11198 Raw pork pate??

I think its simply called "Lardo" and I always thought it was originally from Tuscany - or maybe it's Umbria. It is raw and if I'm right, it's made up in layers and left to mature for ages. It's a bit like the Moroccan "Smen" - except that is made with butter.

[quote=juliancoll;105885] ........ It's a bit like the Moroccan "Smen" ,,,,,,,,,,,,.[/quote]

I hope that is how you spell it - and that my spell checker is wrong.

.

Alan, when have you ever seen me make a typo of the significance you are implying? :laughs:
Trust me - it's "Smen". :yes:

The Germans have a similar dish, made with raw minced pork, similar to steak tartare. Can give you the recipe if you want to try it!!!!!!

Did the donor of the gift say how it should be eaten or served?

Lardo does indeed come from Tuscany, in particular from a town up above Massa called Colonnata [URL="http://www.lardodicolonnata.org/lastoria.html"]Il Lardo di Colonnata IGP ORIGINALE[/URL] they even have a sagra of the stuff.

I ask, because Lardo is served around here thinly sliced with a sprinkle of black pepper and not as a pate or smem (please let me have typed that correctly!)

Ghianda
[URL="http://www.olivopiegato.com"]Tuscany Bed and Breakfast - L'Olivo Piegato, The Crooked Olive[/URL]

^ Typo alert!! :bigergrin: :bigergrin: :bigergrin:

[quote=juliancoll;105896]^ Typo alert!! :bigergrin: :bigergrin: :bigergrin:[/quote]

smemn!

Enough

Ghianda
[URL="http://www.olivopiegato.com"]Tuscany Bed and Breakfast - L'Olivo Piegato, The Crooked Olive[/URL]

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricina]Ventricina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url]

that type is a speciality of teramo... in fact there is a village close to us which is more or less famous for its production and is around now because the traditional pork butchering at home has now been completed and this is a way of using up the lesser bits of meat and fat....

you can also get it in any decent butcher here but you ask for ventricina not lardo... in fact it can also be grilled on top of your bruschetta and in fact the bread should be hot enough to make it melt inside anyway...

its one of those foods not recommended if you are pregnant although if you cook it... its quite good stuffed into sort of thin wraps of meat and then grilled or baked... fairly useless trying to describe the flavor although generally they put a lot of heat in... but each household has its own secret recipe ... you will generally know if its going to be hot because they watch you with intense interest to see if you can handle the fire in your mouth....

I have also eaten "Lardo di Colonnata", but sliced and served hot on "focaccia". I have not seen it the way you describe it.... but I will investigate it.

I think that it is called "crema di lardo" and it can be made by mixing a good "lardo" such as the Colonnata one, with salt, pepper and spices.

[quote=Geotherm;105891]The Germans have a similar dish, made with raw minced pork, similar to steak tartare. Can give you the recipe if you want to try it!!!!!![/quote]

Mett. Delicious spread on a roll topped with raw onion. Yum! :Dancing_tongue:

once again adriatica ha ragione. The town of [URL="http://crognaleto.wordpress.com"][B]Crognaleto[/B][/URL] in the hills above Teramo is very famous for its [URL="http://ventricina.wordpress.com"][B]ventricina[/B][/URL]. I am a semi-vegetarian so when it comes my way I always smile and say, "poco poco..per cortesia...."

They do make sausages, which are stored in jars covered in lard to preserve them and these are eaten raw too, as a topping for btuschette.

My jar of pate was a gift from the local butcher, who now has jars of the stuff for sale. You are right Stefanacio, it is called Ventricina and it seems that our butcher makes a good one, which is quite sought after.

I believe tat December is the traditional time that pigs were killed, so that they did not have to be fed through the winter, and, as the saying goes, they use every bit except the squeak.

I do like it but in small doses and the Jar is enormous, so I’m going to try roasting potatoes in some and perhaps I’ll invent an alternative to goose fat!:laughs:

When my neighbors gave me this and told me that I would be eating it uncooked I thought they were joking...

[IMG]http://villacasale.net/images/sausage.jpg[/IMG]

This is the time of the year for getting all those presents, as the "maialata" or slaughtering of the pigs usually takes place in November so that all sub-products will be ready for Christmas. I don't think that there is a fixed date in Italy, but I have noticed that the 4th Sunday in November is a favourite time.

Trichinosis larvae can only survive in muscle cells in pork (or any other mammal, but they are most common in pork in the human food chain).

If you ingest them, you may suffer nausea, headache, fever, chills, cough, eye swelling, joint pain and muscle pain, and itching. In rare cases, the parasite infects the central nervous system and may cause neural damage and even death.

I first read about Trichinosis while eating a cooked pork sandwich, and got to the point where I found that the larvae form a hard cyst within the meat when something in my sandwich went "crunch"...