Pancetta and Carbonara

Yeah, I know. Crappy picture. Wah.

My pancetta finished a week ago, but, due to my work schedule and various things going on, was only able to use it today. I decided that the best way to use it was in a carbonara, of sorts. And by the way? I was a little nervous about my Pancetta. Since we are in Utah, and the air is so dry, I was worried that it would be Pancetta Jerky instead. Although my edges were a wee bit dry, it was gloriously red and beautiful once I cut into it. I was so excited and really, quite proud of my charcuterie accomplishment!

Back when we were living in Virginia, just outside of DC, one of our favorite places to eat was Brio at Tyson's Corner (after they added on the extra wing). They always made a great Carbonara, and we would always get it with their chopped salad. Carbonara seemed like the perfect vehicle for my home made Wild Boar Pancetta for challenge two of Charcutepalooza.

Since I didn't have access to anything large (pork belly-wise), I secured a lovely wild boar pork belly from Caputo's in downton SLC. A little less than 2 lbs., so I thought too small to roll and tie. I decided to just wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it flat. The edges got a little too dried out, but the inside was just too divine, as you can see from the mediocre picture above. The curing process was quite simple. I really must invest in a wine refridgerator to control the humidity until we buy our dream old home with a root/wine cellar that will do double duty. In any event, using the wild boar made it a bit richer than typical pork, but oh! How could you go wrong??

In any event, like I said, Carbonara! I spent a week researching various methods of Carbonara. Cream? Stock? Which is better? I determined that the best first method would be the authentic stock version. If worse came to worse, we still have lots of pancetta to try the cream version, right? (I may still do that just for experimentation purposes, even though it isn't quite authentic).

So, I wasn't much in the mood to make my own pasta tonight (that is reserved for tomorrow wherin I will make Duck Breast Prosciutto Ravioli), but I got this lovely tri-colore bowtie pasta by Rao's (in NYC!!) . Salted the pasta water exceptionally well, and set it to boil. Pre-heate a sautee pan over a medium high heat. Prepped three eggs, separated (froze the whites for macaroons or whatever...nothing goes to waste), whisking the yolks gently for use in a prep dish or small mixing bowl. Cube about a cup of pancetta (in about a 1/4" dice), and once your water for pasta is near boiling, add your pancetta to the sautee pan. Since pancetta is a high fat cut of meat, it will render quite a bit of fat. Yum! In this case, don't drain it. It's a great seasoning agent, and really helps everything come together. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of stock. Once your pancetta has cooked for a few minutes and rendered quite a bit of fat *AND* you know your pasta is al dente,  add your stock to the sautee pan and bring to boil, which will come together quite quickly. Transfer your pasta directly to that sautee pan using a spider, stirring well to combine. Remove from heat immediately, and add your three egg yolks. (The heat from the pasta will cook your yolks, but if you are pregnant, elderly, or of ill health, please excercise caution and coddle your eggs briefly in hot water or the stock before adding them to the pasta). Immediately add two large hand-fulls of fresh grated parmesan cheese (don't use the crap from the green can or the whole thing will be ruined), and stir until melted and combined. Serve immediately.

I used fresh eggs and fresh cheese, and stock that I made last weekend. The pork belly turned into pancetta was humanely and locally raised. It makes all the difference in the world!