Lardon facts for kids
A lardon is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon or pork fat. It's used in many different types of cooking to add flavor to savory dishes and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for a special technique called larding. This involves threading them with a needle into meats that will be slow-cooked or roasted. Lardons are usually cured with salt but are not typically smoked, unlike some types of bacon.
In French cooking, lardons are often served warm in salads or salad dressings. You can also find them on some tartes flambées, in stews like beef bourguignon, in quiches such as Quiche Lorraine, in omelettes, with potatoes, and in dishes like coq au vin.
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How Lardons Are Made
Lardons can be made from different parts of a pig, including pork belly and fatback. They can also come from cured meats like bacon or salt pork. Unlike regular American bacon, lardons are usually salt-cured but not smoked. This gives them a clean, rich flavor, similar to ham but even richer because the meat comes from the pig's belly.
The fat is typically cut into small strips or cubes, about one centimeter (a little less than half an inch) wide. After cutting, they are often quickly cooked in hot water (blanched) or fried until they are crispy. Some chefs suggest using pancetta as a replacement for lardons, and sometimes ham is also suggested.
How Lardons Are Used
Lardons are often used in two ways in the same dish. First, the fat that cooks out of the pork cubes is great for cooking vegetables or meat at the start of a recipe. Second, the crispy, browned pork cubes can be added at the end as a garnish or an ingredient. These crispy bits add a smoky, salty taste and a nice crunch to many dishes. Their rich flavor goes well with cheeses and strong leafy vegetables like spinach. The hot fat from cooking the lardons can even be used as part of a salad dressing.
Lardons are very popular in French cuisine. They are used to flavor salads, stews (like beef bourguignon and coq au vin), quiches (quiche Lorraine), potatoes, omelettes, and other meals. A famous Parisian salad is the salade aux lardons. This salad, often made with frisée (endive) lettuce, has its leaves slightly wilted by the hot lardons and a warm vinaigrette.
A traditional dish from the Alsace region of France is the tarte flambée. This is a thin, pizza-like bread topped with crème fraîche, onion, and lardons. Another regional favorite from Savoie is tartiflette, which is made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, cream, and lardons.
The Larding Technique
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A traditional way to use lardons is in a cooking method called "larding." In this technique, long, thin strips of chilled pork fat are threaded into meats that will be slow-cooked or roasted. This is often done for lean meats like beef filets, veal, poultry, or even lean fish like tuna.
For larding, the lardons should be cut into strips about 3 millimeters (about 1/8 inch) thick and wide. It's very important that the fat is cold before you cut and thread it. This technique helps to add moisture and flavor to meats that might otherwise be dry or tough. It's similar to how marbling (fat within the meat) makes meat tender and flavorful today.
The tool used for larding is called a larding needle, also known as a "barding needle" or lardoir. There are two main types of larding needles:
- Hollow larding needles are about 5 millimeters wide and have a hook or teeth to hold the lardon strip. They are pushed completely through the meat.
- U-shaped larding needles, often called lardoir, are long needles with a "U" shape when you look at their cross-section.
Four larding needles are even part of the coat of arms of the Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs, a famous French cooking society.
Lardons in Other Cuisines
Pork fat is used to add flavor in many cuisines around the world, and similar forms of lardons can be found in different cultures.
- In Puerto Rico, they are called tocino and are added to dishes like arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas).
- In Dutch cuisine, lardons are used in many traditional dishes such as stamppot (a mashed potato dish) and the split pea soup called snert.
Albardar
See also
In Spanish: Lardon para niños
