The most popular artisanal lardo in Italy is produced in Tuscany and Val d'Aosta but there are many industrial variations of this humble food being cured throughout Italy. Historically, lardo was considered peasant food- men brought lardo to the mountains to sustain them through the day of heavy labor. In Tuscany, the traditional way of creating
Lardo di Colonnata, is starting with excellent pork fatback then curing the slabs in marble vats 3 feet high called
conche layered by sea salt, herbs, and spices
. After 6-8 months, the fatback becomes transformed into a sweet meltingly tender delicacy. Lardo is eaten thinly sliced with good bread and olive oil or the traditional quarry worker's way as a sandwich with lardo, tomatoes, and sliced onion. I can't wait until this Summer's harvest of heirloom tomatoes. I hear Mario Batali has lardo pizza on his menu at Pizzeria Otto- thin crust with olive oil and fresh rosemary
The version I started at home utilized local Berkshire fatback obtained from work. Since I do not have the mountain air or marble vats to cure my lardo, I'm pretty careful not to introduce anything to the lardo that may create off flavors and odors. More specifically, I cannot stand that "fridgey" or "walk-in" flavor that some house made salumi have. My number one priority is aging the protected slabs of fatback in a controlled environment for a minimum of 2 months. The curing mixture I used was fine sea salt (I feel that coarse sea salt picks up off flavors and odors), garlic, ground nutmeg, crushed black peppercorns, sage, and rosemary. The slabs were salted and turned every other day for 10 days in the refrigerator in a small lexan wrapped with plastic wrap and foil. After 10 days, I rinsed off the cure then reapplied a fresh coating of sea salt, herbs, and spices. I wrapped each individual portion in cheesecloth and hung them in my wine cooler where they will age for a minimum of 2 months.
This following video produced by the Wall Street Journal features Ignacio Mattos, the chef at Il Buco in NYC making lardo obtained from Ossabaw pigs from Bev Eggleston's farm in Virginia.