A couple of days ago, my pal Nilo dropped off some cured pork belly his mom had made. This is something she must have learned growing up in Tuscany. It's a slab of belly that's heavily coated in pepper, salt, pepper, sugar, pepper, more spices, and pepper. I don't know how long it gets cured but it comes out a bit like a spicy pancetta. It's great just to slice thin and eat raw but tonight I thought I'd try it in carbonara as I'd seen this in a recent Saveur magazine. Going with their version, I sliced the pork thin, and then cut the slices up. Put it in a hot pan and sauteed for a few minutes. Turned that into a bowl and added three egg yolks and one whole egg. That all got mixed up and a bunch of Microplaned Reggiano was added. The bucatini was done a minute or two after that, so it was thrown in along with a bit of its cooking water. The whole mess was well mixed and served. It was just fantastic. Like a really good cocktail, the four ingredients came together to make something balanced, complex, and wholly satisfying. I've done this before with guanciale and it's excellent, but the spicing in the pork added another dimension. My daughter had a friend over for supper and both of them raved about it, leaving plates that were far cleaner than usual.
Now I just need to get the recipe for this pork belly from Nilo's mom....