pancetta

Pancetta () is a salt-cured pork belly meat product in a category known as salume. In Italy, it is often used to add depth to soups and pasta.

==Uses== For cooking, pancetta is often cut into cubes (cubetti di pancetta). In Italy, it is commonly served as a sliced meat, sliced thin and eaten raw. It can also be used in carbonara (although guanciale is generally regarded as more traditional). By the end of the 20th century in southern Italy, pancetta had become the most popular pork fat product, overtaking diced lard which was increasingly considered unacceptably unhealthy.