After work today I ambled over to The Healthy Butcher, eager to finally get my paws on a couple jowls for guanciale. I say finally, even though the plan for this guanciale-making endeavor was only formulated several weeks ago. What can I say…? I’m an impatient foodie.
The various recipes I’d consulted led me to believe that a single jowl would weigh in at nothing larger than 1.5 pounds or so. Working with that rough estimate, I asked the butcher to order in 2 for me. I figured that would be safe because it would leave me a spare if I messed up the first (highly unlikely) or a second to play with at a later date once I got the base flavor down. Well… when I got to the butcher I found out that they’d put aside about $50 worth of jowls for me. At approximately $4.99 per pound, you can do that math and figure out how much meat I ended up with. I’d ordered it in though, so I took the meat and figured that at the very least, I was now set for jowls for the next year or so.
Getting the meat home, I began unwrapping my prize. Lo and behold it turned out that I actually had 4 jowls. I opted to freeze one whole package for later, and make a double batch with the other package for now. As one of my recipes suggested, I began picking over my jowls for any errant glands; apparently these need to be removed prior to curing. I didn’t see anything that looked like glands, but there were several sections of small, bubblewrap-like pockets, so for safety’s sake I pared those back. Once that was done, I started to mix together the curing concoction. It’s a pretty simple ratio; just use equal parts of salt and sugar, and whatever fresh spices you want your meat to take on the flavors of. I’ve heard talk of people also using something called pink salt; I’m not 100% sure what that is, but I know it contains nitrites, so it’s not going in my food. Next, you massage the mix into the meat, pressing it well into both sides and all the edges. Place the thoroughly coated meat into a large freezer bag with any leftover mixture, close it and put it in the refrigerator. Let it rest for 5-7 days, and make sure to flip the bag daily to evenly distribute the cure.
Once I was done with the basic guanciale, (which in addition to the salt, sugar and peppercorns also contains thyme) I decided I wanted to get a bit crazy with the next one. Instead of using thyme, I opted for a healthy pinch of several types of chili flakes. Once mixed, patted and put away, I started to feel a bit dejected. All of the anticipation and excitement of the last few weeks was over in less than 20 minutes. The next 7 days will be relatively boring, and the 21 after that absolutely excruciating. If everything goes well after that, I’ll have guanciale instead of a thriving bacteria population eager to kill us all. Obviously I’m sure you can tell which one I’m hoping for. During the next month I’ll continue to post periodic updates on Project Guanciale, and if it turns out, I may even post a few pictures. In the meantime, here are some recipes for cures you can use, since people always tell me I need to write this shit down. Um, no, I don’t, but I’ll humor you this once nonetheless.
And as an aside, I also finally got to the bottom of the Everyman’s squeamishness regarding guanciale. When he took a peek at the butcher package today, he remarked incredulously to me, “Hey, this is pork?” Well of course it is, and I thought he knew that. It turns out that the first time we had guanciale was at Cowbell, on one of those mixed beef nose to tail plates that the chef loves so much. The Everyman didn’t care for it then, and ever since had wrongly assumed that the guanciale I keep talking about was also made with cow cheeks. Now that he realizes that I’m using pigs, I think he’s alot more receptive to the idea of Roman bacon. Success! Now all I have to do is make sure it tastes good… hmmm… maybe I should ask Grant from The Black Hoof for some tips…
Plain Guanciale Cure (enough to cure one 2-2.5 pound jowl)
0.5 c. sugar
0.5 c. salt
16 peppercorns
8 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed
Combine in a large bowl and apply as directed above.
Foodie’s Spicy Guanciale Cure (also enough to cure one 2-2.5 pound jowl)
0.5 c. sugar
0.5 c. salt
16 peppercorns
0.5 tsp red pepper flakes
0.5 tsp jalapeno flakes (see The Spice Trader)
0.25 tsp aleppo pepper flakes (see The Spice Trader)
0.25 tsp marash pepper flakes (see The Spice Trader)
Combine in a large bowl and apply as directed above.
Until next time…
Tags: Cowbell, Grant Van Gameren, guanciale, Mark Cutrara, pork, Preservation, Purveyors, rantings, Recipes, The Black Hoof, The Healthy Butcher, The Spice Trader
