When you see a piece of legislation, like the current version of the financial rescue package, full of seemingly unrelated handouts to this group and that, the common practice is to say “larded it up”. What many people in this day and age don’t realize, however, is that “larding” is a real cooking technique used for tough cuts and (especially) very lean pieces of meat. Especially game or, for example, moose. RecipeTips explains how it’s done:
The process of injecting fat into the interior of meat, generally by using a larding instrument to accomplish the task. Larding is a method used to add fat to very lean and/or tough pieces of meat. The added fat acts to moisten, enhance the flavor and tenderize meat as it cooks. Typically, a strip of lard, referred to as a lardon, is cut from bacon or pork and chilled to harden the substance. Many meat stores sell lardon for larding however, if the lard is to be cut from existing meat, slice the cuts on the diagonal to produce the most effective cuts for insertion. The fat may be seasoned with herbs, wine, salt, pepper, or other seasonings for added flavoring. The meat is then pierced across the meat’s grain with the tool and the fat is either drawn through or pushed into the meat.
A lard needle may consist of a slender, heavy guage steel needle, similar to a sewing needle, except much larger and heavier, that is used for threading a string through the meat that can be used for drawing a narrow strip of chilled fat into and through the pierced meat. This type of needle is most often used for smaller cuts of meat.
Keep that in mind in case any moose recipes come up during the debate tonight.