If you know of Lardo, the Italian pork fat delicacy, you’ve probably heard of the one that hails from the town of Colonnata, which, for centuries, has been traditionally dry cured in huge marble basins. I tried replicating it late last year (without the marble basin) and we are still enjoying the fragrant fat that resulted. . In addition to Lardo di Colonnata, there’s another historic curing method for pork back fat in Italy. It comes from further north, in the Val d’Aosta and is called Lardo d’Arnad. Instead of being dry cured it is held in a wet brine for months on end. . Having read about it in an age-old paper from the @oxfordfoodsymposium I could not resist trying to replicate it with pork fat from @valledelsasso’s beautiful pigs. Not being able to locate any quantifiable instructions, I took some educated guesses – and now must wait, wait, wait now to see how it goes. . The fat, shown here in the glass container it will rest in, has salt, rosemary, sage, bay and garlic keeping it company. . I’m knee-deep in lard research, so expect more lard information and experiements from me over the coming months. . I’d love to know if you’ve tried cured lard – either d’Arnad style or the famous Colonnata.