Since the lard revelations of @historicalitalianfood’s book ‘Chewing The Fat’, I’ve been on a fats research mission. Digging into first Roman, and now Medieval fat usage in Italy.
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And this lard immersion has created even more enthusiasm for it in my kitchen. I’m rendering the fat I get from our local farmer, Flavio @valledelsasso and using the cracklings in a myriad of ways. Crackling bread (pan di ciccioli) has quite a history in Italy and I want to try combining cracklings and bread in myriad ways (enjoying the results!) until I find the one I love the most.
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Here we have a spelt sourdough focaccia, placed in my cast iron pan and topped with fresh cracklings. I baked it until golden and then added salt and pepper, and later rosemary. In my story today you can see how we ate it.
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If you know any crackling plus bread recipes, send them my way. Test kitchen at the ready :-)