Guanciale

[db418]

I'm happy with the curing process I've followed for the guanciale, but am a bit disappointed with the lack of meat versus fat. I've bought locally reared, organic pork and the layer of fat on the shoulders I've bought in the past are similarly thick. Is this likely down to the particular breed (does anyone know a reliable UK supplier of jowl/cheek?) or should I just better manage my own expectations of the final outcome? I've seen photos online that range for nearly all fat to a good layer of both (like streaky bacon). I've got another one hanging at the moment (which is a week off) so perhaps that might be different. Thanks for your help.

[Swing Swang]

Most slow bred/traditional breeds are more fatty than is currently sold in supermarkets. Having said that the producer influences the final outcome too. In particular smallholders producing just a few pigs per year often 'overcare' for their animals and start off with very fatty animals indeed. This usually revolves after a few seasons, particularly if you give your producer feedback - so the first thing to do is to talk things over with him/her.

The second thing is to either trim off some of the fat and render it down/do something else with it (toucinho, lardo etc), or to reduce the overall fat content by mixing it with a leaner cut.

For a local producer of slow grown quality pork I'd have a chat with your local abattoir and ask them for recommendations.

Depending on where you live you could do a lot worse than checking out these folks (and it wouldn't surprise me if Debbie is a member of this forum):
http://www.hiddenvalleypigs.co.uk/pork.html

[wheels]

Debbie's usually to be found at http://forum.downsizer.net/

HTH

Phil