Go Back
–+ servings
Print

Lardo- Dry Cured (Equilibrium)

Using quality back fat from a well-fed, older animal. The back fat is cured many months in the dark for the salt and spices/herbs to penetrate and permeate.

One of the great pleasures of all the classic Italian salum recipe is quality lardo, cut thinly and melted onto quality toasted bread.

Lardo can be used as part of a antipasti or as a base for cooking. You can render the lardo to create a rich base for anything.

Total Weight of the Meat grams

Ingredients

  • 1000 g Quality Pork Back Fat
  • 22.5 g Salt (2.25% of meat weight)
  • 4 g Rosemary - Dry (0.4% of meat weight)
  • 3 g Juniper Berries (0.3% of meat weight)
  • 1 g Bay leaf / Sweet Laurel - Dry (0.1% of meat weight)
  • 2.5 g Pink Curing Salt No. 2 (Prague Powder #2, Instacure #2, many other names - To be used for over 30 days meat curing projects (0.25% of meat weight) Optional See Notes

Instructions

Curing Steps

  1. Trim to the desired shape. 2-4" Thickness Desirable. Remove the skin.

  2. Weigh the meat accurately, record weight.

  3. Calculate or use the Recipe Above to Auto-calculate the Salt and Spices

  4. Use a Mortar and Pestle or Spice Grinder to mix the salt and spices. Mix salt, spices, and optional curing agents thoroughly, ensuring even distribution in the cure.

  5. In a large bowl or tray rub and cover the meat with the salt and spices (it will seem like not much, but this is enough of the cure)
  6. Apply the Cure: Coat the meat with the curing mixture, ensuring all surfaces are covered, including crevices in the meat.

  7. Place the meat and all the salt cure mixture into a sealable bag- options include vacuum bags, zip lock bags etc. Use another bag that is not transparent, so light doesnt effect the fat during curing. (doesn't have to be airtight)

  8. After 4-6 Months Remove from Bag. Project is Complete. Weight loss is not as relevant with lardo, mainly because fat has less water/moisture content. The salt cure will travel slowere through the fat, hence the 6 months curing to finish.

Recipe Notes

Please note that the craft of making dry-cured meats is beyond a recipe. This is not a cooked product. It takes a reasonable amount of knowledge to create salumi, charcuterie, and salami safely.

My advice is if you have doubts about smell or visual cues, then it's not worth eating. 

This is my interpretation of a classic salumi whole muscle dry cured meat project.

  • If you want to try dry curing at home, and don't have a hanging area. This can all be done in a regular fridge temperature, especially this recipe.
  • Pink Curing salt is an optional ingredient - please carefully read this other article I've written about this.
  • If you want to build a DIY dry chamber, I've written extensively on the topic here.