Guanciale is one of those ingredients that turns up on Italian menus without explanation — listed confidently next to San Marzano and Pecorino Romano as though you already know what it is. If you’ve ordered an Amatriciana pizza and noticed something deeper going on beneath the tomato, or you’ve heard that guanciale isn’t the same as pancetta but couldn’t explain why, this is the place to find out.
At 170 Grammi, home of La Tonda Romana in Surry Hills, guanciale appears across several of the kitchen’s most important preparations. 170 Grammi is a Roman pizza restaurant at 428 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 in Sydney, where the kitchen applies guanciale the way Roman cooks always have: as structure, not mere flavouring. Understanding what it is — and why Roman cooking specifically won’t substitute it — changes the way the whole menu reads.
What Is Guanciale?
Guanciale is Italian cured pork cheek, made from the jowl of the pig — the cheek and the soft neck below it — dry-cured with salt and black pepper, then aged for two to three months. The name comes directly from guancia, the Italian word for cheek, which tells you exactly where it comes from: not the belly, not the back, but the jowl.
The jowl carries more intramuscular fat than the belly, and that fat is structurally different. It’s softer at room temperature, melts at a lower heat, and emulsifies differently when rendered. In Roman cooking — where sauces are built on almost nothing, with no cream, no stock, no butter as a safety net — the fat from guanciale is doing the work that dairy does in other cuisines. That’s not a coincidence. It’s exactly why Roman cooks landed on it.
Well-made guanciale is rubbed with salt, black pepper, and — depending on the region and producer — herbs such as rosemary, or spices including chilli or juniper. After curing, it hangs at controlled temperature and humidity for a minimum of two months, often longer. The result is a dense, deeply flavoured cured meat with a firm exterior rind and a rich, silky fat layer underneath.
How to Pronounce Guanciale
Guanciale is pronounced gwahn-CHAH-leh — three syllables, with the stress on the second. In Italian, the letter combination ‘ci’ takes a ‘ch’ sound, as in ciao, so the word runs: gwahn-CHAH-leh. The ‘e’ at the end is its own syllable — ‘leh’, not silent. Once you’ve heard it said correctly, it’s straightforward to remember.
Guanciale vs Pancetta — and Why Romans Won’t Substitute
Guanciale and pancetta are both Italian cured pork, but they come from different cuts and behave differently in the pan: guanciale from the jowl, pancetta from the belly — and that distinction matters more than it sounds.
Pancetta is cured pork belly. It has its own merit and its own proper applications in Italian cooking. But its fat is firmer, its flavour profile slightly different, and when rendered it behaves differently. Pancetta won’t emulsify the way guanciale does — and in a sauce built entirely on rendered fat rather than cream or butter, that distinction changes the finished dish noticeably.
The guanciale vs pancetta question comes up often in Australian kitchens where guanciale is harder to source, so pancetta is offered as a substitute. It produces something acceptable. It doesn’t produce the Roman original.
As a guanciale substitute, pancetta is the closest option — but bacon is further removed again. The smoking process, the sweetness of most commercial cures, and a different fat structure place it in a separate category. Where a substitute is genuinely necessary, pancetta is the lesser deviation; neither replicates what jowl fat does when properly rendered.
How the Curing Process Creates Guanciale’s Flavour
Guanciale is made by rubbing the pork jowl with salt, black pepper, and spices, then hanging it to age for a minimum of two months at controlled temperature and humidity — a process that transforms both the flavour and the fat structure of the meat.
The hanging period does several things at once. Moisture leaves the meat, concentrating the flavour. The fat undergoes slow enzymatic breakdown that changes its texture and deepens its taste. The exterior develops a dry, firm rind that protects the interior during ageing. Minimum ageing sits at around two months; many producers run longer.
The difference between good guanciale and a lesser product is obvious once you know what you’re tasting. Well-made guanciale has a specific quality when sliced — rich, a little funky in the way a properly aged cured meat is, deeply porky without being heavy. An inferior product smells mainly of salt and renders greasy rather than silky. The fat quality tells you everything.
What to Look For When Guanciale Appears on a Menu
When guanciale appears on an Italian menu, the most reliable signal that a kitchen is using it properly is restraint — fewer other ingredients, not more.
Guanciale used well tends to appear in minimal preparations. An Amatriciana, a Carbonara, a Gricia: these dishes trust the ingredient to carry the flavour. Guanciale buried under five other toppings is often there for the name rather than the character.
Look second at whether the menu distinguishes between guanciale and pancetta, rather than grouping both under “cured pork”. A kitchen that makes the distinction is paying attention to the source, not just the category.
Third: notice whether guanciale appears alongside DOP-certified companions. Guanciale next to Pecorino Romano DOP and San Marzano DOP signals a kitchen reading from the same page as Rome. The guide to DOP certification explains why those specific ingredients — not generic substitutes — produce the characteristic Roman result.
The Three Roman Dishes That Depend on Guanciale
The three Roman pasta preparations built on guanciale are Gricia, Carbonara, and Amatriciana — each one showing the ingredient doing something structurally different, and each one relying on guanciale’s rendered fat, not cream, stock, or butter, to hold the sauce together.
Gricia is the oldest preparation and in many ways the most revealing. No tomato, no egg — just guanciale, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, and pasta water. There is nothing to hide behind. The rendered guanciale fat has to carry the entire sauce, and in the hands of a kitchen taking it seriously, it does. Gricia is where you understand why Roman cooking insists on the specific cut rather than the general category.
Carbonara builds on the Gricia framework by adding free-range egg yolk. The fat from the rendered guanciale combines with the yolk — off the heat, with pasta water added gradually — until the sauce emulsifies into something smooth and glossy with no cream in sight. The guanciale fat is structurally essential: it enables the emulsification that makes the sauce coat rather than pool.
