Lardo di Colonnata

lardo di Colonnata

What it is

It cures in basins hollowed from Carrara marble — the porous Canaloni vein, which holds cold and damp on its own — rubbed inside with garlic, then packed in layers with sea salt, rosemary and pepper for six to ten months. Quarrymen carried it down the mountain as their working lunch long before the IGP of 2004 turned it into a restaurant luxury.

In the kitchen

Slice it almost transparent and lay it on something hot — toast, a boiled potato, a piece of fish — so it melts rather than sits. It is fat, not meat, and it never goes near a pan.

Goes with

Rosemary Black pepper Potato Fig Sage Scallop Garlic

Same species

Andouillette Boudin blanc Natural casings Caul fat Chorizo Ciauscolo

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