can you say goddamn?

Last night I made the best pot of greens a white boy could. This is because I bought Niman Ranch GUANCIALE at the farmer's market last Saturday. Guianciale is the m-f-'in bomb! Ain't no joke. It is the new bacon, goes with every outfit and will impress your friends. Just ask Craig Stoll or Chris Cosentino. They are two of SF's best Italian cooking chefs, and they have been curing their own for some time now.

Guanciale is dry cured pork jowl. Mmmmm jowl. Now there's a word! Rhymes with growl and there's a reason for that. My roommate was confused. "Does the jowl have enough meat on it to eat?" To which I replied happily, "You can eat the entire pig's face." He left the kitchen looking a little upset.

Once at The French Laundry Thomas (Keller, chef/owner) was banging away in the stock room all night. When I turned the corner to see what he was doing I looked at the cutting board, and as if out of a cartoon, saw the face of a pig completely 2D flat on the cutting board. It was really funny to me like the way in Road Runner he lays down a black circle on the ground and the coyote falls through it. Flat pig head. This was a better sight than watching a commis brunoise pig's ears for hours. Thomas loves the pig. More than me, but not by much.

Guanciale might be my new best friend. It has the best ratio of fat to meat. More fat. {fat is flavour.} It makes incredible lardons, its wondrous crunchy and also a bit soft. It's salty from the cure but not overly so. Deeelish!

So this is how I made them greens.

My big jet blue-black, completely seasoned cast iron skillet went on the high fame until it was smoking hot. I cut little flat wedges of guanciale and tossed them in. Tssssss! When I thought they were cooked on both sides, I removed them from the pan. {Tasted a few just to make sure the food of the gods was good enough for mortal me.} Then I sliced a small yellow onion, put a few pieces raw into a pot of reducing chicken stock. The rest of the onions I cooked in the pork rendering yummy goodness. I cooked them until just before coloring, splashed in some sherry vinegar  and cooked them a bit more to take out some of the "pow!" I washed a few dandelion greens & mixed chicories from Knoll Farms in a big bowl of cold water, and put everything in the chicken stock pot. Covered it, gave it a number of turns on the black pepper mill, and turned the flame down low.

We are talkin' serious pot likker, soft and tender bitter greens, melt in the mouth onions, a whisper of vinegar and little morsels of pork magnificence.

Comments

[Dr. Biggles]

Hey Shuna,

I think you did better than I. I used my GUANCIALE to stuff a beef tri-tip roast. The temperature wasn't high enough to render much of the pork cheek, ya know. I have to say though, the gravy I got from that setup was worth the trip. YEAH !!

[Sam]

i have been reading about the old pig jowels here and there for a while now and am completely tempted to try them. But how the hell am I supposed to buy them, when I can't even pronounce their name!

[chronicler]

Shuna, it's nice to see someone else get as excited about greens as my husband. It doesn't matter what green, mustard, kale, polk, you name it, he loves them. Now add some of the Guanciale and I think we've replicated heaven.

[haddock]

I just cut into our most recent batch and it was damn good. We've got our own bacon on the menu now but I'm not always up for the smokey taste. The guanicale I'm always ready for.

We serve a lot of greens also, although in deference to our clientele we keep the veggies vegetarian. I do add some to my own however.

[john]

Guanciale is from "guancia" (pronounced "GWAN-cha") meaning "cheek" in Italian. If you can find them fresh, curing them is pretty easy--a few days under kosher salt, some sugar, cracked peppercorns, and whatever additional flavor you like--I used some thyme. Then hang in a cool place until you want to use it. (It isn't smoked like American bacon, just salt cured like prosciutto.) It's the traditional basis for pasta all'Amatriciana. I find Niman's version doesn't have enough streaks of lean meat--if I don't want to bother curing it myself, I order from

http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/

which is run by Mario Batali's dad. Excellent product.

(Hi Shuna--met you earlier at Amanda's going away party. Nice blog!)

[Mother Teresa]

Why the profanity? Ya think the article would have been just as effective if the expletives were left out? If your answer is no, then you need to go back to cooking school and learn how to make manners!

[Dixon L. Creasey, Jr.]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...jowl (rhymes with 'pole' here in SE Indiana...but these folks here love them some pig, so I don't try to correct them)!
This bit of cheeky goodness is a wonderment.
Ever since my sweetheart turned me on to jowl bacon, I just can't go back to belly...okay, I do, slut that I am, but only in desperation.
After reading about guanciale, I'm gonna have to find myself some fresh jowl and learn how to 'save face', Italian style!