Pancetta

Chopped pancetta – fried together with onion and celery, and sometimes carrot and garlic – is the starting point for many pasta sauces. It is exactly the same cut of meat as streaky bacon, namely the belly of a pig, but is cured differently and is usually cut in thicker pieces rather than thin slices. As with streaky bacon, it can be smoked or green (unsmoked). Pasta sauces usually use the unsmoked pancetta. It is widely sold in supermarkets, but if you can’t find it, use unsmoked streaky bacon instead.