This Classic Southern Comfort Meal Gets 10x Better When You Swap Bacon For This Savory Meat

Growing up in North Carolina, I've eaten my fair share of shrimp and grits. I'm lucky enough to recall dining at Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill, which was lauded for its shrimp and grits by the New York Times in 1985, which featured an accompanying recipe. The restaurant's legendary chef and owner, Bill Neal, is said to have popularized the use of bacon in the iconic Southern dish, and to excellent effect. Bacon adds a rich, savory depth, while its smokey flavor and crisp texture make for a deeply comforting meal. The dish has since traveled well beyond its Lowcountry roots and can now be found on restaurant menus across the country. That said, in the spirit of countless cooks who have put their own spin on this dish, you can further elevate shrimp and grits by swapping out bacon for pancetta. 

Pancetta is a pork belly that's liberally seasoned with salt and other spices such as black pepper, juniper, allspice, and garlic before being dry-cured. This process preserves the meat while infusing it with flavor, resulting in a product similar in appearance to salami. Its unique flavor profile lends depth to dishes, and is used in everything from simple soups to rich Bolognese to Gordon Ramsay's extra flavorful Brussels sprouts. Unlike bacon, pancetta isn't smoked, allowing for more of the pork's natural flavor to shine through in dishes. Swapping it into your shrimp and grits is easy, too, though, as with bacon, there is a specific way to pull its flavors into the dish.

Even though properly cured pancetta can be eaten uncooked, you don't want to merely toss it into a finished dish of shrimp and grits. Instead, apply the same method you would use with bacon: Render the pancetta in a pan until golden and crisp, remove it, and use the flavorful fat to cook the shrimp. The end result is a take on shrimp and grits that swaps the bacon's pronounced smokiness for pancetta's more subtle, savory pork flair while maintaining that delicate contrast of textures. Furthermore, pancetta's tight structure and its slightly lower fat content also yields super crispy cubes without the heavier greasiness that can accompany bacon.

There are two different types of pancetta to choose from: arrotolata, a rolled cylinder, or stesa, a thick slab offering very distinctive layers of the pork belly's original state. Both are hung to dry during the curing process. Thinly sliced arrotolata pancetta is the type you'd find on a charcuterie board. Pancetta stesa, when sliced, resembles slices of bacon, and is most commonly used in cooking, where it can be diced or cubed and incorporated into dishes. Those missing the smoke from bacon can opt for pancetta affumicata, or smoked pancetta, which can be found in Italian specialty stores or butcher shops.