Ingredient
Back Fat
Also known as Fatback, Pork back fat, Lardo (whole)
The firm fat from a pig's back, the preferred sausage fat for its clean dice and slow melt.
Back fat is the hard, dense fat that lies along the pig's spine, and it is the fat a curesmith reaches for first. Being firm, it dices cleanly and holds its shape in a sausage instead of smearing, and it melts slowly enough to survive fermentation and drying without weeping. Kept cold and cut clean it gives the crisp white flecks of a good salame; worked warm it smears and blurs. The softer belly and jowl fats behave differently and suit different products.