to do that.
And yes, his bacon cure process has produced great results for me! Love it.
In my, albeit limited, experience pancetta is served raw when sliced thin and cooked when diced or thicker cut due to texture issues. Its generally pretty tough. Might be woth dedicating some different final preps to your experiment.
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Moving right along with this, well aging is moving along that is! The weight loss, not so much, but that's ok. This is looking great though. I can't wait to try this - I can picture a small dice, crispy brown shell, with a tender and flavorful bite!
Weight was 70.25oz after three weeks, providing about an 8% weight loss. I'm thinking I'll go two more weeks with this at least. I'm going to research, see if weight loss really in this manner for Pancetta makes a difference. Depending on what I find, that may force me to be more patient with this!
In regards to firmness, it's about where it was last week, as is the color. The fatcap may have darkened slightly, but it is doing well.
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Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
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Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
Im at the 4 week mark with the pancetta. I originally thought 4 weeks would be fine, but I think I may let this go longer to develop the flavor more. The weight loss is starting to pick up a bit more, so maybe a few more weeks will be beneficial and my patience will be rewarded.
Weight came in at 69.25oz, about a 9% weight loss.
I did some reading regarding serving uncooked, and the Umai site does serve the pancetta uncooked, sliced very thin like others have mentioned above. The only difference in recipes/process is they use instacure #2 and Ruhlman uses Prague #1. I’ve emailed Umai Dry about this, but no reply. Do you have any thoughts on this difference, especially for serving uncooked?
Hope you enjoy the update!
Last edited by barelfly; April 19, 2019, 09:29 AM.
EdF, I sometimes have to look it up myself. 😁 I forget which is which. Interesting factoid: there is only one atom difference between nitrite and nitrate. Sodium nitrite has two oxygen atoms, nitrate has three oxygen atoms.
Last edited by Thunder77; April 20, 2019, 07:18 AM.
Thanks for the info, Thunder77. That could explain the differing processes and thoughts by Ruhlman, as he uses #1 in his book recipe for Pancetta and says it’s not usually eaten uncooked. Helpful info!
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Some weight loss happened, hahaha. not much, but it did drop a bit over 1%, so now at a full 10% reduction. I may just cut into this the same time I serve up the charcuterie. Otherwise, this could be a painfully slow, slow wait for this to be ready! The bag did separate a bit from the roll in one area, which is ok for some things, but I don't know if that will hamper this. It was only a small area, so for the next week or so that I let this go, should be ok.
It’s coming. I’ve been slammed with work and the kids schedule. But i also have been trying this a few different ways before I write the final write up.
This week, I’ll have it up! You won’t be disappointed!
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Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
Pancetta Experiment – final results
I dig the pig. And who doesn’t. So, why not find one more way to make pig into yummy goodness at home. That was my goal – I’ve enjoyed
My three day cure is almost up...debating to continue with the additional 25% or another 14 hours just to be safe...does anyone extend their cure or do you stick to the time from the calculator?
I’m using meatheads recipe from this site and I used the calculator to determine my cure time. It said three days and you could add on 25% to the total time.
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Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
It’s the Umai Dry bag, it allows moisture out the way the bags are made. Lots of people here have used for beef and I’ve done charcuterie with these Umai Dry Bags. They are really cool, especially for the charcuterie piece.
The initial vacuum seal's purpose is to maximize contact between the bag and the surface of the meat. It's not really vacuum sealing. About 80% contact or higher gets the job done.
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