Making Pancetta 2

So the pork belly was in the fridge for just over 3 days and it was time to take it out and get it ready for the next stage of the curing. See all the liquid that was extracted during its time in the fridge.

The next step was to rinse off all the salt and pat it dry. I then prepared the remaining herbs and spices in the pestle and mortar, and ground them up into a paste again. I needed to use a small teaspoon of salt to help.

This is then rubbed into the open meat side if the pork belly, there is no point rubbing it into the skin according to the book as it will not stick. I found that placing the belly skin down on a clean tea towel while rubbing in the mixture allowed me to fold over the sides of the towel and press in the mixture. It doesn't stick to the towel only the meat.

I then put a hook through it and have it hanging in the garage. The book recommends somewhere airy but not breezy but cool. It will hang here for 6 weeks and then we have our first pancetta.

I think next time when I get the pigs done I will get them mostly back as pork and try curing them myself, I have the next few months to work this out and see what I'm going to do.