I stupidly forgot to weigh my pancetta post cure (sorry first time charcuterier here). I just vacuum bagged it at 30.5% weight loss from ORIGINAL weight PRE-CURE.
Here are my specs:
– 3% salt
– 0.25% prauge powder #1
It cured in a vacuum bag for 10 days. I washed the cure off and dried it on a rack for 16 days.
Should I let it dry for longer?
by papaganda22
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I stupidly forgot to weigh my pancetta post cure (sorry first time charcuterier here). I just vacuum bagged it at 30.5% weight loss from ORIGINAL weight PRE-CURE.
Here are my specs:
3% salt
0.25% prauge powder #1
It cured in a vacuum bag for 10 days. I washed the cure off and dried it on a rack in my fridge for 16 days.
Should I let it dry for longer?
When I vacuum cure, the weight change of the cut doesn’t change much, maybe only a few percent which by the time you get to 30% loss is ‘in the noise’.
I’ll second that the fattier the pork belly is for pancetta the weight loss drops. A lean cut could get down to 30% pretty easy, but a fatty cut will plateau out at 20-25% loss so sometimes you have to expect lower loss. (Pure backfat or Lardo loses 0.75% before it stops losing weight in my curing chamber)
Finally, my target is 2.5-2.75% total salts in the EQ cure. Starting at 2.75% in the EQ cure, the final product if you’ve got 30% loss measured, will have a final salt of ~4,0%. Starting at 3.25%, you’ll get 4.75% final salt. 2.5% starting yields 3.6%. Adjust that final salt level to your taste, and it may vary depending on the cut.
The 30% weight loss is a general target. As others have said pancetta is a high fat piece so it doesn’t have as much free moisture available to lose. So a pancetta with 30% losses would have a much firmer texture than a tenderloin with 30% losses for example. Go by texture.
It’s a really good read guys thank you