Jacob Kenedy’s secret ingredient: guanciale

It’s an intensely piggy slice of bacon – try it in this carbonara recipe to see just how good it is

Guanciale is bacon made from the jowl of the pig. It has a much more intense, piggy flavour than bacon. It has a high fat content and is delicious. You can eat it raw from the fridge, like lardo, or wrap things in it and bake them.

It’s a good way to take your cooking up a notch. Carbonara, for example, should be made with guanciale. I always use the recipe for carbonara as a kind of manifesto because there’s no bacon, no parmesan, no cream and no extra egg yolks; all the things British people think you put in, but you don’t. The key tastes are pepper, pecorino romano and the porky guanciale.