Larding, primarily, consists in drawing lardoons (match-like pieces of fat salt pork or bacon) into meats. Lardoons are usually drawn into dry meats, to add richness to them. Fillets of beef, tournedos, sweetbreads, breast or fillets of chicken or game are among the principal articles so treated. This name is also given when strips of the yellow rind of lemon or of truffle are used in place of bacon or pork, as, larding with truffles or lemon rind is spoken of.

The best pork for the purpose is that found just under the rind, and before the first row or collection of thread-like fibers occurs. These fibers separate quite firm pork from that which is very much softer. The size of the match-like pieces should depend upon the size of the article into which they are to be drawn and the needle should correspond in size to the lardoon to be used in it. Pork lardoons should be put into ice water as soon as cut to stiffen a little. A stitch should be taken up as in sewing (running) and the thread (lardoon) cut off to project a little at both ends, then other stitches are taken parallel to the first. Two or more of these rows of lardoons are inserted according to the size of the article into which they are drawn.