Guanciale

[Daniele96]

Guanciale is one of the main ingredient for carbonara pasta together with pecorino cheese and egg yolk. It is made using the pig cheek. The pig cheek must be cleaned from the glands and from the fatty part at the base of the throat (that fat is very good for salami or mortadella). Then it is necessary to cover it with salt for 7 days. After 7 days you have to prepare the red wine to wash it. I use a Barbera made by a winery near Asti in Montferrat area. I put garlic paste, sage, thyme, rosemary, juniper, nutmeg and mace in the wine for a day before using it to give more flavour. Then i made a bath to the cheek for 36 hours in the wine. After this bath i cover the part of the meat (not the rind) with garlic paste (1 clove every 2 kg of fresch meat pounded in a mortar with a bit of salt and a spoon of wine), black, green and white pepper, dryed herbs. Then it must be dried at 22°C for 4 days (50% of humidity) and finally it had been aged for 3 month in a natural cellar (13°C and 75% of humidity).

 

[passedpawn]

Very cool. Does your cellar stay at that humidity all year?

 

[Daniele96]

Very cool. Does your cellar stay at that humidity all year?

Yes my cellar is a cave under my house. It pass from 80/85% from winter to spring (and if it is too much I open a little window) to 65/70% in summer but in that season there are only prosciuttos inside and it is not a problem if there is a lower humidity.