2lbsvenison belly, flap, trim, flank, boneless rib meat, or fat caps, cut into two 1-lb pieces try to make them rectangular
For the cure
¾ounce20 grams kosher salt or fine salt
3gramspink salt or 1 scant teaspoon Sodium Nitriteavailable from butcherpacker.com
4gramsor ½ tablespoon whole peppercorns
4gramsfresh rosemarychopped fine, or 1 gram dried rosemary
2gramsor 1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
2gramsor 1 teaspoon dried fennel
.5 grams or roughly 3 dried bay leaves
Instructions
Pound the meat with a mallet well until it's a uniform thickness and easy to roll up like a jellyroll.
Grind the dried spices and herbs with the salt and pink salt in a spice grinder.
Rub the entire mixture over the meat, massaging it in and taking your time, then refrigerate for 5 days, turning ever day, or as often as you can remember. After 5 days, tie the pancetta with butchers twine and hang to dry in a refrigerator or a place with similar temperature for 5 days to remove some water weight.
After 5 days of drying, remove the pancetta, cut into manageable pieces (I like 4oz hunks) and vacuum seal and freeze, or keep in the fridge. The pancetta will keep in the fridge for a month or two.
Notes
Improvising a place to hang If you don't have a cool place to hang the pancetta, you can cure it in the fridge on a cookie sheet, while it isn't the best, it will still work fine, just turn it regularly so it can dry out, and if you can, lift if off the ground using a few dowels or something similar.Cooking with your pancettaThe pancetta isn't meant to be cooked in strips like bacon. To use it, dice it into pieces, then slowly render the fat until crisp and simmer for an hour or two in something like tomato sauce. Alternately, you can vacuum seal and sous vide the pancetta after curing for 3 hours at 150 F using a sous vide cooker, after which it will be tender. Then cool, slice, and cook as needed.