tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post1965512137634378086..comments2024-03-26T10:01:18.135-04:00Comments on Living the Frugal Life: Working Guanciale Recipe and MethodologyKatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18017959421018964001noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-81309952591007114332011-02-10T14:33:25.833-05:002011-02-10T14:33:25.833-05:00Thank you for your very helpful tips. I am in the...Thank you for your very helpful tips. I am in the air drying stage right now. The process was much easier than I thought it would be.Claudiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04373419551112159105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-90739507304209428392011-01-01T11:43:20.716-05:002011-01-01T11:43:20.716-05:00This looks fabulous! Now when I get my pig, I'...This looks fabulous! Now when I get my pig, I'll know exactly how to make the guanciale.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16750292879037409647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-76319266802839551072011-01-01T08:48:09.262-05:002011-01-01T08:48:09.262-05:00CGF, you're quite welcome. To my understandin...CGF, you're quite welcome. To my understanding, guanciale is little known outside of Italy. So don't feel like you've missed something that's common knowledge. Jowls are certainly pig's cheeks. For all I know the terms might even be interchangeable in butcherese.<br /><br />salviadorii, not off topic at all. We used a chipper to process all the pruned branches from our apple tree a couple years ago. It provided us with enough chips for smoking to last at least ten years at the rate we use them, and probably more. We don't own a chipper; just borrowed one from a neighbor. It might be worth borrowing or renting a chipper to do the processing of the branches, considering how much of a supply the machine can supply in very short order. I can't imagine the work that would go into producing the chips with a draw knife!Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18017959421018964001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-12051552473107456692010-12-31T18:47:18.665-05:002010-12-31T18:47:18.665-05:00This is a little off subject but what is your proc...This is a little off subject but what is your process for making smoking chips from the apple wood.I did all my anchos smoke-dried after seeing your post.But it was a task to get enough apple wood chips.I was using a draw knife on pieces of limb wood stuck in a vice.Thankssalviadoriihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08502133891338053833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-1647283645610365842010-12-31T12:45:12.515-05:002010-12-31T12:45:12.515-05:00Thanks for this comprehensive guide. I've neve...Thanks for this comprehensive guide. I've never heard of guanciale, I wonder whether jowls are what we would call pigs cheeks? It sounds delicious though as is most home cured meat in my experience.cottage garden farmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655117357492601456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-52090604110858478422010-12-31T08:23:58.802-05:002010-12-31T08:23:58.802-05:00Tamar, glad to be of service! I look forward to h...Tamar, glad to be of service! I look forward to hearing how your curing goes. This is certainly the best time of year to tackle the project.Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18017959421018964001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-20072810724846044622010-12-30T17:36:41.084-05:002010-12-30T17:36:41.084-05:00This is definitely the kick in the pants that I ne...This is definitely the kick in the pants that I needed to tackle the pig's head in my freezer.<br /><br />Nothing better than a kick in the pants that comes with explicit instructions! Thanks.Tamar@StarvingofftheLandhttp://www.starvingofftheland.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-90797327070886965162010-12-30T08:33:17.485-05:002010-12-30T08:33:17.485-05:00Paula, this would technically qualify as salumi, a...Paula, this would technically qualify as salumi, and it's an easy place to start if you can get the jowls. Pork belly into bacon would be equally easy. Good luck when you get into it. It can be rather habit forming!<br /><br />Dea-chan, yes, that was my reaction too when I first started: That's all there is to it? It seemed like it should be more difficult or complicated. But it really isn't.<br /><br />Hazel, guanciale isn't common here either. I have an admiration for Italian food though, as well as a desire to eat high-quality but cheap food, and also to use up all the weird bits. That's why I'm familiar with guanciale. As for how my methods violate USDA guidelines, I have no idea. I'm just fairly sure they do. The USDA is a remarkably white-knuckled, hyper-vigilant organization when it comes to food safety. Given their druthers, they'd probably irradiate all foods and then pasteurize them for good measure. They seem to assume that all American home cooks live in squalor without even a rudimentary understanding of hygiene or germ theory, and that we can't measure, or follow guidelines for temperatures or timing. So they build multiple, redundant, fail-safe steps into their food preservation guidelines. They would argue that traditional methods used for centuries to preserve foods are "unsafe" when clearly the empirical evidence argues very much otherwise. <br /><br />I hope you enjoy the guanciale, or whatever you make from the jowls. Bath Chaps sound interesting. I'll have to look that up.Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18017959421018964001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-48665399317731133522010-12-30T03:45:46.392-05:002010-12-30T03:45:46.392-05:00I've just had to look guanciale up as it's...I've just had to look guanciale up as it's not something that's very common here. I've only ever used the cheeks as part of brawn (head cheese), although in the past they were a fairly common cut in their own right known as Bath Chaps.<br /><br />I'm intrigued as to how this procedure contravenes USDA guidelines? It sounds almost identical to how DH and I make bacon from belly pork (a la HFW). I'm not concerned that it does, just curious.<br /><br />I have 2 pigs heads in the freezer (as you do). The cheeks on one may well be destined for guanciale now, thank you!Hazelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05388175819512214533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-66529975661122509072010-12-29T21:23:40.639-05:002010-12-29T21:23:40.639-05:00This was really useful! I'm keeping this open...This was really useful! I'm keeping this open in a tab to remind myself to show this to my fiance. You make it look fairly simple, I'm surprised by how do-able it looks!Dea-chanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00140404243041621186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7237633934633144064.post-66557013396988120992010-12-29T16:11:17.043-05:002010-12-29T16:11:17.043-05:00I would like to try making some sort of salumi, bu...I would like to try making some sort of salumi, but I think it's fairly far into the future at this point. So cool you're doing your own!Paulahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16171802310115844104noreply@blogger.com