A lardon, also called lardoon or larding, is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon, or pork fat used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory foods and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by threading them with a needle into meats that are to be braised or roasted. Lardons are not normally smoked, and they are made from pork that has been cured with salt. In French cuisine, lardons are served hot in salads and salad dressings, as well as on some tartes flambées, stews such as beef bourguignon, quiches such as quiche Lorraine, in omelettes, with potatoes, and for other dishes such as coq au vin. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "lardon" as "one of the pieces of bacon or pork which are inserted in meat in the process of larding", giving primacy to that process. According to the Middle English Dictionary, the earliest occurrence of the word is in 1381, in the workPegge Cook; it advises to insert lardons in cranes and herons.
Preparation
Lardons may be prepared from different cuts of pork, including pork belly and fatback, or from cured cuts such as bacon 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". The meat is usually cut into small strips or cubes about one centimeter wide, then blanched or fried. Some chefs recommend using pancetta as a substitute; ham is also suggested.
Usage
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. Lardons are frequently used in French cuisine to flavor salads, stews, quiches, potatoes, omelettes and other dishes. A particular Parisian use of lardons is in the salade aux lardons, a wilted salad in which the lettuce leaves are wilted slightly by the addition of still-hot lardons and hot vinaigrette. 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 fraiche, onion, and lardons. A regional specialty from the Savoie is tartiflette, which is made with potatoes, reblochon cheese, cream, and lardons.
Larding
A traditional use for lardons is in a technique called "larding", in which long strips of chilled pork fat are threaded into meats that are to be braised or roasted, such as beef filets or veal, poultry, and lean fish such as salmon. These lardons are to be cut in strips about 3 mm thick and 3 mm wide, and it is essential that the fat be 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 inside the meat. Madame St. Ange recommends larding for braised calf's sweetbreads and for a specific style of cooking hare. American food writer James Peterson specifically recommends using fatback for larding; salt pork, he says, "has a funny taste and won't work". Julia Child recommends using lard or porkbellies ; 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 edible meat was sourced from hunting game and 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. 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.
In other cuisines
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. Lardon is simular to the easter european salo.
