Panceta
From Eating Asturias, the Encyclopedia of Asturian Gastronomy
Panceta, also called Tocino, is bacon. However, bacon is a slightly more complicated thing in Spain than it is in the United States. It can be made from four different cuts of meat:
- an upper cut just below the spine
- a lower one that is half brisket, half belly
- one that runs from the edge of the shoulder cut to the sternum
- and a final one that is from the leading edge of the ham to the chin
From these semi-primal cuts the bacon is then sectioned into
- Back bacon
- pork belly
- jowl bacon
Unfortunately for American bacon lovers, even the pork belly here is trimmed mercilessly. Big fatty pork bellies are hard to find outside of traditional farmers markets. Personally I am fine with that, as that is also the only place to find it treated in the same manner as American bacon - air-cured, salted, and then smoked. Most bacon in Spain is one or the other, and rarely both.
