Lardon#Larding

Lardons may be prepared from different cuts of pork, including pork belly and fatback, or from cured cuts such as bacon{{cite book|last=von Starkloff Rombauer|first=Irma|author2=Marion Rombauer Becker |author3=Ethan Becker |author4=Maria Guarnaschelli |title=Joy of cooking|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1997|page=705|isbn=978-0-684-81870-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tbyW2LeXIOkC&pg=PA705|access-date=25 February 2010}} or salt pork. According to food writer Regina Schrambling, when the lardon is salt-cured but not smoked in the style of American bacon, "the flavor comes through cleanly, more like ham but richer because the meat is from the belly of the pig, not the leg".{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-16-fo-lardons16-story.html|title=The taste of bacon, cubed|last=Schrambling|first=Regina|date=2005-03-16|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-06-28|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}} The meat (fat) is usually cut into small strips or cubes about one centimeter ({{frac|3|8}} inch) wide, then blanched or fried.

Some chefs recommend using pancetta as a substitute;{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-16-fo-lardons16-story.html|title= The taste of bacon, cubed |last=Schrambling|first=Regina|date=16 March 2005|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=25 February 2010}} ham is also suggested.{{cite book|last=Dolby|first=Richard|title=The cook's dictionary, and housekeeper's directory|publisher=H. Colburn & R. Bentley|year=1833|page=55|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1O4HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55|access-date=26 February 2010}}

File:Préparationtartiflette.jpg with lardons]]

File:Fougasse de Foix.jpg de Foix, a provincial French bread filled with melted gruyère cheese (reblochon cheese can also be used), bacon lardons, and crème fraîche]]

It is common for the lardons to be used for two distinct purposes in the same dish. The fat rendered from the cubed pork is good for sautéing vegetables or meat during the early stages of a recipe, and the crisp browned pork cubes can be added as a garnish or ingredient just before serving: "the crispy bits are used to add a smoky, salty flavor and a pleasant crunch to all kinds of dishes". The rich flavor pairs well with cheeses and sturdy leaf vegetables like spinach and frisée, for which the hot rendered fat can be used as part of the salad dressing.{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/lifestyle/2002/07/14/2002-07-14__special_ingredient_lardon.html|title=Special Ingredient: Lardon|last=Diluna|first=Amy|date=14 July 2002|work=New York Daily News|access-date=26 February 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604115850/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/lifestyle/2002/07/14/2002-07-14__special_ingredient_lardon.html|archive-date=4 June 2011}}

Lardons are frequently used in French cuisine to flavor salads, stews (such as beef bourguignon and coq au vin{{cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=11D3922DAB51A150&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Lardons: Chef's secret ingredient|date=28 November 2007|publisher=Sacramento Bee|pages=F3|access-date=25 February 2010}}), quiches (quiche Lorraine), potatoes, omelettes and other dishes.{{cite book|title=French|last=Worthington|first=Diane Rossen|publisher=Pan Macmillan|year=2003|page=37|isbn=978-1-4050-3558-3}} A particular Parisian use of lardons is in the salade aux lardons, a wilted salad (often made with frisée (endive){{cite book|last=Lomonaco|first=Michael|author2=Andrew Friedman |title=Nightly Specials: 125 Recipes for Spontaneous, Creative Cooking at Home|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2004|page=15|isbn=978-0-06-055562-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fE7q2CSb0HIC&pg=PA15|access-date=26 February 2010}} lettuce) in which the lettuce leaves are wilted slightly by the addition of still-hot lardons and hot vinaigrette.{{cite book|last=Peterson|first=James|title=Glorious French food: a fresh approach to the classics|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2002|pages=52–53|chapter=Green Salad with Bacon (Salade aux Lardons)|isbn=978-0-471-44276-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWSVpBheCnYC&pg=PT80}} A nineteenth-century recipe for a pie à la chasse calls for beef to be larded with lardons made of ham and bacon. A traditional dish from the Alsace region is the tarte flambée, a thin pizza-like bread covered with crème fraîche, onion, and lardons.{{cite book|last=Villegas|first=Maria|title=The food of France: a journey for food lovers|publisher=Murdoch Books|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/foodoffrancejour0000vill/page/56 56]|chapter=Tarte flambée|isbn=978-1-74045-471-1|url=https://archive.org/details/foodoffrancejour0000vill|url-access=registration|quote=tarte flambee.|access-date=26 February 2010}}{{cite book|last=Schuffenecker|first=Gérard|author2=Alain Kauffmann |title=Connaître la cuisine alsacienne|publisher=Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot|year=1997|pages=32–33|chapter=La tarte flambée; Flammekueche|isbn=978-2-87747-286-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vw4hvVOY_EYC&pg=PA32|access-date=26 February 2010|language=fr}} A regional specialty from the Savoie is tartiflette, which is made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, cream, and lardons.{{cite book|last=Willan|first=Anne|title=The Country Cooking of France|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2007|page=60|chapter=Tartiflette: Potato and Reblochon Cheese Melt|isbn=978-0-8118-4646-2|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MQhr-YZKlkC&pg=PA60|access-date=26 February 2010}}

