Where To Buy Guanciale?

Guanciale, a specially cured meat from Italy, is gaining popularity in the USA. Many Italian restaurants use guanciale as a staple in their pasta. This adds such a delicate flavor, people are bound to look for guanciale.

Guanciale is available in Italian grocery stores, restaurants. You may also find it in your specialty butcher shops. Many online websites import guanciale from Italy. You may find guanciale under the name, pork jow/ pork cheek.

What to look for before buying guanciale?

Alternative names: Guanciale is a staple meat product in Italy. This meat is only named guanciale there. But in the USA, you may find guanciale as pork jow/ pork cheek.

Don’t mix up guanciale with bacon or pancetta. All of them come from pork but a different area of the animal. This results in a difference in flavor and texture.

Texture: Guanciale is not meaty like pancetta. It has high-fat content, which gives it a velvety finish. So don’t let your seller befool you.

Origin: It’s always best to get guanciale from Italy if possible. This way you’ll ensure the best curing process. But many high-end butcher shops are also preparing guanciale nowadays.

What aisle is guanciale in?

Guanciale is not widely available. But you’ll find it in a big supermarket’s seafood and meat aisle. Look where pork meat, bacon, and pancetta are kept.

You may also check in the international aisle. It would be best to look for guanciale in Italian stores, restaurants. If your deli aisle has an Italian meat counter, it’s possible to find guanciale there.

Where to buy guanciale?

Amazon

It’s very tricky to find guanciale closer to our hands. Luckily, our favorite Amazon has some guanciale on their website.

Licini Guanciale (12 oz.) is a great one for making Carbonara. It gets melted off and gives a nice creamy texture to your sauce and pasta.

Another one worth a try is MeatCrafters Guanciale. It is seasoned and cured with many herbs and spices. It makes a good charcuterie board.

Alma Gourmet Italian Guanciale I found on Amazon. It got mixed reviews. But it’s also cheaper than the other guanciale out there. So you may give it a shot.

Instacart

Instacart has many options for guanciale seekers like us. Instacart delivers from other grocery shops. One of them is Eataly, where you’ll find these following guanciale-

Tempesta Guanciale

Salumeria Biellese Mangalitsa Guanciale

Blackberry Farm Sliced Guanciale.

There is also Renzini Guanciale in Instacart, you’ll get it for $22.

Following shops are great quality online stores that offer guanciale-

Fortuna Sausage

Fortuna provides high-quality guanciale, made in the USA. You can also choose from plain and rosemary herb-infused options.

Olio and Olive

Olio and Olive has Guanciale – Cured Hog Jowl. They offer guanciale at a surprisingly low price.

Super Market Italy

Super Market Italy is an online-based shop, that has almost all kinds of Italian foods. Guanciale is a staple in Italy’s pasta industry. Surely, you’ll get multiple types of guanciale here- Salumeria Biellese Guanciale, Volpi Guanciale, 3 lb.

I would say buying guanciale from here will ensure authenticity. These are also offered at a comparatively low price.

Gusto Grocery

Like the previous store, Gusto Grocery is a completely online grocery shops-filled with Italian foods. You’ll get Maestri Italian brand’s guanciale here. You can either buy 8 oz or 2.5 lb sizes.

Apart from the stores I mentioned, you can try La Quercia, Salumeria Italiana. These are online butcher shops that specialize in Italian cuisine.

To be honest, Guanciale is rare to find compared to pancetta. Although you can substitute one another, the authenticity will be lost. Guanciale gives a special flavor due to its fat content. You will instantly realize it after making an authentic Carbonara.