How to Make Guanciale

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Guanciale. Jowl bacon. Pig candy. I can’t remember the first time I had this magnificent pork product from Italy, but it was probably in some pasta carbonara I had back home in New Jersey; carbonara should, traditionally, be made with guanciale, not bacon. Ditto for spaghetti all’amatricana.

A cross section of guanciale, cured hog jowl.
Photo by Shutterstock

I’ve made guanciale many times, and I’ve referred to it on this blog for more than 15 years, so here’s my guanciale recipe.

Keys to making guanciale are salt, humidity and time. I also use Instacure No. 2, which has nitrates and nitrites, for added safety; you can buy Instacure online from Butcher & Packer. If you have a thing against using them, skip it.

A word on the salt. You need to weigh your meat in grams and then measure out 2.5 percent of that weight in sea salt or kosher salt, then another 0.25 percent – that’s one quarter of one percent – in cure no. 2, which contains sodium nitrate. I use Instacure No. 2.

My curing fridge set-up is this: An old refrigerator connected to a temperature regulator, which lets me control the temperature where the meat is hanging; you can buy these at homebrew shops. You will also, in most cases, need a humidifier to keep the air moist in the fridge. I have one connected to a humidity regular (available online) so I can ratchet the humidity down, week by week, from 85 to 90 percent down to 65 percent.

A general rule is you want the air to be about 5 percent drier than the interior of the meat. So start at 90 percent for the first couple days, then ratchet down 5 percent a week until you get to 55 to 60 percent, then hold it there.

So in short, you will need:

  • A fridge, basement or other cool, dark place to hang your cured meat
  • A way to control temperature, either in a permanently cool basement or with a temperature regulator
  • A way to control humidity, either a humidifier, or, in some places, a dehumidifier. If you can control humidity in 5 percent increments, you can make a better product
  • Patience

Guanciale, as with most cured meats, requires time to be really good. I started by curing mine for only 3 to 4 weeks, but now I prefer 12 to 16 weeks. The depth of flavor in a longer-cured guanciale is markedly better than one cured for a shorter period. You could go longer than 16 weeks, if you’d like.

Why bother making guanciale when you can make regular belly bacon? Because jowls work harder. They did an awful lot of chewing when Mr. Piggy was alive and any muscle that works hard tastes better, in this case, porkier. Guanciale, especially long-cured guanciale, will have a stronger, more pronounced flavor, than regular pancetta or bacon.

How do you use guanciale, which, by the way, is pronounced gwan-chee-AHL-ay? I prefer it in chunks with beans or pasta, or sliced thin as an antipasto or as part of a charcuterie plate. And yes, you can fry it up like bacon, but it will be so dry you will need to put a little water in the pan first to let some fat render; this prevents the meat from burning.

A cross section of guanciale, cured hog jowl.
4.85 from 13 votes

Guanciale, or Jowl Bacon

This is an easy way to get into cured meats. The process itself is not hard, although it takes time and a cool place to hang the meat. Probably the hardest part about making guanciale is finding a good hog jowl. You really want jowls from a quality pig. Farmer's markets often have good hog farmers selling their wares, so look them up. As for the curing salt No. 2, you can buy it online. 
Course: Cured Meat
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 16 servings
Author: Hank Shaw
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 1 large hog jowl, skin on
  • Instacure No. 2 (see above)
  • kosher salt (see above)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon crushed black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 5 or 6 bay leaves crushed

Instructions 

  • Mix all the cure ingredients together and pack the jowl with it. Massage the cure into the meat and fat. Put the jowl into a container (plastic, glass, ceramic, stainless steel) that just barely holds it, and toss in any remaining cure. Cover the container and put in the fridge for 4 to 7 days. Turn the jowl over once a day.
  • When the meat has stiffened up at the thickest part, usually 5 days or more, rinse off the cure (you can leave a little on, but get most off), and pat the jowl dry. Put on a rack in a drafty place for several hours.
  • Poke a hole through the skin on a corner of the jowl and tie string to it. Hang the jowl in a cool, moist place (50-55°F and at least 65 percent humidity, but see above for more curing instructions) for at least 3 weeks before eating. To store, cut into large chunks and vacuum seal or cover with plastic wrap and butcher paper before freezing. Guanciale will last, well-wrapped, in the fridge for several months.

Notes

Note that the prep time does not include curing or drying time. 

Nutrition

Calories: 460kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Cholesterol: 61mg | Sodium: 28mg | Potassium: 171mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 18IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @huntgathercook or tag #hankshaw!

