[Sca-cooks] question of Italian meats

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"Laura C. Minnick" wrote:
>
> Hi everyone!
>
> I'm working on precook for Egils this weekend (it looks like I'll be
> feeding 12! Ack!) and I have a question. Two of the recipes I'm using
> are from _The Medieval Kitchen_ and call for pancetta. The deli at
> Safeway didn't have any and I'm not minded to go running all over town-
> I don't have time or energy and I have to just get these done. So I got
> som prosciuttio instead. Will this work? Anything I should know about
> substituting? Would someone pull me aside next April and remove the
> portion of my brain that says "SUre- I can do that! How many? No
> problem!" Of course most of this number is teenagers and I figure they
> will vacuum up just about anything...

Pancetta is a bit like the fattier side of the slice of prosciutto; it's
cured pretty much as prosciutto is, but made from side or belly meat, so
it looks like a rolled pinwheel of streaky bacon. I believe it is also
sometimes cooked with the rind on, so it contributes a gelatinous aspect
to sauces and such in addition to a salt-cured tang.

As for pulling you aside, etc., ISTR reading US Army procedure for
performing a field lobotomy, but I suspect your days as a brilliant
dinner-table companion, raconteuse, and general bon vivant would be
over, and that would be such a shame I'd druther see you work yer arse
off... ;  )

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com