Pancetta

Italian cured pork belly, salt-cured with black pepper, juniper, garlic, and other spices for two to three months. Two main forms: pancetta tesa (flat, like American bacon, but unsmoked) and pancetta arrotolata (rolled tight into a cylinder before curing). Diced and sautéed as the foundation of countless Italian dishes — pasta carbonara historically calls for guanciale but pancetta is the modern compromise. Distinct from American bacon by the absence of smoke and the spice-forward cure.