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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90 Comments

  1. Hi Hank, trying to get the best result for guanciale, using only a domestic refrigerator. My butcher vacuum packs the jowel and just cure (no spice mix), and I’ve left it in the fridge to cure for 3 weeks. Then, I remove jowel from vacuum packet ( not washing off any cure) and rub your spice mixture recipe onto it, put back in bag, and keep for another 2 weeks in the fridge. Then I take the jowel, wash off all cure and spice mix, and very loosely cover over with baking paper only, and keep in the fridge to dry out for 3 weeks. Afterwhich I use to cook with.
    Hank, do you see any way I could improve on this technique, or think I am doing something wrong with this technique.
    I look forward to any help you can offer.

  2. Hi Hank, is it safe to use the jowl if that’s is the area where it is jabbed with boosters for the pig to eat more?

  3. I got a jowl from the butcher but the skin has been removed. Can I still cure the meat? I’m not sure I’ll be able to hang it.

      1. Do you remove the skin from the jowel after it has hung for the 3-4 weeks? Or do you just cut it off as you use it? Seems like it would be very tough to cut through. My first time making this so I’m a little confused.

      2. Ok great! So when I cut a chunk to use just trim the skin off before I use that piece right?

  4. Would Yorkshire jowls work? Anything special to tell the slaughter house or just to please include the jowls?

  5. What is “curing” for you?

    Where I live, we call curing only the period when the piece of meat is salted and put into a container/bag in a cold place.
    Then when it is hanged, this is no longer curing. It’s drying.

    Soo, if you say you prefer curing for 16 weeks, I am guessing you mean “drying”?

  6. you do not mention washing the cured jowl with wine after getting the cure off it and prior to hanging. Do you wash with wine?

  7. Curious, maybe a stupid question, but what exactly is the difference between continuing to cure the meat for a longer time and storing it?

    1. Pam: Curing needs the strong presence of salt. Storing is when the meat has enough salt in it, and now you are just drying it.

  8. Can you suggest an alternative to the last step? I live in a tropical country and do not have a cool place to store.

  9. I have some jowl I would like to use for this, however, the skin has been removed. Are there any changes to the process?

  10. Thanks Hank. I used your recipe and it came out fantastic, but I smoked mine for about two hours. Fantastic stuff.let me know if you would like to see some of my pictures.
    I love your site and I somehow feel connected to you because of our common tastes.Thanks again.

  11. The photo is of two pieces of skinless pork belly, NAMP 409 (National Association of Meat Purveyors Meat Buyers Guide, page 129), not pork jowl…

    1. Craig: It is most definitely NOT pork belly! That’s my finished guanciale, sliced crosswise to see the meat and fat.

  12. Hi:

    Will the jowl drip fat while curing? I’m a newbie and trying to find a place to hang this while it cures. I am thinking the garage??? Maybe with some wire mesh around it to keep unwelcome visitors away??

    Please elaborate on the gland I need to remove.

  13. Guanciale has a low smoke point, so if you fry it, start it is water as mentioned above, use low heat, and watch it carefully! Very easy to make, and one of the most flavorful things you can do!

  14. Hank, another item long time used to remove hair from a slaughtered hog is a “bell scraper” (often available at butcher suppliers or farm supplies, easily found on line (https://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=989 is one source). These are a circular piece of steel punched out of flat stock, then domed a bit, a handle is attached to the top/center of the dome. When the metal disc is domed, a sharp edge is facing down a bit and this catches the hairs as it is scraped across the skin. To get the hair to release, the killed, entire hog is normally scalded/submerged in hot water (around 140 145 deg F), but this could also be done with just the jowl (the exposed meat surfaces will be “cooked”/surface coagulated a bit but I shouldn’t think this would hurt anything) until when some hair is pulled and it just slips out of the skin/follicle. If the hair doesn’t pull easily, re dip until the hair “slips” (same thing to get the feathers off a chicken, hot water (here about 130 deg F) until the feathers “pull”). Once you start and see what happens, what slipping hair is like, you will know. Scrapping a hog also removes the surface skin cells and dirt so the resulting skin is beautiful looking (for scrapped hog skin anyway!!). I am going to try this with some locally raised hog jowls (where I used to live, N. CA, it would be with wild pig jowls). Thanks for the article/info!!

  15. Lisa: Mine get mold spots all the time. I just cut them off. Remember, you cook guanciale like bacon, anyway…