Pork is often a staple food items with the mountain locations of northern Italy, where by it’s usually claimed that a perfectly butchered pig should really go away ‘nothing but the oink’ behind. Being a pig is typically about 30% Extra fat, thrifty locals had to come up with a means to use and preserve this precious source of protein, and The end result is Lardo.
Lardo di Colonnata, to present it its total name, is really a delicacy made from pork Fats artisan foods in and across the Tuscan mountain city of Colonnata. Happily for fans of cured meat, it’s don't just a frugal strategy for preserving pork Body fat around Winter season – it’s tasty far too!
It’s produced in huge vats referred to as conche, fashioned from marble quarried for the nearby ‘white mountain’ of Cararra, that are first liberally rubbed with garlic. Future, levels of pork Body fat, salt, and a Particular mixture of herbs and spices are extra until the vats are total. The conche are then sealed which has a picket lid and left in great mountain caves for six months or more time to mature during the clear air.
Following the maturation time is in excess of, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-clean, meltingly tender ‘meat’ that may be eaten in Substantially precisely the same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.
When Lardo is often utilized to maintain roasted meats moist by positioning a thin layer around the skin, It's also scrumptious basically sliced thinly and eaten with bread, olives, and a superb extra virgin olive oil as A part of an antipasto class. It really is under no circumstances tough or greasy, and it is well well worth seeking although the thought of consuming pure Excess fat leaves you just a little apprehensive!
Despite the prolonged decades of making Lardo in the normal way, many of the illustrations that you just might come across in your neighborhood deli or keep could have been made in a way more industrial setting, mostly on account of modern day hygiene legislation taking priority more than customs and heritage. Gone are classified as the marble conche along with the mountain air, changed by stainless steel and air con.
Nevertheless, visitors to the area close to Colonnata should be Fortunate and obtain maintain of Lardo made from the old way that's been demonstrated in excess of the hundreds of years – just don’t tell the authorities if you need to do!