I finally busted into the guanciale I cured myself after my class at the Brooklyn Kitchen.

Gorgeous:

It’s pretty salty….because I spaced and left it in the salt for more than a week, rather than the recommended 4-5 days. I can’t say I really got much of a sense of the garlic, thyme, allspice, fennel and whatever the else I threw on it.

But it’s pretty meaty. Guanciale I’ve had before has had a lot more fat on it. So this needs to be cut into small pieces, so as not to overwhelm a dish, or make it feel like you’re just chewing on leftover pieces of an overcooked pork chop.

But it fries up nice:

I used this handful (cut into much smaller slivers after) to make some pasta all’amatriciana–the stellar combo of pig meat (usually guanciale, sometimes pancetta), onions and tomatoes.

I didn’t realize what a bacon-and-caramelized-onions fixation I had until I made this–it was the third thing I’d cooked with that combo in a week (it’s also good for stuffing little halves of acorn squash!).

I used up what was probably my last fresh tomato from the CSA, and I tossed the sauce on bucatini, because we have it, because Peter associates that with old-school Greek-style meat sauce. It’s also the traditional all’amatriciana pasta. But it’s a pain to eat–you can’t slurp up the noodles because they’re hollow. Tradition has some flaws.

I still have two-thirds of my guanch left. Suggestions?