. Note the thickness of the fat, it is from a heritage breed pig, Mangalista. Brian serves his lardo with a Spanish olive oil, and before you think too much fat, the peppery oil complements the smooth creamy pork fat.Lardo is simply cured pork back fat. It's a true expression of the French term terroir, revealing the breed of pig, its diet and where it lived. Even if you cure it with the exactly same mixture of salt, herbs and spices, it always has its own unique taste. I loved Brian's lardo, but Brian and I agreed that the best lardo we've eaten comes from Colonnata. In this tiny hill town perched in the hills above the marble quarries of Carrara, they cure lardo in rectangular marble vats, called concas. Many locals claim that it is the porous quality of the marble that is the key to the finesse of lardo di Colonnata. Others believe that it's the town's location that provides the perfect cool and humid climate for making lardo.
Perhaps they are both right or may be it is just the quality of the pork fat. If you get a chance to try lardo di Colonnata take it.
12 comments:
Wow. It looks both amazing and delicious and rather squeamish-making, for me, all at once; and the squeamish bit of me is the bit I'm trying to get rid of. Someday perhaps! But how funny that this is your most recent post, when I've just purchased pork fat at the store and asked you a question on another post about this. :)
Where can you buy good lardo, especially the lardo di Colonnata kind?
Apart for Italy I have no idea where to buy lardo di Colonnata. As for good lardo there are some people making it. Try asking at your local butcher or deli. In Toronto I can buy it in the St. Lawrence north market from the Monforte Dairy. They also make a fabulous guanciale.
On the other side of the country, Moccia Urbani in Vancouver makes an excellent lardo. http://www.moccia.ca/ Oyama meats (find them at Grandville Island Public Market) has very good guanciale.
Oh for the days when you reared your own heritage hogs (pigs... is to refined, to call these beauties). The fat would be 2-3 inches thick. CHEMICAL FREE. You could enjoy meat and fat that had FLAVOUR.
Yes, but not many of us can rear are own hogs. Luckily heritage breeds are becoming popular again.
Do I ever enjoy lardo. It looks divine with the olive oil. A special treat indeed.
Yes I thought the olive oil would be too much but it was perfect as it was slightly peppery. And guess what? It was a Spanish olive oil!
how long does lardo last in the fridge if vacumn sealed
It should last at least 3 months, probably longer and you can also freeze
it.
I was looking to purchase Lardo in Michigan, the state that has the most Heritage pig farms in the US. This is what I found out: Did you know that at this very moment Michigan's Dept of Natural Resources are going on to Heritage pig breeders farms and shooting all their pigs?
Michigan just passed a law outlawing Feral Pigs then sent forth a description of a feral pig which of course looks like a heritage pig too. Call the governor and complain!
Alva
Yes I did Alva. There was a lot of noise about it on Twitter. I think everyone in the US should call the governor of Michigan NOW!
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