| Level: | Advanced |
| Total: | 7 days 20 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 7 days |
| Cook: | 5 min |
| Yield: | 5 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon clarified butter
- 1 pound 4 ounces Pancetta, diced, recipe follows
- 1 teaspoon finely diced garlic
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 5 ounces heavy cream
- Cooked pasta, for serving
- 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 pounds fresh pork belly
- 2 teaspoons pink salt
- 2 ounces kosher salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon ground white pepper, plus more for dusting
- 2 tablespoons juniper berries, cracked
- 5 bay leaves, crumbled small
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
- 2 tablespoons pureed fresh garlic
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large saute pan. Add the Pancetta and saute until slightly brown. Add the garlic, saute briefly, and then deglaze with the wine. Reduce the wine by half, and then add the heavy cream. Reduce this by one third, and then toss in your cooked pasta. Heat the pasta through and add the Parmesan, white pepper, and salt and toss. Pour into bowls and add more Parmesan cheese (as much as you like).
- Ask your butcher for a 5 pound, nice square piece of pork belly (skinless) that will fit into a 2-gallon zip-top bag.
- Pat the belly with paper towels to dry. Mix together all the spices. Wearing plastic gloves, rub the cure mixture into both sides of the belly. Place in a 2-gallon zip-top bag, put on a sheet pan, and refrigerate. Every day for 1 week, turn the bag over and massage the belly (through the bag) to ensure saturation. The pork will take on a slightly darker color than what it was. This is a sign that the cure is working. It will also draw some moisture out of the belly. When the meat is darker and firmer, remove the belly from the bag and run under water to remove any cure sediment. Pat dry and lightly cover with a dusting of ground white pepper. Roll the belly very tightly into a log and wrap tightly with cheesecloth. Tie the end and hang in a 34 to 38 degree F refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.At this time the bacon should be fully cured and have a good firmness when squeezed.
Reviews
Obviously ignoring the ridiculous instructions for homemade pancetta, the recipe for the pasta sauce is absolutely excellent!! My house has requested it multiple times. I’d recommend 3x the written sauce ingredients for about 1lb of bucatini pasta, & I add capers to the recipe as well
I ‘bought’ my Pancetta but one day in the future may try my hand at making some using this recipe. This recipe was good but needs ‘something’ I may try putting a squeeze of lemon juice over it at the end next time. I made this recipe as it was written except for the following: I used only about 3/4 lb. of pancetta {1 lb. 4 oz. was too much for the amount of pasta we used}, I used black pepper instead of white, and used a bit more wine & cream than was called for. I cooked the pancetta first and removed it from the pan & set it aside for the end so it would stay crispy. I poured off half the bacon fat {saving it for future use in another recipe} then I deglazed the pan with the wine & the cream then tossed the pasta with the sauce {I used Farfalle/bowtie pasta}. Then I took 3/4 of the pancetta and mixed it into the pasta, I saved about 1/4 of the crispy bacon to sprinkle over the top of each plate while bacon was still crispy. I also tossed in some chopped parsley.
I made this and it was delicious. I used 3/4 lb. of fusilli pasta, 1 lb. panchetta, 3 tsp. garlic, 3/4 cup wine, 1 pt. heavy cream, 3/4 cup parmesean, and 3/4 teaspoon each of pepper, salt, sage, parsley, basil. I put the parmesean and spices in the food processor to mix and it made a perfect blend. No extra parmesean was needed to top it off.
Delicious! I used thick peppered bacon from butcher, 1pt cream, 1c wine, 1 1/2 lbs vermicelli, no butter, removed most of the grease from pan before adding garlic… garnished with Italian parsley
I refuse to do 167.5 hours of waiting making my own pancetta. That may work for a commercial kitchen but not at home- good pancetta is available at the right market. Also, I always try to double the sauce portion of any recipe because they ALWAYS come up short, and it doesn’t take any special effort once you assemble the proper ingredients. Nice dish- how can you go wrong with bacon, wine, cream….
I know there were some spices used at the end.Does anyone know what they were?
I used my own proportions on the ingredients, but this combination made for great flavor. I did add onion with the pancetta and topped with basil at the end.
I question the amount of Pancetta called for. Also I think you should drain it after browning before adding the garlic, wine & heavy cream. It doesn’t specify this in the instructions.
I made it and found it was way too greasy. It was OK but not quite “saucy” enough. I think the ratio of wine & cream should be increased.
There was also no specified amount of pasta to cook.
I made it and found it was way too greasy. It was OK but not quite “saucy” enough. I think the ratio of wine & cream should be increased.
There was also no specified amount of pasta to cook.
It looked so much more creamy when it was served on TV.