Lard fumé

French smoked pork belly — the source of *lardons* (the diced cured-pork batons that thread through coq au vin, salade lyonnaise, quiche Lorraine, tartiflette, and a dozen other French staples). Cured with salt and aromatics, then cold-smoked over hardwood for 24–48 hours, the lard fumé is sold in slabs (*plat*), in cubes (*lardons*), or sliced thin for *barde* (the bacon wrap that keeps roasts moist). Distinct from Italian pancetta (cured but not smoked), from American streaky bacon (heavier smoke, sweeter cure), and from German Bauchspeck (similar smoke profile but typically with caraway in the cure). A pillar of French home cooking — without it, a great deal of bistro cuisine simply doesn't exist.