I remember the day, the people, the restaurant, and even
the weather the very first time I ever tried Lardo. I was on a whirlwind trip through Tuscany and
my friend and guide took me to one of the best restaurants in which I have ever
had the pleasure to dine. The place was
Villa San Michele in Fiesole, Italy, situated on the wooded hills overlooking
the city of Florence. The weather was cold;
the slow winds gave a chill to the air, but the small plate of near transparent
shaved pieces of cured hog’s fat kept both my soul and body warm.
Cured meats are one of my favorite things. There is so much story, care and love behind
every salumi, prosciutto and sausage. I finally
decided to try and produce some of my own cured creation, and what better place
than with Lardo.
Here I used beautiful pieces of Berkshire hog back fat,
pure white cuts of pork fat covered in a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic,
sugar, bay leaves, and thyme. I skinned
each piece, not the easiest of tasks, and then placed each one in an airtight
bag. From there all I had to do was
wait, and wait, then wait some more…
While I was, and still am waiting, I started playing
around with my second favorite cured meat, prosciutto. We have all had prosciutto before, either
with melon, on a charcuterie plate, or right off the leg but I wanted to do
something different.
I have made prosciutto crisps before, but why not take
that beautiful crunch and salted meat flavor and change up the form? So I made prosciutto cones, tasty crunchy
treats of salty meaty goodness. But I needed
something to put into the cones, so I tried several different fillers. My favorite was either the melon ice cream,
or the balls of melon tossed in date honey then placed on top of the
cones. Both were a perfect spring time
expression of the Italian classic.
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