Pancetta

For the past four years or so, I've been making pancetta at Christmastime. The reason for this is simply that when yuletide comes along, Norwegian supermarkets enter into fierce a competition to sell the cheapest Christmas foods—the gilded emperor of which is Ribbe.

Ribbe is basically a side of pork ribs that comes in to cuts "thick" or "thin" and the latter is pretty much pork belly; ideal for bacon or pancetta. So, with a little bit of effort, one can take a (kinda worryingly) cheap cut of meat and turn it into a product that sells for between ten or twenty times the price. Ain't even all that hard.

Now, the recipe I have been using comes from a book called Charcuterie (by way of a Norwegian blog called Ordentlig Mat) and is as follows:

2 - 2.2 kg tynnribbe (pork belly)
60 g curing salt *
2 tbs brown sugar
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbs thyme
2 tbs juniper berries
2+2 tbs black pepper
suitable place for hanging

* Obtaining this is probably the biggest challenge and it is absolutely necessary to avoid botulism. Try your local butcher shop or online.

The first thing you want to do is remove the skin and any bones from the pork. Use these to make soup, some cracklins, whatever. Don't be wasteful! Then put the meat in a plastic bag with the remaining ingredients (and only the first two tablespoons of the black pepper). After that you put the bag in the fridge and leave it for 7 - 9 days.

After a day or so you will notice that the salt is doing its thing and brine is forming; turn the bags every day to ensure that the pork is evenly coated. When 7 - 9 days have passed, the salting process should be done. The meat should be noticeably firmer—if it's still a bit soft in the middle you wait a day or two more.

So now's the time open the bag. Discard the brine and thoroughly rinse of your pork and dry it with some kitchen paper. After this you want to take the remaining "+2tbs" of black pepper and rub it all over the "meat"side of your cut.

It is now ready to hang. And there's at least two ways of going about this:

•  The "authentic" way: deftly roll it up with the fat towards the inside, taking care to avoid air pockets. It'll probably need to hang a little longer this way, but it'll look real pretty. It even works if you roll the "wrong way".. as I found out in 2012 (below).

•  Bind it up with some string (which is the way I've mostly done it)

It needs to hang for 1 - 3 weeks, depending on environmental conditions. 8 - 15°C and 60% humidity is good. If it's too dry it won't dry evenly; if it's too humid you might get mold.

Of course you can adjust this recipe, I don't think I've ever totally followed it. The essential thing is to have a correct ratio of meat/salt/sugar. Rubbing it with black pepper also helps to absorb surface moisture and garlic is a handy antiseptic.

This year I'm making five varieties:

• Thyme, black pepper and garlic **
• Juniper berries, grains of paradise, allspice, cloves and black pepper
• Chilies (guajilo, ancho, casabel, chipotle), garlic, cumin, coriander, star anise and garlic
• Rosemary, garlic and sage
• Bacon with maple syrup instead of sugar ***

** a small piece that will be rolled
*** will be cold smoked before hanging