What The Heck Is Bacon Rind and Lardon???

Just google it.

Bacon rind= hog skin, rarely found in the USA in supermarkets, more commonly found on unsliced bacon.

Lardon = Thin strip of bacon or fat used with a larding needle to add fat to lean meats, also may mean thin strips of bacon formed by cutting bacon slices crosswise into 1/4" strips
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeteMcCracken 

Lardon = Thin strip of bacon or fat used with a larding needle to add fat to lean meats, also may mean thin strips of bacon formed by cutting bacon slices crosswise into 1/4" strips

Is that an English/American definition?

In French, what you describe is called "lard". The process is called "larder". Lard also means, in general, just "pork fat". Those thin strips you describe typically don't have any meat in them, only fat (they're all white). Here's what they look like: 

In French, a "lardon" is a piece of pork belly, both fat and meat, about 1/4" x 1/4" x 1". Here are French "lardons": 

If the recipe calls for bacon with rind, then cut off the rind, then you may as well just get regular bacon and cut it into thin pieces as the one on that picture. You'll have your lardons. 

French Fries,

Um, sorta maybe , actually poorly posted on my part, many Americans, not sure about our cousins across the pond, have adopted lardon to mean the strips without the insertion into other meat.

Maybe call it Frenglish??
 

Thanks Pete.... always funny when Americans adopt French words but use them for different things than we do, as with "Entrée" or "Fond" etc... :)

And I do wonder what the exact difference is between bacon cut into 1/4"x1/4"x1" vs lardons. I guess the curing process is different. They really do taste quite different. 

When it comes to your recipe, the difference is probably not gonna be remotely noticeable!?!   I'd just slice up a few strips of everyday bacon, render the fat till bacon was crispy, and scoop out... then proceed with rest of recipe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by thatchairlady 

When it comes to your recipe, the difference is probably not gonna be remotely noticeable!?!   I'd just slice up a few strips of everyday bacon, render the fat till bacon was crispy, and scoop out... then proceed with rest of recipe.

In my experience the difference is quite noticeable, even in the finished dish. But since I don't think  you can find the French type "lardons" in the U.S., the problem is solved. Bacon often tastes better anyway, to my taste at least. 

I think that "lardon" means unsalted pork fat or pork fat back, cut to however thickness it needs to be.  Just checkout Ruhlman's book on CHARCUTERIE.