Pork is often a staple food on the mountain areas of northern Italy, wherever it’s often stated that a properly butchered pig ought to go away ‘nothing even so the oink’ guiding. To be a pig is typically all around 30% Extra fat, thrifty locals had to come up with a method to use and protect this important source of protein, and The end result is Lardo.
Lardo di Colonnata, to present it its full title, is usually a delicacy created from pork Body fat in and around the Tuscan mountain town of Colonnata. Happily for lovers of cured meat, it’s not only a frugal means of preserving pork Excess fat above Wintertime – it’s scrumptious much too!
It’s manufactured in substantial vats called conche, fashioned from marble quarried for the nearby ‘white mountain’ of Cararra, that are very first liberally rubbed with garlic. Next, layers of pork Excess fat, salt, as well as a Exclusive mixture of herbs and spices are added until the vats are complete. The conche are then sealed that has a picket lid and remaining in interesting mountain caves for six months or for a longer period to experienced during the clear air.
After the maturation time is more than, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-smooth, meltingly tender ‘meat’ that may be eaten in Significantly the same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.
Though Lardo is frequently utilized to keep roasted meats moist by positioning a skinny layer around the pores and skin, It is usually mouth watering only sliced thinly and eaten with bread, olives, and a fantastic further virgin olive oil as A part of an antipasto class. It truly is under no circumstances difficult or greasy, and is also properly truly worth making an attempt even if the concept of eating pure Unwanted fat leaves you a bit apprehensive!
Regardless of the long many years of making Lardo in the normal way, most of the examples that you choose to may perhaps discover in your neighborhood deli or shop will likely have more info been built in a much more industrial location, predominantly as a result of modern hygiene regulations using precedence in excess of customs and heritage. Gone tend to be the marble conche and also the mountain air, changed by stainless steel and air-con.
Nonetheless, site visitors to the area about Colonnata should be lucky and obtain keep of Lardo designed in the outdated way that has been verified over the hundreds of years – just don’t convey to the authorities if you do!