Everything you ever wanted to know about guanciale, the super pancetta alternative you never knew you loved.
If you’ve ever had carbonara in a really good Italian restaurant and bitten into a crispy, juicy, umami-filled nugget of pork, you’ve tasted guanciale. It’s sweet and crisp, full of umami and porkiness.
What is guanciale?
Guanciale is an Italian cured pork cheek. It’s a key ingredient in carbonara and alla gricia. The cheek, or jowl, is super fatty making it perfect for curing with salt and herbs. It has a salty, super-rich flavor that is similar to pancetta or unsmoked bacon.
Source: Guanciale - i am a food blog
What does guanciale taste like?
It tastes balanced between sweet and savory, rich and buttery, with a very, very porky flavor. The sweetness comes from the pork and it’s a huge umami bomb, salty and deeply rich. When rendered, the fat is fragrant, sweet, savory, and not too salty. Biting into a crisped-up cube of guanciale is biting into pure delicious pork goodness. Because it’s cured, it has an intense concentrated pork flavor.
How do you cook it?
Guanciale is typically cooked by crisping up over low heat until the fat is rendered out. then the fat is incorporated into a sauce such as a carbonara or alla Gricia while the meat is used as a topping in the same pasta dish. It’s also used sautéed with greens, and beans, or used in stews, and ragus. To cook it, slice it or cube it and cook in a dry pan over medium to medium-low heat, stirring to crisp all sides.
Source: Guanciale - i am a food blog
What do you use guanciale in?
Guanciale can be used to add fat and flavor to almost any recipe. Classic dishes that use it are carbonara, amatriciana, and alla Gricia.
You can also use it instead of pancetta in dishes like:
- Bolognese
- braises
- ragus
- sautéed greens
- soups
Source: Guanciale - i am a food blog
Difference vs pancetta
The main difference is the cut of pork: cheeks vs. belly. The second difference is the curing process, guanciale is cured with spices and pancetta is cured with only salt.
Guanciale: salt and spice cured pork cheeks. It tends to be fatter and has a more robust flavor due to a longer cure. Slightly sweet due to the curing process.
Pancetta: salt and pepper cured pork belly. Pancetta is a tiny bit less fatty and leans more towards the saltier side.
Difference vs bacon
The difference between guanciale and bacon is much the same as with pancetta. Guanciale is cheek and bacon is pork belly. Bacon is also smoked and cured and therefore has a distinct smoky flavor.
Guanciale substitutes
If you can’t find guanciale, you can sub bacon or pancetta. Bacon will be smoky and pancetta will lack the same delicate spices. Both work in a pinch.
How to store
Slice off what you need and keep it wrapped up in kitchen paper and place it in the fridge. It’s best to not wrap it in plastic wrap because the resulting condensation will make it soft. It keeps well for up to 6 months in the fridge.
Source: Guanciale - i am a food blog
Source: Guanciale - i am a food blog
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