PDO Pancetta Piacentina is perhaps one of the most quintessential delicacies from Emilia-Romagna’s culinary tradition. With its tasty, mild flavour, this cold cut is made exclusively in the Piacenza area using pigs farmed in the Lombardy or Emilia-Romagna regions only.
This particular cold cut is made using the part of the pig known as ‘pancetta’, or pork belly, which is processed and turned into a delicious, cylindrical-shaped cured pork salami that is bright red with swirls of white fat.
The salami is seasoned with a very specific combination of ingredients (salt, black or white pepper, red wine and garlic), which grants this pancetta its unique aroma and flavour, combined with a crucial ageing process of at least 45 days.
This cured pork salami can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen, be it in the sauce for pisarei e fasò, one of Piacenza’s best-known pasta dishes, or as an ingredient for a savoury cake or pie. Cut into rather thick slices, it is usually eaten on home-made white or wholemeal bread, or with a classic tigella, the round, flatbread buns from Emilia-Romagna.
But one of its best companions will always be Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, washed down with a glass of local red wine, be it Lambrusco, Barbera or the velvety smoothness of a fine Sangiovese.
