lardo?

I just received several pounds of NR Lardo - dry cured and seasoned pork fatback. Anyone have some real-world experience in ways to use this? Thanks.

Bill/SFNM

Polcyn and Ruhlman are cukoo for the stuff in their recently-published, Charcuterie.

It appears lardo is preeminent in the culinary zeitgeist. I've seen it popping up all over the place. Bon apetit.

Bill,

There are a lot of recipes that do include and many more that can include lardo. Since you mentioned a particular interest in things Neapolitan, i would suggest making a Neapolitan style ragù with a battuto including some lardo.

But to feature in more focussed fashion the flavour of your new pork product: The Campanian analogue to Lazio's alla Matriciana, maccarune lardiate uses -- as the name suggests -- lardo. Cut up the lardo in small pieces, fry it in a little more fat, namely, lard or oil or a comnbination thereof -- some folks use butter and oil -- and then add some tomatoes and simmer for a half hour until the sauce tightens properly. Serve over tubular pasta of your choice with abundant parmigiano and plenty of fresh black pepper. Parsley would be a possible and reasonable addition too, either at the end or a little earlier to the sauce.

Note the absence of garlic and onion. In this regard, the dish clearly stands in the same family with alla Matriciana and alla carbonara with the traditional primary focus on the flavour of the pork. Some folks perhaps use garlic or onion here but those additions are likely outside or marginal to the tradition. If the lardo is good, it surely is worth it to try the dish in the minimalist form.

That's all I have time for now...

Buon appetito!
A

I'd do it like they do in colonnata, and toast some good crusty bread, then put very thin slices of lardo between two slices of the warm bread and watch it melt away into a prefect lardo panino. You could also just eat it as you would prosciutto in thin slices with melon or figs.

Check out this photo from my trip to Colonnata of several years ago, in which one pig says to the other - Hiya, where ya from, the other replies, From Parma, and you?, to which our original pig retorts, me, from Siena! And then in a surprise twist, the second pig replies, let's go over to Dall' Algeria (a local grocery) where he'll make us into Lardo!



On a final lardo note, my favorite store in Colonnata is called "Al Lardo, Al Lardo" which is an italian spoonerism based on the phrase "Stop Thief!" which you say "A Ladro! A Ladro". Makes me giggle!

Ah, the universal appeal of cartoon pigs headed for a delicious demise.

See, I love a poster like that. It fits nicely into my worldview that all of my foodstuffs are positively thrilled to be eaten by me.

Thank you Seth and Don 'Tonio for the great advice. I'll try them both soon. Put a quick sandwich together for lunch based on Seth's advice: home-made ciabatta bread with thin strips of lardo, Neapolitan salami, tomatoes, and avocado grilled in a panini press. I think I'm gonna like this lardo.

Bill/SFNM

Pizza Margherita with Lardo

Decided to put some thin slices of lardo on top of a pizza. I placed them on top of the basil leaves since they tend to burn at high temps. The lardo mostly melted so I didn't drizzle any olive oil after baking as I usually do.



Cross section of edge - nice and puffy with crispy bottom:



Bill/SFNM

That is without a doubt the most beautiful piece of cross-section pizza I have ever seen. Stunningly, beautiful crust.

Bill/SFNM wrote:Cross section of edge - nice and puffy with crispy bottom:

Bill,

You can be sent to prison in 4 states for posting lardo pizza gastroporn pics.

Lardo ~sigh~

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:
You can be sent to prison in 4 states for posting lardo pizza gastroporn pics.

Lardo ~sigh~

Gary

You'll get my camera when you pry it from my greasy, pork fat covered fingers.

Bill/SFNM

Bill,

An absolutely beautiful pizza. Bellissima!

*

Last night I made some escarole and chick peas and, had I had it, it would have been nice for epic variation to add a little lardo to round out the flavour. With that in mind, I strongly recommend you use some in making a bean dish with a battuto featuring the lardo as the basis. I would be inclined to make either pasta e fagioli, either white or red, or perhaps Neapolitan style baked beans. Pork and beans are hard to beat.

Antonius

Native New Yorker TODG--caught in the midst of making maple taffy--nearly swooned when shown the cross-section of pizza shot....

Sigh.

Geo

http://www.therecipebox.com/members/box ... et0092.htm

Antonius wrote:
I would be inclined to make either pasta e fagioli, either white or red, or perhaps Neapolitan style baked beans. Pork and beans are hard to beat.

Antonius,

Thanks for the praise about the pizza. Since it does not resemble the typical US pizza with grated cheese melted into the sauce, I thought the tradional Neapolitan presentation might not appeal to people on this board.

Schwartz's Naples book has an intersting recipe for Pasta e Fagioli. He mentions the use of "cotica" (pig skin) to enrich the dish, so lardo sounds perfect to do the same. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sunday breakfast today calls for Huevos a la Mexicana. I think I'll render some lardo in the saute pan and see if anyone notices.

Bill/SFNM

You people wanna resize those photos so everyone can read?


-ramon

Ramon wrote:
You people wanna resize those photos so everyone can read?

Pizza photos have been reduced. Let me know if you still have problems viewing them.

Bil/SFNM

Any sources for lardo love in chicago? Been looking since trying it for the first time in Rome last year. Preparation: thinly sliced, on toasts, with walnuts and whole black peppercorns, drizzled with honey. Damnation!

No luck at Fox & Obel, Caputo's, any of the italian groceries on Harlem, Freddy's, etc. I was going to place an order with NR, glad to hear you're enjoying their product.

thanks,
grace

Ramon wrote::D
You people wanna resize those photos so everyone can read?


-ramon

Thanks Bill!

ahem ... Seth?

Or tell me how to reconfigure my browser to keep a 800 by in frame without buying new monitors.

Thank you

-ramon

"Oh, lardo, well you came and you gave without taking, and I need you today, ohh lardo"

Sorry for the Manilow interruption.

Anyways, my favorite lardo application is my sainted Italian granny's go to appetizer:

Stale crusty bread, toasted, rubbed down with a garlic clove, slap a slice of lardo on there while the toast is still warm, lardo melts, eat, cry.

To jazz it up you could sprinkle on some herbage, some cheese-age, heck you could even truffle the crap out of it. But, the original un-fancied recipe does you just right. Good for rainy days playing cards with old people. Or, at least, that's how I ate it

Lardo Burgers

"Necessity is the Mother ....."

After a pastrami-making marathon, I had some lean beef brisket flat leftover, so I decided to grind it up for burgers. I like my burgers to be about 30% fat by weight before cooking and the flat had about only 10% fat. So, I ground in some NR lardo out of necessity, but didn't tell anyone what I had done.

The family just raved, and I totally agree, that these were the best burgers I have ever made. I have added bacon to the grinder before, but did not like the result nearly as much. From now on, all burgers here will include lardo.

Bill/SFNM