File:Larderen van rosbief (2).jpg

A traditional use for lardons is in a technique called "larding", in which long strips of chilled pork fat are threaded (with the use of a needle) into meats that are to be braised or roasted, such as beef filets or veal (especially lean cuts{{cite book|last=Riely|first=Elizabeth|title=The chef's companion: a culinary dictionary|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|year=2003|page=165|isbn=978-0-471-39842-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDZuBx_-hi8C&pg=PA165|access-date=26 February 2010}}), poultry,Dolby [https://books.google.com/books?id=1O4HAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA474 474.] and lean fish such as tuna.Willan [https://books.google.com/books?id=9MQhr-YZKlkC&pg=PA60 60].{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dzEiAAAAIBAJ&pg=3668,869141&dq=lardon&hl=en|title=Old-fashioned needle eyes beef trend|last=Ellis|first=Merle|date=12 May 1982|publisher=Reading Eagle|page=27|access-date=26 February 2010}} These lardons are cut in strips about 3 mm thick and 3 mm wide, and the fat is chilled before cutting and threading. The technique is explained at length in the classic book of French cuisine La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange, which details two techniques: surface larding, or "studding", in which the lardons are threaded onto the surface, and interior larding, in which the lardons are left in a channel (made with a larger-sized needle than is used for studding) inside the meat.{{cite book|last=Ébrard|first=Evelyn|others=Paul Aratow (trans.)|title=La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange: the original companion for French home cooking|publisher=Ten Speed Press|year=2005|pages=11–13|isbn=978-1-58008-605-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ru_rjXYezwC&pg=PA11|access-date=25 February 2010}}

Madame St. Ange recommends larding for braised calf's sweetbreadsÉbrard [https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ru_rjXYezwC&pg=PA303 303]. (as does the French Laundry cookbook{{cite book|last=Keller|first=Thomas|author2=Susie Heller |author3=Michael Ruhlman |author4=Deborah Jones |title=The French Laundry cookbook|date=January 1999|publisher=Artisan Books|page=213|isbn=978-1-57965-126-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpQC3JkSe5oC&pg=PA213|access-date=26 February 2010}}) and for a specific style of cooking hare.Ébrard [https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ru_rjXYezwC&pg=PA416 416]. American food writer James Peterson specifically recommends using fatback for larding; salt pork, he says, "has a funny taste and won't work".Peterson [https://books.google.com/books?id=EWSVpBheCnYC&pg=PT450 523]. Julia Child recommends using lard or porkbellies (pancetta); she too thinks that neither salt pork nor bacon work, and suggests blanching these first, to get rid of the overwhelming cured or smoked flavors.

The origin of larding is in the Middle Ages, when hunting game was a popular activity amongst the upper classes and the meat acquired from it was often too lean and tough because of the animal's natural physical activity; larding provided the equivalent of today's marbling.

The needle used is a larding needle (also "barding needle" or lardoir). There are two basic kinds of larding needle, hollow and U-shaped.

Hollow larding needles are about 5 mm in diameter with some sort of teeth or hook to keep the lard strip attached; they are passed completely through the meat.

U-shaped larding needles, often called by the French name lardoir, are long needles with a "U" cross-section.

Four larding needles, accompanied by two crossed turning spits, are found in the coat of arms of the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a French gastronomic society.{{cite web|url=http://www.chaine-des-rotisseurs.net/en/history.php#evolution|title=History of the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs|publisher=Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs|access-date=25 February 2010}}

In many cuisines around the world, pork fat is used as a flavoring, and lardons are found in various other cultures. In Puerto Rico, they are called tocino and are added to dishes such as arroz con gandules.

In Dutch cuisine lardons are used in many traditional dishes such as stamppot, and the split pea soup snert.

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