Making Pancetta Tesa Recipe (Equilibrium Method)

Why Make Pancetta Tesa

One of the most versatile classic types of salt-dry cured meat is out of the classic whole muscles for the pig. “Tesa” style pancetta is flat in shape; the other primary type is “Arrotolata.”

It is used for hundreds of Italian dishes or as an antipasti (charcuterie board appetizer). This dry-cured meat will be one of the most valuable preserved meats you can have in the kitchen.

Since it holds a decent amount of fat, you can use cubed pancetta as a base for a huge variety of pasta, soups, stews and broths.

Key Ingredients

To make this recipe as helpful as possible, I’ve created a custom calculator inside the craft recipe below. This will auto-calculate the salt and spices based on the weight of the meat.

Sea Salt is essential for any curing project, including making pancetta. For this style of equilibrium curing, it’s best to make the salt fine to distribute it throughout the meat during curing.

Quality pork belly is the other main ingredient; you need a reasonable fat ratio to meat. This often means the pig must be at least 12-14 months old. I’ve often found 24 months ideal for the meat-to-fat ratio (talk to the butcher or do the research!).

The process of dry curing meat intensifies the meat flavor, which is why the quality of meat is imperative to salt dry curing.

Sugar should not be an ingredient in classic Italian pancetta of any kind.

Substitutes

Since this is a focus on a traditional craft recipe with hundreds (possibly thousands) of years of history, it’s not really appropriate to suggest substitutions.

However, if you need a similar style of dry-cured classic Italian meat, then guanciale from the pig’s jowl is also used in Italy as a substitute. It has quality fat, and some would say it is the best fat on the pig.

Key Equipment

For this equilibrium salt dry curing method (link to a guide I wrote), an accurate digital scale – a subject covered a lot on this website, here is a page on scales. It’s nearly imperative (or another form of accurate scale allowing precise measurements of one decimal place per gram).

Having an adequate-sized bag for the pork belly during curing is key. The air is to be removed inside the bag. I use Ziploc bags or water bath/sous vide bags for this task. The goal is to have the meat and cure “equalizing” inside the bag.

How to make Pancetta Tesa

Curing Steps

Step 1

If desired, trim and remove the skin first (optional). Below, I’m removing the skin using a flexible knife blade. A filleting or prosciutto knife works for this.

Sometimes, I keep the skin, and when it’s finished, I use it for broths and stocks. If it’s dried straight and doesn’t have waves in it, it’s relatively easy to slice off once it’s finished.

Next, the salt cure for curing, followed by the drying and hanging stage.

Step 2

Weighing the pork belly meat first, the equilibrium curing method, you can also record the minimum 30% weight loss needed for the drying process below.

Calculate the required pink-curing salt No. 2 (optional) accurately. No.2 Pink Curing is for meat-curing projects over 30 days long.

Step 3

Use a Mortar and Pestle or Spice Grinder to make the salt cure mixture finer. If it is finer, this will help to spread the mixture evenly across the pork belly.

Ensure there are no lumps or clusters of spice in the cure mixture.

Step 4

Mix salt cure mixture, and apply to meat in a bowl or lipped metal tray.

Pin

Step 5

Place the meat and all the salt cure mixture (as much as possible) from the bowl/tray into a bag. Use the meat to wipe the salt mixture from the bowl/tray.

Ideally, it should be flat; try to place all the cure mixture into the bag.

Step 6

Remove the air from the vacpac or ziplock bag, the goal is to have the minimal air in the bag during curing.

Step 7

Cure in a fridge or cool area at 2-6°C or 35-45°F

Imperial – 3 Days per Inch Thickness of Meat

Metric – 3 Days per 25mm Thickness of Meat

The advantage of using equilibrium curing, you can have the meat curing for an extra week or two. This will not increase the saltiness of the meat.

Drying Steps

Step 8

Once fully cured, remove from the bag & rinse, optional, with water or wine.

(If you forgot, weigh the meat and calculate 70% of the weight, this is a minimum weight loss for finished pancetta after hanging/drying.)

Stage 9

Make holes carefully through one end of the pork belly, ideally the thinner side. Use S hooks or butcher twine to create a hanging system.

Hang the cured pork belly in a suitable environment. This could be a wine cellar, garage, shed, DIY dry curing chamber, commercial dry curing chamber or

The conditions should be in this range approximately:

Temperature	Humidity
50-61°F/10-16°C	65-75%

You will need to regularly check the meat while it is drying. The reason for these conditions is to slowly dry the meat without drying the outside before the inside loses moisture (often called ‘case hardening’).

Airflow will also vary the speed of drying. A small amount of airflow is desirable, and often, ‘fresh’ air or a breeze is also preferred to avoid unwanted mold.

If too much ‘good’ mold forms, you can use vinegar of any sort to wipe or brush away excess amounts, for more on molds please read this article I wrote.

Step 9

Once the weight loss is 30% minimum, ideally often 30-40%. Then the pancetta tesa is complete.

Expert Tips

• For extremely high fat-to-meat ratios of pork belly, weight loss can be lower than 30%. The fat of the pork contains less water, so it doesn’t lose as much weight as the meat muscle.
• During the curing stage, pork fat salt curing can also take longer since this curing method (equilibrium curing) is flexible regarding the time in the curing stage. For a very fatty pork belly, an extra week can be added to ensure the cure is evenly distributed.
• Make sure to keep the pork belly as flat as possible during the drying phase, especially if you keep the skin on. Once the skin is dry, it is very tough to cut through. If it’s not flat, removing the pork skin can be more challenging. For the first time, I recommend not having skin on (you can use it to make pork scratchings!).
• Having at least 3-6 hooks on the pork belly whilst drying will help keep the pork flat during the drying process.
• Some of the classic dry cured meats are cased to create more even drying. For this dry cured meat, it’s not wrapped or cased.

If you wish to read more in-depth about dry curing meat, I’ve got a guide page that highlights more details of the craft of meat curing, here is the page.

Recipe Variations

You can vary the amount of sea salt to your preference. A minimum of 2.0% salt is needed for curing. I prefer 2.25% for this dry cured meat recipe.

The maximum I prefer for saltiness in the pancetta is 3.0%.

What & How to Serve

• Slice wafer-thin, add to antipasti board as a starter/appetizer
• Cut into cubes and make a classic Spaghetti Carbonara

Frequently Asked Questions

Storing and Shelf Life

If the environment is cool, approximately 50-60°F/10-15°C, the pancetta can be hung around the kitchen. It’s preserved, so you can just cut amounts off as needed.

Placing it unwrapped in the fridge will speed up the drying. Most domestic fridges have a humidity of 20-40%.

Vacuum-packing and storing it in the fridge can be used for several years. I’ve had pancetta in vac-packed bags in my fridge for three years.

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What to Expect for Serving Size

Since pancetta has often lost 30% of its weight, it’s a more condensed form of protein. Dry-cured salumi, like pancetta, were never produced to be eaten as a main form of protein for a meal.

It’s a craft creation to be savored in small amounts. Twenty to fifty grams is plenty per person as a starter.

Scaling the Craft Recipe

You will see below the recipe has an auto-calculating recipe based on the input of the meat weight.

This will allow you to calculate the salt cure mixture for the pancetta

I’m always interested in seeing your results, I look forward to your comments.