Pancetta and guanciale are two fundamental ingredients for Italian cooking. There are a number of sauces and dishes that cannot be accomplished without these beautiful pieces of meat.
Pancetta (the round one in this picture), as the name suggests, is cured pork belly. It can be eaten as a cold cut with bread, but mostly it is used for cooking, diced in small or larger pieces.
Guanciale (the left one in the picture) is cured pork cheek. It is even fatter than pancetta, and used to start off wonderful sauces such as Amatriciana, Carbonara or Bolognese. Sometimes pancetta is used in place of guanciale to cook these dishes due to availability, however guanciale is even tastier than pancetta and has a different type of fat. Harder when raw, and once cooked you will notice that the fat of guanciale becomes transparent, while the pancetta fat remains white and solid.
In conclusion, if you like any of the sauces mentioned in this post (these are the most popular dishes, but of course there are other ones), try to put your hands on guanciale if you get a chance to travel abroad. And if you are unsure how to use it, bring me a piece of it, and I will be happy to show you ;)
9 comments:
I've purchased pancettea previously from Tanglin Marketplace and also some of the specialist butchers that have sprouted everywhere.
That's interesting. I suppose it must be from wither Australia or France, since Italian pancetta cannot be imported. Do you remember which butcher you bought it from? I would be happy to try it!
Hmm that means all the pancetta I've seen around Singapore are all not from Italy, e.g. the ones at Huber's Butchery. However that place in the basement of Orchard Central does stock pancetta occasionally but I'm not sure if it is from Italy. Up to now they still haven't restocked on guanciale :(
There is always a possibility that they import illegally :) so it might be from Italy.
would love to know whereabouts in NYC you picked up the guanciale and pancetta... heading there soon and will plan a visit. please do advise if there's a secret password or handshake to get the real deal...
Lennyboy - I bought them at Eataly, located at 5th Avenue and 23rd Street:
http://eatalyny.com/#2
Go to the meats counter (not the hams counter).
thanks for the tip... will bring you some fresh supply upon successful reckon... do i need to get it packed specially to survive a layover in london? i imagine a 3-4 day possible detour btw NY and SG...
If you are stopping in London, it would make much more sense to buy it there, rather than in New York :)
sorry to bug you again but is it easier to get it in london? if so, whereabouts?
Post a Comment