Vincent's Meat Market - Licini Guanciale Cured Pork Jowls, Perfect Pasta Carbonara , Salted & Spiced, Artisanal Italian Delicacy, Gourmet Recipe, Premium Quality, Rich, Savory Flavor - 8 oz

Lets face it - the internet was made for home chefs. Availability of great world-wide products gives all of us the chance to make great dishes. From rural AR I watch Food Network and see all these great dishes knowing my ability to find any of the key ingredients locally is not going to happen. Then comes Amazon - subbing bacon for this is nothing close. The flavor of slow rendered Guanciale is not duplicative. Either you have it or you have something totally different. What I like about this is I cut off a hunk then vacuum pack the remainder. Then another hunk when needed. It is so flavorful and rich that a small piece goes so far with pasta dishes.

I make a few pasta dishes with guanciale, and this guanciale is the best I have found.

Authentic italian !

I would give 5 stars if the product would have come better cooled. Other than that great value for delicious carbonara!

This stuff is weird. Instead of being a dry cured product like the guanciale im used to, this stuff comes wet pack cryo sealed like raw meat. It is slimy and impossible to dice unless you freeze it. Shipping took FOREVER and it arrived at room temp with the cold packs fully melted.

Some of the best I ever had.If you’re making carbonara this is a must.

My mediocre review might speak more to my opinion of guanciale in general as much as this particular brand. The meat doesn't look, smell, or taste as appetizing as all the other alternatives that they tell you not to buy: pancetta, bacon, ham. I'm a pretty good cook and faithfully followed a well-regarded recipe for bucatini alla'matriciana, which called explicitly for this product. The result was definitely tasty, but I didn't find the taste or texture (which are supposed to be unique qualities that only guanciale brings to the table) to be exceptional and, frankly, I think it was a bit mediocre, hence the rating. Maybe other brands of guanciale taste better, but at these prices I don't care to find out, and will likely roll with bacon, even although the world says that's wrong. I mean, seriously - how can bacon ever be wrong?

a little pricey but well worth it. made the best Carbonara