Shortcut Guanciale

Recipe from Marc Vetri

Adapted by Ian Fisher

Shortcut Guanciale
Daniel Krieger for The New York Times
Total Time
3 hours 15 minutes, plus 3 days refrigeration
Rating
4(246)
Comments
Read comments

There is an edge of obsessiveness to carbonara — and I gave in to it completely by starting to make my own guanciale, the cured pig cheek central to most Italian versions of the dish. There’s no real need to; it’s available online, but I was inspired after eating a wonderful meal at Vetri Ristorante in Philadelphia, and buying a cookbook, “Rustic Italian Food,” by its owner, Marc Vetri. He made it sound easy — and it is. It’s also satisfying. Guanciale is generally cured for a week, then hung to dry for about three weeks, which is how I usually make it. A fireplace is perfect. But Mr. Vetri has a version that cures for only three days, then is baked. If you order raw cheeks, they need to be trimmed. You want to end up with a neat, flat slab, roughly an inch and a half thick. The key is to cut off the glands, down to the first level of meat, and all excess fat. Here is Mr. Vetri’s recipe: —Ian Fisher

Featured in: Pasta Carbonara, an Unlikely Stand-In

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

  • 1pork jowl (about 1 pound)
  • 2tablespoons and 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2teaspoons dextrose powder or 1½ teaspoons superfine sugar (I use the latter)
  • ½teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1teaspoon curing salt No. 1 (available at Amazon.com)
  • 1teaspoon crushed garlic
  • 1tablespoon chopped rosemary
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

187 calories; 11 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 2 grams sugars; 18 grams protein; 273 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Rinse pork jowl and pat dry. Combine other ingredients in a bowl.

  2. Step 2

    Rub the curing mix on the jowl, then place jowl in a gallon Ziploc bag with the cure evenly spread on top and bottom. Refrigerate for 3 days.

  3. Step 3

    Rinse the jowl and dry it. Roast at 275 degrees for 2½ to 3 hours.

Ratings

4 out of 5
246 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Nice Jewish Boy

I don't understand the roasting of the meat! It might be quick but it's roast pork, NOT guanciale. Take your time, after salting and patting dry, find a COOL, preferably damp spot, and let it hang out to dry for about 2 weeks. Slice and freeze. You might also want to add juniper to the pepper/rosemary mix.

Csamora

Also, I would recommend using cure#2, as opposed to Cure #1. It is designed to keep pathogens at bay over a longer air cure, and will be safer overall, in my opinion.

Marcello Roma

I learned to make guanciale in Italy. It's very easy with lots of room for error. Now I make at least 80 of them each year.

There are many rigs you can fashion for a curing chamber. Most people use an old fridge fitted with humidifier (Dayton 1UHG3) and temp controls (Johnson Controls A19AAT-2C) to keep temp 60 to 65 and humidity 60% to 70%.

When mine are done curing I place them in vacuum sealed bags up to three months in the fridge and freeze the excess inventory.

Do not cook to cure!

Gregory

Shortcuts; although def.short, are not always good....

Karen

Is it safe to just hang it in a cool garage to dry in a California winter? How do you check if it’s done drying? The jowl meat I was able to find in an Asian market are only 1/2” thick. Thanks

greg

trying to avoid roasting it, but at the same time, I don't want to have to procure an old fridge. Some folks here say they didn't roast but don't give details of what they did.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Credits

Adapted from “Rustic Italian Food” by Marc Vetri

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.