(photo by wm. christman)
About two weeks ago, I finally decided to dive in and start on some of the recipes in Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie book. I chose pancetta as it seemed to be the most straight ahead (read: easy) ones and the fact that my love affair with the peppery Italian bacon goes back to my childhood.
The photo above is the result of just over a week of curing. The pancetta was washed, thoroughly patted dry, peppered, rolled then tied. Since it's getting warm here in the Bay Area, it's not real practical to dry this in my usually cool garage, it now resides (hanging, of course) in my refrigerator. Theoretically, I could use it now but since it's the first one, drying it and letting the flavors concentrate is more important. It is really just a (hopefully) delicious science experiment to pave the way for further curing exploration.
