What is it about bacon these days? You can’t walk down the street in San Francisco without stumbling upon bacon doughnuts, bacon lattes, whiskey bacon cocktails, or maybe my favorite: Chocolate-Dipped, Bacon, Butter Toffee with almonds watch out, Kai has a good thing going on. Our infatuation with the pig and its delicious meat is not going anywhere. So let’s all jump aboard the train, there is still plenty of room in the caboose. And to all the Jews out there, don’t feel so bad about it. I’m guessing the health concerns about consuming pig products are wee bit outdated.Plus, Traife just sounds so dirty!
The first time I encountered of guanciale was at Pizza Aiolo in Rockridge. Note: come for the food, stay for the backyard shuffle board garden. The server patiently explained to the table of Jews that it was a pork jowl, cured, diced, rendered, and spread liberally over the pizza. By the looks on our faces, I think she realized she had to bring out the big guns; “it’s like bacon…but better!” Aha, now she had gotten through to us. We tried it and it was nothing short of spectacular, sweet and juicy, with a meatyness often lacking in the languid strips of bacon found on steam tables all over Amurica. I successfully cured some of my own guanciale the following month, it was best on a sourdough, pear, gorgonzola, and arugula pizza made at my friend’s Castro flophouse. We also beastmoded guanciale in a traditional Italian cabonara, Mario Batali knows. For more guanciale’s uniqueness and history see: http://thetravelbelles.com/2010/04/ingredienti-italiani-guanciale/
The first Charcutepalooza ingredient/recipe is guanciale so we’ll get back on that traife-wagon and start cranking. A pork jowl is not something your Whole Foods, Safeway, etc butcher is going to have. I get mine from Avedano’s, these guys and girls are legit. They keep long hours for an indy butcher shop, and really know their stuff. Aside: The Cortland Ave corridor between Bocana Street to the West which deadends at beautiful Holly Park:
and Bayshore Avenue to the East, is awesome. Very cool area. Check out the Walkscore.
I won’t detail the recipe for guanciale here, but I will say this, it is incredibly easy. Like 15 minutes easy to prepare the dry salt-based cure. 7 days in the fridge, massaging and rotating every day or so, and then 15 minutes to cobble together a hanging apparatus in a cool and dry area, and then let them jowls hang for 3 weeks. For maximum pretentiousness hang in your foyer or entryway. It makes for a great conversation piece.
I’m about three weeks out from a finished cure and a new recipe. I hope you’re able to sleep while you wait with eager anticipation of what it may be.
Kick-ass mixtape to listen to while you’re curing: http://hypem.com/#!/zeitgeist/2010/songs It’s a little predictable but these bands do some awesome mashing to hypem’s best songs of 2010.
