Pancetta: what is it and how to cook it at home

Last decades our fellow citizens are very fond of "overseas" recipes and cuisines. This is understandable: for too long the list of available products has been very limited and the list of non-traditional Slavic dishes is quite limited. That's why everyone enthusiastically sushi sushi, learn the complexities of Chinese cuisine and invent new recipes (or maybe they recreate and discover old ones).

Whatever it was, the European cuisine is still closer to us than the eastern one. On the one hand, the ingredients and methods of cooking are more familiar, on the other - the taste is "more familiar". Of all the culinary delights that have become available, Italian are the most popular. It's not for nothing that so many pizzerias are visited.

Taste of pancetta

If the same pizza or lasagna has already become more or less familiar, if we have already learned how to call pasta pasta, this does not mean that we have become experts in Italian cuisine. So far, few can answer the question: "Pancetta - what is this?" And yet this dish should appeal to many.

First of all, pancetta is one of the varieties of bacon (or fat with meat veins). Clearly, it is not prepared in the same way as the familiar subtypes. A piece of brisket must be taken quite fat. In addition to the fact that it is salted, it must be subsequently waxed, and in some cases (depending on the area of preparation) is also smoked. So the question about whether Panchett - what it is, it is impossible to find an exact answer: in each locality the taste of this dish will be its own, unique.

Varieties of pancetta

Classical Italian pancetts are distinguished by two types: Piacenza and Calabrian. The first, of course, is prepared (theoretically) only in Piacenza, the second, respectively, in Calabria. Pancetta - what is this performed by Piacenza, and what - in Calabrian cooking? Pjachenskaya necessarily expressed red color, the contrast of which are white fatty veins. Calabria delivers gently pink pancetta, and its preparation takes a whole month.

Outwardly this dish also has two subspecies. If you use a classic recipe, pancetta will be prepared from a breast-rolled breastlet, but there are also inverted, flat variations.

Home pancetta: the first way

Let's start with the fact that not every store can buy it. Until now, the vast majority of the population does not even imagine, pancetta - what it is and what it eats. The second subtlety: it costs immeasurably expensive. So, five times you will think: to buy the Italian "fat" or to be limited to "market", habitual to taste and more accessible in a price range. However, pancetta is really tasty, unusual and can be cooked on its own. And if time is required quite a lot, then money and effort - quite a modest amount.

So, how is pancetta prepared at home? The first option provides garlic as a spice (preferably fresh and passed through a press, but also suitable and dried), ground black pepper, juniper berries (grind or grind), laurel must also be ground, nutmeg (again ground), thyme - fresh , You can drice (fresh more), sugar, and brown, and, of course, salt.

With the brisket you need to remove the skin, cut it straight, get a square or a rectangle, and rub it with a mixture of spices. Then the workpiece is put in a bag and carefully tied. In this form, the brisket lies in the fridge for a week. Every day it must be turned over and shaken. At the end of the period the meat is checked: if it has become uniformly elastic everywhere, it is ready, if there are any looseness, leave it in the refrigerator for another couple of days.

Then everything is washed, sprinkled with the remains of pepper, tied with a rope somewhere 3 cm and hangs in a cool, dry place for two weeks.

Home pancetta: the second way

The initial stage of preparation is the same as in the first case. But after the end of salting, tightly wrapped brisket wrapped in cheesecloth and placed in the refrigerator. Usually lasts for weeks. Advantage: the appearance is more attractive, but the taste of pancetta is much juicier and more tender. However, this method does not have a dried flavor.

As you can see, nothing complicated. And it's very appetizing. Try it - definitely enjoy it!