Larding needles

In Collections: Feeding America: the Historic American Cookbook Project Museum Objects

Historical Note: These long slim hollow shafts of metal with a point at one end were used to insert strips of fat under the skin of meat that was to be cooked. The end of the strip of fat is gripped by the "teeth" at the end of the needle and then pushed under the surface or skin of the meat with the point in a similar manner as making a stitch when sewing. The needle is then pulled back out and the end with the fat is opened, leaving the strip underneath the surface.