Pancetta Arrotolata

Author: Marthinus Strydom
Category: Meat Curing
Serves/Qty: 1.00
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Heidi Strydom

Pancetta Arrolotata is a rolled and trussed version of Italian pancetta - cured and air-dried pork belly. It's fairly easy to make but the trickiness is in rolling it tight enough to ensure the inside does not spoil. This is also helped by adding a lot of crushed black pepper. The pepper adds to the flavour and also helps due to it's antibacterial properties.

Marthinus Strydom

The Story

Arrotolata refers to the rolled and trussed version of the pancetta, and is typically found in Northern Italy. This one from Villani is made with choice lean and derinded (pork belly with some of the fat trimmed off) Italian pork. It’s trimmed, salted, tied, dried, and cured to create a truly tasty meat that has all the great traditional flavor.

More about Italy

Italy is one of those countries about which you probably have quite a number of preconceptions before you have put one foot into the country. A country of olive oil and mafia, pasta, wine and sunshine, roman ruins and renaissance palaces, Italy has a lot to offer its visitors. Although some of these images are appealing, it would be a shame if that was the only thing you come away with. Italy is certainly much more complex and interesting than that.

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Ingredients
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100 % pork belly
1 casing (dry age sheet or tubed casing)
apple cider vinegar (for wash)
butchers twine (to truss)
Dry Cure
2.25 % salt
0.25 % cure #1
1.80 % black pepper
1.75 % sugar
0.50 % pepper flakes
0.50 % juniper berries
0.25 % garlic powder
0.13 % onion powder
0.25 % dried thyme
0.15 % bay leaf
Mold solution
1 g bactoferm mold-600
1 g dextrose

Method

  1. Cut the pork belly into a rectangular shape.
  2. Remove the skin.
  3. Weigh the belly to calculate your ingredients.
  4. Mix all the ingredients (not the Mold-600).
  5. Wash the belly with Apple Cider Vinegar.
  6. Rub the dry rub into the belly completely. Use all of the dry rub.
  7. Place flat into a vacuum bag or ziplock.
  8. Vacuum seal the bag.
  9. Based on the thickness of the belly you will then work out how long to brine this belly in the fridge. Go to: https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/saltbrinecalculator.html and type in the thickness.
  10. Place in the fridge. Turn daily.
  11. Add 1 gram of Mold-600 in a cup distilled water, leave to develop for 12 hours, then add 250 grams of distilled water. Add 1 gram of Dextrose and mix.
  12. After the time in the fridge remove the belly and wash it with clean water to remove most of the dry rub.
  13. Very, very tightly roll up the belly into a cylindrical shape. You must make sure to remove ALL the air when you roll it.
  14. Tie with butchers twine securely.
  15. Cover with collagen sheets (dry age sheet) or stuff the rolled belly into a large casing.
  16. Sanitise your sausage pricker or needly and prick holes into the casing all over to remove trapped air.
  17. Brush on the Mold-600 solution all over the casing.
  18. Hang in your curing chamber at around 13 degrees C and 80% humidity for 3-4 weeks.
  19. This version HAS to be cooked to eat. 
  20. NB: If you want to eat it raw, then use Cure #2 and leave it in the curing chamber until it has lost 25% of its weight. Wash it with Apple Cider Vinegar, vacuum seal and leave in the fridge for another month. it's worth the wait!