Pork cuts – Where do ham, lardo & co. come from?

Italian pork products

From time to time, we receive inquiries from interested customers who want to know which part of the pig is used to make certain sausage and ham products. And this question is not so easy to answer, at least not in German. The problem is that Italian butchers process pigs differently to German butchers and there is therefore no 1:1 translation of the Italian terms. We have therefore created a graphic to illustrate this. Below you can read which parts are used to prepare which delicious Italian specialties.

Pork cuts

Cuts of pork alla Italia

Use of the pork cuts

The best-known examples of the craftsmanship of an Italian macelleria are certainly prosciutto, pancetta and lardo. Prosciutto is similar to German ham in that it is obtained from the hind legs of the pig. However, air-drying is preferred in Italy thanks to the warm winds, while smoking is used for preservation north of the Alps. Pancetta is pork belly fat, which is used as an ingredient in spaghetti alla carbonara, for example. It is often served with herbs and spices such as rosemary, pepper and garlic. Lardo, the fatty bacon, is made from back fat. The best-known examples are Lardo di Colonnata and Lardo from the Aosta Valley. A cream is often made from lardo and used as a spread on bread.
Coppa from the neck and guanciale from the cheek of the pig are perhaps less familiar to the German palate, but no less delicious. The pork knuckle that is so popular in Germany does not exist in Italy, but the feet of the pig are made into zampone and cotechino, which is a traditional dish for New Year’s Eve with lentils. The meat used to make salami comes from various cuts of pork. Mortadella, however, is made from the spalla and larded with pieces of lardo.