Guanciale Update: Hang 'Em High

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 8, 2009 6:00PM

What a difference a week makes. And a lot of salt, pepper, sugar and thyme. The pork jowl has been cured (compare the shot above to how it looked before curing last week) and looks like it's well on its way to becoming rich, savory bacon.

The Mario Batali recipe we're using calls for the jowl to be hung in a cool, dry place with some butchers twine for a minimum of three weeks. Speaking with some folks who've successfully made guanciale, it's the humidity that'll ruin a good cure. Dry-aging in a controlled environment is a form of rotting, if the space we're hanging the jowl in becomes too humid, mold can occur. tomorrow, we'll show you where we've hung the jowl and how we're fighting the chance of mold forming.