Amatriciana introduces San Marzano tomatoes into the rendered guanciale base. The fat softens the tomato’s acidity; the Pecorino Romano adds salt and structure; the guanciale provides the backbone the sauce is built on. It’s a combination that falls apart at every point if the ingredients aren’t right — which is why all three components are rarely varied in serious Roman preparations.
Guanciale at 170 Grammi, Surry Hills
At 170 Grammi, guanciale appears across several preparations on the dine-in menu, which gives you an unusual opportunity to experience the same ingredient behaving differently depending on how it’s been handled.
On the A’ Carbonara pizza, guanciale is laid on a white base with Pecorino Romano and a free-range egg yolk, then finished in the wood oven. The heat renders the fat into the crust; the meat crisps at the edges; the egg yolk sets across the surface. It’s the logic of pasta Carbonara applied to pizza — the same three core ingredients doing the same three jobs.
On the Amatriciana pizza, guanciale sits above San Marzano tomato and bakes until the fat runs down through the toppings. The balance of pork fat, tomato, and Pecorino Romano is the same balance that defines the pasta version. Ordering both the pizza and the Rigatoni Amatriciana on the same visit makes the logic of the combination clear.
The Supplì Amatriciana in the antipasti section takes a different approach: guanciale is rendered until fully crispy and used as a textural component alongside San Marzano and Pecorino Romano cream in a Roman rice ball. Guanciale here functions almost entirely as crunch — the fat rendered out, the meat concentrated.
The Maialina pizza is the most overtly pork-driven dish on the menu — guanciale alongside double smoked shoulder ham, pancetta, and Porchetta alla Romana. Here guanciale is one voice in a larger arrangement rather than the lead, but the contrast between the cuts on the same pizza is instructive if you’re paying attention.
For guanciale in the format it’s most classically known: the Rigatoni Amatriciana follows the Roman original closely, with rendered guanciale fat forming the base the San Marzano sauce is built on.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is guanciale?
Guanciale is Italian cured pork cheek, made from the jowl of the pig — the cheek and the surrounding neck area. It is dry-cured with salt and black pepper, sometimes with chilli, rosemary, or juniper depending on the producer, then hung to age for two to three months. The name comes from guancia, the Italian word for cheek. Guanciale is the defining cured meat of Roman cooking, used as the fat base in Carbonara, Amatriciana, and Gricia.
How do you pronounce guanciale?
Guanciale is pronounced gwahn-CHAH-leh — three syllables, with the stress on the second. In Italian, the letter combination ‘ci’ takes a ‘ch’ sound, as in ciao. The word breaks down as: gwahn-CHAH-leh. The final ‘e’ is pronounced as its own syllable (‘leh’), not silent.
What is the difference between guanciale and pancetta?
Guanciale is made from the pork jowl; pancetta is made from the pork belly. The key difference is the fat: guanciale carries more intramuscular fat, which is softer and melts at a lower temperature. In Roman pasta sauces — which use no cream, stock, or butter — guanciale’s rendered fat provides the texture and emulsification that pancetta cannot replicate to the same result. The flavour profiles also differ, with guanciale tending to be more intensely porky and slightly funky from longer ageing.
Can you substitute pancetta for guanciale?
Pancetta can be used as a guanciale substitute in dishes like Carbonara and Amatriciana, but the result will differ from the Roman original. Pancetta belly fat is firmer and emulsifies less effectively, which affects the texture of the finished sauce. In Rome, pancetta is not considered an acceptable substitute for Carbonara, Gricia, or Amatriciana. Bacon is further removed again — the smoking process and different cure produce a noticeably different flavour profile.
Why does Roman cooking use guanciale instead of bacon?
Roman cooking uses guanciale rather than bacon because of the fat quality and the city’s culinary tradition. Guanciale is rooted in Rome’s quinto quarto tradition — cooking with secondary cuts that wealthier buyers passed over. The pork jowl’s fat is ideal for Rome’s style of sauce-making, which depends on rendered fat rather than cream or butter. Bacon — typically smoked and differently cured — produces a flavour profile that doesn’t follow the Roman formula.
Is guanciale the same as pork cheek?
Guanciale is made from the cured and aged pork jowl, which includes the cheek and surrounding area. Fresh pork cheek — sometimes called pork jowl — is the uncured version of the same cut. They share an origin but are different products: guanciale has been dry-cured and aged for a minimum of two months, which transforms both the flavour and the fat structure considerably. Fresh pork cheek is not a substitute for guanciale in Roman pasta preparations.
Which dishes at 170 Grammi feature guanciale?
Guanciale features in several dishes at 170 Grammi Pizzeria in Surry Hills, including the A’ Carbonara pizza, the Amatriciana pizza, the Maialina pizza, the Rigatoni Amatriciana pasta, and the Supplì Amatriciana in the antipasti section. Each preparation handles the ingredient differently — rendered and crisped in the rice ball, baked into the pizza with fat running through the toppings, or used as the structural base for the Amatriciana sauce.
170 Grammi is Surry Hills’ home of authentic Roman-style pizza, founded by Naples-born pizzaiolo Luigi Esposito. Where Luigi’s other restaurants bring the traditions of Naples to Sydney, 170 Grammi is dedicated to the Roman counterpart — La Tonda Romana — defined by thin, high-hydration dough, long fermentation and a clean, structured crunch that sets it apart from softer southern styles.
Opened in 2024 at 428 Crown Street and already one of the most-searched pizza restaurants in Surry Hills, 170 Grammi has quickly established itself as Sydney’s leading destination for Roman-style pizza. This blog covers the craft and culture behind what makes Roman pizza distinct — from dough technique and fermentation to menu guides, Roman food traditions and what to look for in a genuinely authentic slice.