Pork is really a staple food items of the mountain locations of northern Italy, exactly where it’s frequently reported that a perfectly butchered pig ought to go away ‘practically nothing but the oink’ driving. Like a pig is typically all around thirty% Extra fat, thrifty locals had to come up with a way to use and protect this precious source of protein, and the result is Lardo.
Lardo di Colonnata, to give it its whole name, is a delicacy developed from pork fat in and around the Tuscan mountain city of Colonnata. Fortunately for supporters of cured meat, it’s not simply a frugal way of preserving pork Fats above Winter season – it’s scrumptious much too!
It’s manufactured in large vats generally known as conche, fashioned from marble quarried in the close by ‘white mountain’ of Cararra, that happen to be first liberally rubbed with garlic. Upcoming, layers of pork Body fat, salt, and also a Particular mix of herbs and spices are included until the vats are whole. The conche are then sealed by using a wooden lid and still left in interesting mountain caves for six months or more time to experienced while in the clear air.
Once the maturation time is over, the conche are opened to reveal a silky-easy, meltingly tender ‘meat’ which may be eaten in Significantly the exact same way as Parma Ham or other prosciutto.
Though Lardo is usually utilized to hold roasted meats moist by inserting a thin layer in excess of the skin, It is usually tasty just sliced thinly and eaten with bread, olives, and a very good additional virgin olive oil as part of an antipasto study course. It truly is in no way hard or greasy, and is also effectively really worth making an attempt even when the thought of consuming pure fat leaves you a little bit apprehensive!
Regardless of the prolonged yrs of making Lardo in the standard way, the vast majority of examples that you just may well obtain in your local deli or shop can have been created in a much more industrial location, primarily because of fashionable hygiene regulations using precedence above customs and heritage. Long gone are the marble conche and also the mountain air, changed by stainless-steel and air-con.
However, visitors to the realm close to Colonnata may still be Blessed and obtain hold of Lardo made during the old way that has been established around the hundreds of years – just don’t inform the authorities if you do!
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