Home-cured pancetta - Part I

The pork belly I left out to dry for a couple of hours

Ingredients I used to cure the meat (from top left): Brown sugar, black pepper, sea salt flakes, ground nutmeg, dried thyme, pink coarse sea salt, crushed bay leaves, minced garlic

I scored the meat and pushed the curing marinade in. Then I cling-wrapped and kept in the fridge.
It will stay there for 10 days. 

OK, here's how my pancetta looks after 3 days. I drain the excess water every 24 hours.

Meat has turned darker which is expected. Curing meat with salt is about extracting the moisture from the meat so bacteria cannot grow and multiply. 

This is what I need to see - water extraction from meat.

Cling-wrap and back to the chiller

 After 4 days...

Will keep it in there for another week or so. Meanwhile, look out for what exactly is pancetta in this week's Word of the Week.

Click here to follow the progress in Home-cured Pancetta Part II.