Guanciale (Italian Cured Pork Jowl)

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5 from 3 votes

Guanciale can be hard to find, but it's reasonably easy to make at home for traditional Italian recipes.

Prep Time30

Cook Time7

Additional Time21

Total Time28 30

Course: Charcuterie

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Cured Meat, Pork Jowl, Salt Cure

Servings: servings, Makes about 2 pounds

Author: Ashley Adamant

Ingredients

1000 g Pork Jowl 100%, 1000g or 2.2lbs for this example
30 g Fine Sea Salt 3% weight of meat, 30g, about 1 TBSP plus 1 ¼ tsp
3 Cloves Garlic Minced
28 g Coarsely Ground Black Pepper about 4 TBSP
1 tsp Crushed Dried Rosemary
1 tsp Crushed Dried Sage
1 ½ Cups Dry White Wine

Instructions

Quantities in this recipe are based on the weight of your fresh, trimmed pork jowl. Weigh everything to determine actual quantities. Do not approximate the amount of salt you need. It MUST be by weight. For reference, I’ve listed the recipe and ingredients for a 1000g (2.2 lbs) pork jowl. A trimmed pork jowl is typically around 2 pounds.
Trim your pork jowl into a smooth, even section, removing the glands and any hanging pieces.
Weigh the trimmed pork jowl.
Calculate the salt and spices you need as a percentage of the total weight of the meat. The salt must be at least 3% of the weight of the meat. Slightly more is okay. Do not use less. (You can adjust the spices to your taste, but these are the percentages I have tested for good flavor in the finished product).
Mix the salt and spices and rub the mixture thoroughly into the pork jowl. Place the coated jowl and any extra salt mixture into a Ziploc bag. Remove as much air as possible and seal it.
Store the pork jowl in the refrigerator for about one week or until it’s cured. During this period, flip the bag each day and massage the jowl a bit each time. When the meat is cured, the texture will change and it will feel evenly firm across the whole cut. If you’re unsure, a longer cure is better than taking it out early.
When cured, remove the pork jowl, shake off extra salt, and rinse it in the white wine to remove salt and seasoning.
Weigh the pork jowl and note the weight (this is critical).
If you’re using a charcuterie wrap to help control humidity, wrap the pork jowl on all sides at this stage. Then truss it to hang.
If you’re not using a wrap, be sure you have a cool spot with 60 to 80% humidity. Cut a hole in the jowl and string it with a loop of butcher twine for hanging.
Hang your pork jowl. It’s ideal if your jowl cures at 50 to 60°F but cooler temperatures like in your refrigerator are fine, it will just take longer to cure. If you’re using a refrigerator, ensure it gets good airflow on all sides by hanging it from a rack or setting it on a wire rack with a drip tray beneath. If the jowl is laying on a rack, turn it regularly. Do not set it on a solid surface. Do not cure in an area with temperatures over 60°F.
Allow the pork jowl to cure for 3 to 5 weeks or until it has lost 20 to 30% of its initial weight, you recorded in step 7.
Once cured, remove the charcuterie wrap (if necessary) and slice thinly (about 1 cm thick) to cook or serve.
Vacuum seal or wrap tightly with a combination of plastic wrap and Ziplocs to store in the freezer for up to one year or the fridge for one week.

Notes

In this recipe, the amount of salt needs to be 3% the weight of the meat. If you use 1000g (2.2 lbs) of meat, you need 30 grams of salt. Be sure to adjust the total amount of salt to the weight of your meat. The other ingredients are rough amounts, and don't need to be exact, but the salt needs to be at least 3% the weight of the meat for safe preservation. (Slightly more is OK too, but don't go too crazy or your guanciale will end up very salty.)

Curing Salts - As guanciale is made with a whole muscle cut (jowl) and isn’t smoked, current food safety recommendations indicate that curing salt isn’t required for safe curing. You can read more about the reasons why in the nitrite section of this article.

You may use curing salts for flavor or texture if desired. Use Insta Cure #2 (not #1) since this you will hang your guanciale for an extended period. The amount of curing salt you should use is .25% of the initial weight of the fresh, trimmed jowl. For this example, that would be 2.5g or about one scant teaspoon. Do NOT approximate the amount of salt. Weigh your curing salt carefully, and don’t add too much.

Nutrition