The best Italian pillow

Guanciale: a story to tell

The pillow is known all over the world for its strong and strong taste. This sausage is a cut of pork made from the pig's cheek, composed of lean muscle veins and a component of fat, however valuable. However, it differs from lard because it derives from back fat and differs from bacon because it derives instead from belly fat.
It has a harder texture than bacon and its flavor is also more characteristic. The taste of this cut of meat is very strong and intense, unique and indescribable.

But how do you get this charcuterie? It starts with a particular cut: we start by making a cut at the height of the pig's throat reaching up to the cheek, this then makes it possible to obtain the classic triangular shape of the sausage.
Once this shape is obtained, the meat is salted for a period of about a week, then spiced with pepper and chilli, or with rosemary and aromatic herbs. The dressing is spread on the meat in such a way that it absorbs all the flavors perfectly and can be even more pleasant on the palate. Once the spicing phase is over, we then move on to the drying phase, where the pillow is flavored, thus taking on its characteristic taste.
The last phase of preparation is seasoning, which lasts about sixty days. After this period, we can therefore say that the sausage is ready to be consumed.

Pork guancialino: a versatile sausage with a thousand uses

Needless to say, the pillow goes perfectly with the pasta. In fact, one of the best dishes in Italian cuisine is carbonara: a typical dish that includes bacon as its main ingredient. It gives a smoky and strong taste that you can't help but taste. Another traditional dish is matriciana, which always involves the use of pork cheek.
There are other classic Italian dishes that involve the use of this cured meat with an intense and seasoned taste: pasta alla gricia, or the ancestor of pasta all'amatriciana, is nothing more than a rich and tasty dish typical of Lazio cuisine. Have you ever tried filthy pasta? It best combines the three Roman recipes, namely Cacio Pepe, Carbonara and Amatriciana: all these condiments mixed together with the pork pillow give off a taste in your mouth that will leave you speechless.

There is also a dish called tripe alla Romana: a hearty second course always typical of Roman cuisine, with the presence of mint and Roman pecorino cheese, the flavor of the pork stew will be enhanced even more.
Are you a vegetable lover? Try making the recipe based on cauliflower and pork roll, a really delicious, easy and quick first course, or try your hand at creating ravioli with cream cheese and eggs: these two flavors are a delicious dish that goes perfectly with bacon.

Pork pillow: only Italian origin

We at Spaghetti & Mandolino offer you one of the most delicious and tasty pillows in Italy: the pillow from Colonnata.
It was born precisely in Colonnata around 1800 as a poor quarry dish, this is because the city of Colonnata is located in upper Tuscany, in the Apuan Alps, where the very famous white marble quarries of Carrara are located. These places contain the true story of the Italian pillow. The digger would place the pig, covered with aromas, spices, herbs, salt and pepper, on a marble shell to dry it. From pure chance, one of the most delicious cold cuts in Italy was born: the pillow of Colonnata: it is considered a Tuscan food excellence, renowned all over the world thanks to its unique and inimitable taste. At the end of 1970, four boys from Colonnata began to make lard known by staging a banquet in the town square, allowing passers-by to taste it. They presented it as a very high quality and very delicious cold cuts, an excellent accompaniment to tomato bruschetta. Little by little, people began to appreciate the flavor and taste of pork cheek, they began to buy it and use it in the kitchen, creating completely new and delicious recipes. The rest can be defined as a simple story, in fact, in 2004 the lard of Colonnata obtained the IGP recognition.

Pillow or Bacon? Different processing and cuts

You should know that there is a slight difference between pillow and bacon. The first is created with the pig's cheek, while bacon is a type of meat cut that comes instead from the pig's belly. It is not only the cut of meat that differentiates these two cold cuts, the processing also helps to differentiate them.

Bacon is obtained from the subcutaneous fatty tissue of the pig's belly and is salted and seasoned in a cool and dry place. It is also flavored with different spices (they vary depending on the region in which it is produced). There are different forms of bacon, including stretched bacon, which has a short aging period (20 days). It is used as a condiment or to flavor sauces or ragù. The other form, on the other hand, is rolled-up bacon, a real sausage that is obtained by seasoning the bacon with spices and leaving it to mature for a long period. Finally, there is the smoked bacon, characteristic for its spicy and aromatic taste.

Instead, the pillow is obtained from the cheek of a pig aged at least 9 months, and its preparation, as we have seen before, is also different: it is seasoned externally with salt and pepper and various spices. Even in the kitchen, these two ingredients are similar but not so interchangeable: some recipes must be strictly made with pork roll.

Smoked guanciale: a salami worth rewarding

At Spaghetti & Mandolino, we offer you a mouth-watering smoked pillow. That's right, a cold cut with an even more intense and particular taste that will make you fall in love. The smoked pillow differs from the traditional one precisely because of its taste, even more intense, even stronger, even smokier. If you are looking for a product that gives an extra touch to your dishes, a cold cut that can enrich your snacks or appetizers, here is the smoked pillow that we offer you will not disappoint.

Created with extreme attention to sustainability, social and environmental responsibilities, Corrado Benedetti created this delicious pillow through a production system that guarantees energy savings and the latest technological innovation. In addition, the architecture of the building also has a strategic position that makes it possible to take advantage of the air currents that descend from the valley for the drying process.
We can therefore say that the smoked pillow can be rewarded for all intents and purposes as an ecofriendly sausage.

How do we ship the Pillow

Spaghetti & Mandolino is the only e-commerce in Italy that sells only excellent products online, and for this reason it has always been synonymous with quality. These products therefore deserve shipping and packaging in accordance with standards that preserve the integrity and freshness of each pillow thanks to special freshness-saving packages, to allow you to have these wonderful fresh pillows directly