On 9 Dec 2005, jim
Jim,
My grandfather never made link sausage. For some reason, Southerners in the US didn't make link sausages. I don't know why. I never asked and nobody ever said. I didn't "discover" link sausages until after I was grown. It seems like most nationalities make them, yet I don't think I have ever come across an English-Irish-Scottish-Welsh-Scandinavian-American Indian (which my people were and much of the South was in the "olden" days) link sausage from this region made in the olden days. We had bulk sausage that was smoked. It was wrapped in cheesecloth and packed in a cotton sleeve in about 5 pound lots. The bulk sausage that we had wasn't made from pork bellies. Like most sausage, it was made from "scraps" from the cutting and trimming of other cuts from the carcbutt. Since we didn't make link sausage, we didn't need the intestines for casings, so they became a food product named chitterlings and commonly called "chit'lins". (boo, hiss).
Although my grandfather never made pancetta, he did make bacon. Bacon by any other name..... The pancetta I have seen is bacon made by a different recipe, so your pork bellies should provide a great base for whatever recipe you choose.
Keep me updated.
Elaine, too
