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Loka’s Dave Mottershall shows us how to make pancetta

Often referred to as Italian bacon, pancetta is salty, fatty and damn delicious.

But you don’t need to visit a restaurant to get it in your mouth. Here’s Loka owner and chef Dave Mottershall, who takes a whole animal approach to cooking, on how to transform pork belly into gorgeous, flavourful pancetta.

Dave’s Pancetta recipe

  • 2 lbs. piece of pork belly, with nice layers of fat and meat

Pancetta meat cure

NOTE: Dave does not have precise measurements on this, it is a cure made to taste.

  • Sliced garlic: 2-3 cloves to taste
  • Fresh thyme
  • Fresh juniper
  • 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 – 2 teaspoons of cracked black pepper
  • 2-3 crumbled bay leaves
  • 1-2 teaspoons of combined star anise, nutmeg, fennel seed
  • 1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon pink salt

Combine all ingredients well in a bowl.

Rub meat thoroughly with meat cure, ensuring a thorough even coating everywhere.

Place meat in plastic, sealable bag and dump remaining ingredients in.

Remove as much air as possible from bag and then spend a few minutes pressing and mushing the rub further into the meat – the more thorough the cure coating the better.

Place in a pan and then place a heavy, evenly distributed weight on the meat.

Place in refrigerator for 2 weeks, turning daily.

Remove after 2 weeks, wash meat off, pat dry and then rub thoroughly with black pepper.

Tie up with string, place a “date tag” on it and hang in a proper “Chamber” (not a standard refrigerator) a bar fridge or wine fridge is ideal.

Age for 6 months.

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