Varhackara
Varhackara
Every farm in Carnia kept a purcit, a pig, killed between October and February, part eaten fresh and the rest cured, salted or smoked. Varhackara came out of the tail end of that: a paste built on lard with the offcuts of salami, smoked speck, guanciale, pancetta and ossocollo worked in. The record ties it to Timau, the last village before the Plöcken pass into Austria, whose speech is South Bavarian. With Sauris it is a German-speaking pocket of Carnia, settled by miners out of the Carinthian valleys, the first around the year 1000 and a second group late in the 13th century, who brought their cooking with them.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Meat products (cooked, salted, smoked)
Where it is made
Timau, Paluzza, Carnia, Udine province
How it is made
The lard was once chopped fine with a knife and is now minced; the cured-meat offcuts are diced into it and the mixture packed into glass jars, sometimes with herbs and nutmeg. It is eaten spread on bread.