Pork can be a staple foods with the mountain locations of northern Italy, in which it’s frequently said that a well butchered pig must go away ‘nothing even so the oink’ guiding. For a pig is typically about 30% Unwanted fat, thrifty locals had to think of a means to use and maintain this important supply of protein, and The end result is Lardo.
Lardo di Colonnata, to give it its entire title, is a delicacy made from pork Unwanted fat in and throughout the Tuscan mountain town of Colonnata. Happily for lovers of cured meat, it’s not merely a frugal way of preserving pork Unwanted fat in excess of Wintertime – it’s scrumptious much too!
It’s manufactured in huge vats often called conche, fashioned from marble quarried for the nearby ‘white mountain’ of Cararra, which are to start with liberally rubbed with artisan foods garlic. Following, layers of pork fat, salt, in addition to a Distinctive mixture of herbs and spices are included right up until the vats are full. The conche are then sealed which has a wooden lid and still left in great mountain caves for six months or longer to mature inside the thoroughly clean air.
After the maturation time is over, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-smooth, meltingly tender ‘meat’ that may be eaten in A great deal precisely the same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.
Even though Lardo is commonly used to preserve roasted meats moist by inserting a thin layer in excess of the skin, It is additionally tasty simply sliced thinly and eaten with bread, olives, and an excellent further virgin olive oil as A part of an antipasto study course. It is actually not at all tricky or greasy, which is effectively really worth seeking although the concept of consuming pure Excess fat leaves you just a little apprehensive!
Despite the long a long time of creating Lardo in the standard way, the majority of the examples which you may well locate in your local deli or retailer will likely have been designed in a much more industrial placing, largely on account of fashionable hygiene guidelines taking precedence more than customs and heritage. Absent would be the marble conche and the mountain air, changed by stainless-steel and air con.
Having said that, website visitors to the realm about Colonnata should be Fortunate and acquire hold of Lardo built while in the old way that's been tested over the hundreds of years – just don’t convey to the authorities if you need to do!