The long search is over, found some Guanciale!

Dogboa

Active member
None of the Italian markets we have looked in carry Guanciale, only pancetta. We went to a Farmer's Market this morning because one of the vendors raises some Heritage pork breeds and we wanted some Berkshire pork belly. He only had a less than 1# piece, so we will call him to bring down a 3-5# piece. We noticed a place called The Italian Depot right next to the market. It wasn't open at the time. After we were done at the market, as we were leaving, it was open. Just for the heck of it we stopped. For being called a "Depot", it was a very small store front. However, we scored this:

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I paid $70.00 for a 5-1/4# package. The cheapest we could find, a 3-1/2# package on line for $54.00 + overnight shipping.
 

Dogboa

Active member
Guanciale appears to be the preferred choice for carbonara, over pancetta. Johnny, we will be making that Mario recipe. We bought a Berkshire hog jowl at the market and will try our hand at homemade Guanciale.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I've used guanciale one time in a pasta dish. It's on here somewhere. Can't wait to see your dish. I hope that making your own is much less expensive. Even though I liked it, I've never bought any more because of the price.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I discovered a spectacular and authentic little Italian grocery store, right in my home town!

I wrote down three things that you guys have used and found two of them: guanciale and nduja. The third thing, the pasta in the shape of flat discs (I can't remember what they are called and misplaced my list) that Johnny West had - they will have some in on Tuesday.

So, I got almost a 1/4 pound of guanciale at $20.00 and a jar of the nduja (spreadable salami), since that's the only kind they had. They told me at the store that they were not familiar with how to use the nduja, since it is a Calabrese product and they weren't from there.

They told me that guanciale is the authentic way to make carbonara, but that people use pancetta more often because it's less expensive.

SO, medtran or Dogboa, would you please post your carbonara recipe????

Also, Johnny West, too, please refresh my memory about how you used nduja.

Thanks in advance, folks!

Lee
 

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