freezing pancetta?

[rosielucchesini]

I recently saw two episodes of "Easy Entertaining w/Michael Chiarello" on the food network and if I'm not mistaken, he advocated freezing chunks of pancetta. Has anyone successfuly done this? Pancetta is one of those items for which there is no substitute but yet I don't want to have to run to my local Italian market (in this case, Cort Bros in Sac) to pick it up when I need it for a specific dish.

[JennyHunter]

I get mine sliced into about 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices with the deli plastic wrap sheet things in between and keep in the freezer. When I want a slice, I can just pull it right off. I don't live near an itlaian deli so freezing is really my only option to have it on hand and it works fine.

[bdumes]

I keep some of the plastic sealed pancetta from Whole Foods around for emergencies. It's pretty decent pancetta, not as nice as the freshly sliced, but very servicable.

[Ellen]

I have the butcher cut me 1/4 inch slices and freeze them until I need them. It works great.

[lissy]

I always keep pancetta in the freezer making it an easy ingredient to keep on hand. Also, I think it's easier to cut when it's a bit frozen.

[Rubee]

Yes, I always have some pancetta in the freezer, and like Andiereid keep it in chunks or thick slices.

[Andiereid]

Yep. Sure have. I have a big chunk of it in the freezer right now. It goes bad too quickly for me to store in the fridge, so I cut what I want off, cut the rest into manageable chunks, wrap it well and freeze it. It's just fine.