Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Crema di Lardo

20121116-IMG_0882
I’m not sure if this is the actual name of this product, but it’s fits! It’s something I made for a party where I wanted to share my lardo d’Arnad, but didn’t feel like dealing with slicing it.
If you have lardo ready, it’s incredible easy, and incredibly delicious!

20121116-IMG_0877 First, you take your nice block of prepared lardo out….
20121116-IMG_0879 You grind it through the smallest die you have on your grinder….
20121116-IMG_0885 You “knead” it into a paste….
20121116-IMG_0882 And you serve it with bread. A nice tuscan saltless bread would actually work here because the lardo is quite salty.

Delicious!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I love lardo - this looks seriously good. In small quantities though I guess!

Anonymous said...

question- I'm a chef I've made lardo before. Came out nicely. Also made whipped lardo before. Do you think it would be possible to make lardo (for whipped lardo) out of rendered fat? Where i am now (hawaii) the pigs dont have a ton of nice fat on them. But I've got tons of rendered fat around. Butter cost a ton ot here and I'm trying to improve/make unique/more cost effective our bread program. Our opinion would be appreciated. Please send any response to work9to5@hotmail.com

Jasonmolinari said...

I don't think that will work. The structure of lardo and rendered lard are very different.

Anonymous said...

Jason is right. You will not get the same result, but you can make this work. I brine and smoke some fatback before rendering, then strain and whip till cool. Have also cooked aromatics or onions and apples in rendered fat very slowly, then strained and whipped. The whipping seams to make the world of difference. Wait until Its temp has dropped enough to just start to turn white then whisk in the Hobart until completely cool, like buttercream. We no longer serve butter with our bread service.

barrelno51gourmetbbq said...

I read your blog, and called a local butcher and ordered back fat. What I received was what I believe is leaf lard. It's strips of fat, a little less than an inch thick, stacked on each other. I'm not sure if this will work. Are you familiar with this form of lard?

Jasonmolinari said...

Leaf lard is usually much less than 1" thick and has a soft texture, it would not work for this application if it is in fact leaf lard.
If you have back fat which has been cut into strips you could still cure it and then grind it into a spread, yes.

Giulia said...

It's usually known as Pesto di Lardo (or simply Pesto) or Cunza in the area around Modena and garlic and rosemary are usually added to the lard. Traditionally the lard was minced with a heavy knife, beaing it on a cutting board.