In to the Belly of the Beast

So I went in to Bud's Meat's and ordered up 10lbs of pork belly.  I have been wanting to try curing meat and the blog I read said pancetta is the easiest place to start.  I brought the yummy pork tummy home and got to work.

I decided to go three ways with it.  I will do a post on each.

First off was the pancetta.  I took the recipe from The Cured Meat Blog (thanks Jason, your an inspiration), and got started.  I cut the belly in to 3 about equal pieces of about 3 pounds each.  I ground all the spices and rubbed them into the belly (the pig, not mine). 

Once the spices were rubbed in the belly and all the remaining spices were placed in a ziplock and put in the fridge for 2 weeks. 

I will be pulling in from it's resting spot in the ziplock in a day or two and starting the air drying process.  I am working on building a curing fridge, but don't think I will be done in time for this panchetta, so it will be placed on a cake rack in the regular fridge to finish drying.  I will post more pictures as this progresses. 

Stay tuned for the next two blogs in the Pork Belly saga, Bacon!!!, and Momofuku Roasted Pork Belly