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Pancetta Tesa Ibérico de Bellota

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Pancetta is a cured meat product made from pork belly. There are two major different types, which are then done in different styles based on regional differences. The two major types are semi-dried and fully-dried. The semi-dried is more similar to bacon. It is cured, and hung to dry for maybe a week or two. It is then stored in the fridge or freezer, sliced, and cooked before eating. The fully dried is cured, and hung to dry until it loses about 30% of its starting weight, which usually takes a few months. The fully-dried doesn’t need to be cooked to be eaten, but it can be if desired. The semi-dried uses Cure #1 like bacon does, and the fully dried uses Cure #2 like other dry cured meats.

Now, these are the two major types, but they are both done in many different styles in different regions. The most recognizable style is probably pancetta arrotolata, which is where the pork belly rolled to create a long round cured meat that is then hung to dry. When it is sliced, you get pretty circular slices. Another type that is made is pancetta tesa. This is the pork belly cured,  allowed to stay flat, and hung. When it is sliced, you get long thin slices.

In this post, I will be talking about making pancetta tesa from an iberico de bellota pork belly.

pancetta tesa 2

Curing (2 weeks +):

The pork belly is put into an aromatic cure. It is allowed to cure for 2+ weeks.

pancetta tesa cure ratios

Casing (1 hour+):

The meat is taken out of the cure, rinsed and dried, is cased in a beef bung, and netted to hang.

pancetta tesa 5

Drying (1 month+):

The meat is allowed to hang until it has lost 20-30% of its initial weight. Because this is a fattier cut, it’s won’t too surprising if it doesn’t lose the full 30%.

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Tasting: When the meat is out of the curing chamber, slice it thin, and enjoy!

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And don’t forget, you can always take some with you as a nice to-go snack!

pancetta tesa 1

Disclaimer: Meat curing is a hobby that comes with inherent risks. We can all do things to limit this risk by educating ourselves about the process and the utilizing the safest known methods to create our products. This website is for educational purposes only, and all experimentation should be done at each individuals own risk.

Lomo Ibérico de Bellota

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Lomo ibérico de bellota. The cousin cured meat to the world famous jamón ibérico de bellota. This was a real fun one to make. I was able to get some raw ibérico de bellota pork loin and cure it to make the Spanish style lomo ibérico de bellota. The quality of this meat was evident from the start; even the raw meat itself smelled amazing. After some time in the cure and curing chamber, the result was a fantastic quality cured meat product. If you can get your hands on some raw ibérico de bellota meat to cure, I definitely suggest it.

lomo iberico

Curing (3+ weeks):

First, the ibérico de bellota pork loin was weighed and put into a simple cure.

lomo long iberico

lomo cure ratios

lomo in cure

Casing (1 hour):

After spending some time in the cure (3 months, whoops!), the meat was taken out, rinsed, patted dry, and cased in a beef bung, and netted.

lomo iberico

Drying (6+weeks):

The lomo stayed in the curing chamber until it lost ~30% of its weight. It was pulled and sliced.

lomo5

WOW. The taste of this lomo ibérico de bellota is fantastic. This one is definitely a keeper.

lomo4

lomo8

Disclaimer: Meat curing is a hobby that comes with inherent risks. We can all do things to limit this risk by educating ourselves about the process and the utilizing the safest known methods to create our products. This website is for educational purposes only, and all experimentation should be done at each individuals own risk.