I have never cooked with it before and today bought two lots from local supermarkets. One was pre sliced and looked a bit aged but it smelt neutral. The other, cut from a large sausage, looked fresh but had a weird (not off) smell.
I didn’t take a risk and fed them to the husky and used bacon instead. But what is pancetta supposed to smell like when it is fresh?
Well, the good stuff has a combination smell - you get the sweet pork smell of ham or bacon - sort of a porky salty sweet smell. Sniff a really good piece of bacon. Then you get a sort of sourdough/lactic acid tangy smell. Sort of sharp, sort of earthy without being musty smell, try sniffing a good quality brie or cammembert cheese.
Panchetta is not fresh, it is a dry cure meat, so you will have a fermentation smell. It is hard to describe, so you may want to go to an excellent italian deli and ask to smell panchetta, and sopresata, and prosciutto, and taste them also. I guarentee that a small family owned italian deli will have the good stuff. Generally if you go in at a slower time of day and ask them to help out they usually will.
Thanks very much. The cheeses I can relate to- the pancetta I wasn’t sure of. The husky loved it- it buried half.
Maybe the “weird smell” was the nutmeg and/or fennel redolent in a larger, more integral, and unoxidated, whole piece of pancetta. I can’t really tell from your short description of a “weird (not off) smell”. That’s mighty expensive dog food, if so.
Nutmeg has a rather “weird” smell in combination with meat products. Maybe you could be more descriptive of what you smelled… was it sweet, sour, unpleasant, spicy, foul?
Personally for me, I find it has a bit of the “feet” kind of smell you get from a good parmesan. I found it offputting the first time I had some, but now I love it.
Yes, unlike American style bacon, which is simply salt-brined and smoked, pancetta is actually fermented, like salami. It has a salami-like smell and taste, which is very evident after I’ve eaten some. Just like salami, I can taste it (and I’m sure smell like it) for a day afterwards.
It’s good, though. I like it cut into little chunks and fried until crispy, then tossed with steamed broccoli rabe, garlic and parmesan. Tasty!
Sorry it has taken so long to respond. The smell was not unpleasnat (although the product did fell greasy). I am sure it was okay- I just get hesitant.
And as for the cost. At one supermarket, in sealed plastic it was $55 a kilo. Otherwise it was about $30 a kilo.