The picture above is for pulling lardoons through cuts of meat that have very little fat of their own…

The flavor of lean and dry meat is much improved by larding; tenderloin of beef (filet), grouse, partridge, pigeon, and liver are best prepared this way. Pig pork being firm, is best for larding.

–1896 Boston Cooking School Cookbook

Strips of pork fat about two and a half inches long and a quarter inch square are called ‘lardons’ and are easily threaded into your dry and tasteless meats to greatly improve the flavor and texture. Lard with the grain of the meat, not across it. Lard about one third inch deep and the stitch should be about three fourths inch wide. Lardoon rows should be one inch apart. This is how they used to do it, in 1896.

Now, of course people are weaving slabs of bacon all over the surface of their foods to get the same effect. Bacon bombs are all the rage in the backyard BBQ scene.

Here is a recipe from the Pit Boys, complete with video. Personally, I think that the ground pork used would be more than juicy enough to not need the bacon treatment. Having tried this recipe, though, I have to admit that it came out very impressive, not to mention tasty!

If you are going to be, like me, upping the percentage of your daily calories that you get from good, natural, dietary fats, then you need to know things like, larding, and lardoon. I will be purchasing myself a couple of larding needles to make the work easier. I will be larding turkey breasts, chicken breasts, both of which I currently hate, due to their lack of flavor (fat). I will try larding a beef tenderloin roast (london broil). I have never had partridge, but they sound cute and cuddly so I may be eating some of that soon!