Salt Pork

[Crossfire]

Can anyone tell me the difference between salt pork & bacon (they look pretty much the same).
Also, how can you prepare salt pork so it isn't so salty, do you soak it? My mom used to use it in greens when I was a kid.
Lastly, how period is bacon versus salt pork? I'm pretty sure that I've read about salt pork on ships and such, but what about bacon?

 

[FPDoc]

This is the sum total of my knowledge regarding Salt Pork/Bacon/Fat Back.

SALT PORK
So named because it is salt-cured, this is a layer of fat (usually with some streaks of lean) that is cut from the pig's belly and sides. Salt pork is often confused with FATBACK, which is unsalted. It varies in degree of saltiness and often must be BLANCHED to extract excess salt before being used. It's similar to bacon but much fattier and unsmoked. Salt pork can be refrigerated tightly wrapped for up to a month. It's used primarily as a flavoring and is an important ingredient in many dishes throughout New England and the South.

Canadian Bacon is called back bacon in Canada, this lean smoked meat is a closer kin to HAM than it is to regular bacon. It's taken from the lean, tender eye of the LOIN, which is located in the middle of the back.

Bacon is "side pork" (the side of a pig) that has been CURED and smoked. Because fat gives bacon its sweet flavor and tender crispness, its proportion should (ideally) be 1/2 to 2/3 of the total weight.

© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

bacon/side meat is usually smoked in addition to a curing of salt/seasonings rub. similar to smoked ham. fatback and streak-o-lean generally are just packed in salt. fat back was used in the logging camps of the early 20th century for cooking and gravy(sawmill gravy made with cornmeal) when the company owners fed the troops as cheaply as possible.

 

[Mulebrain]

I remember on a recent camp out, I made senate soup and used a big hunk of salt pork.

I had it on the table, and a coon grabbed it and ran a short distance away. I have never in my life heard coons battle over a piece of meat like that :rotf:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

'senate soup' is a new one on me Muley, is it soup beans?
I've made 'sawmill gravy' using fat back fried, it's good stuff but definitely not for the diet-concious.

 

[Crossfire]

I still have some of my original questions:

Is saltpork period? Is bacon period?

 

[Blizzard of '93]

yes to both.

 

[OregonDoc]

Both are period, But...... there is always a but..The old smoked bacon to preserve it is different than what is usually sold in the grocery store as smoked bacon. If you have a German grocery that sells meat, chances are that you can get the real stuff. Its taste is amazing. I took some of it on a trek last year, and I will always take some from now on.It is almost black on the outside and a light pinkish / grey on the inside. Some places sell it as double smoked.
Jon

 

[crockett]

Along the same lines, in order to be period correct, wouldn't either have to be cured in such a manner that they didn't need any refrigeration? Anyone have any sources for either?

 

[Blizzard of '93]

both will keep for some time in moderate temps, smoked bacon of the time was cured with a salt/brown (usually) sugar/pepper 'rub' then smoked, it would keep well. this is available today but not in your local grocery.
salt pork was put up in barrels, packed in salt. it's so salty that soaking before cooking is usually required. it can be used to cook dryed beans without soaking as the salt seasons the beans.

 

[OregonDoc]

I get mine locally in POrtland Oregon. Edelweiss sausage and deli.If you have a german deli or sausage place nearby, I am sure they can help you.
I looked online before by searching for Landsjaeger and found a couple of online stores. I am sure that a local place will beat the price, but if nothing else......
Hope this helps a bit.
Jon

 

[Blizzard of '93]

good info, can you provise any recipes?
I have one for 'sawmill gravy' made with salt pork. it's not for the diet-concious. but man it is good over fried 'taters.

 

[buck1]

Hey fellars down here in Arkansas we salt or sugar cure our hog meat for 21 days in a shed call a meat shed {go figure :haha:} then we use green hickory and smoke the hams,shoulders,side bacon,fat back, and the jowls {the very best part} for another 21 days. the belly meat is packed in salt in a meat box in the meat shed. all this meat will keep for several months as long as it is wrapped in paper and kept from moisture so it cant mold. the salt meat does need to be at least rinsed in water before use but if you can't hang with the slt you should soak it!! all this bacon and ham is great any way you want it but being from down here we seem to fry it mostly and eat it with cat head biscuits and homemade hot sauce.{1/2 cup cider vinager 1/4 cup water,1heaping teaspoon salt,4 heaping teaspoons ground red pepper. shake well use all you want my doctor told me I should watch my salt intake so I changed from 1 heaping teaspoon salt to 1 heaping teaspoon garlic salt I gotta admit I kind like the flavor} Any ways if you make some gravy with the grease from frying meat you got a good 3 course meal fit for a king and it will stick to your ribs!! Buck

 

[Blizzard of '93]

that's the way my grand-dad did his hogs here in WNC Buck1. cured then smoked. made some fine red-eye gravy from fried ham drippings. he processed for his neighbors and friends, had a smokehouse built into an earth bank near his home that would hold 3 hogs.

 

[buck1]

Yesir makes some fine eatn,down toward the end of the year if we run low my wife will buy smoked jowl or salt pork from the grocer but it aint like ours! I would suggest everyone to try smoked jowl it is probably some of the best bacon you can buy at the store nowdays.as for the salt pork goes it is really good to although most people have to soak it in water before they can eat it,not me though i'm so use to ours that this store bought stuff is just right straight from the pakage. :wink: Buck

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Buck ya got any recipes you can share made here with that home-cured pork?

 

[buck1]

well like I said we mostly fry it but we do bake it and boil it also. we add it to poke salad, greens, cabbage,peas, beans, and just about anything else a fellar would want to add meat to. My wife makes one heckofa roast just got through with some. coarse then there is always the sausage. thats some more good eatin! Buck :thumbsup:

 

[shmrck1]

Blizzard,
Maybe it is just my old taste buds but, in the last few years I have noticed that if I
purchase a smoked ham steak at the grocery....It
is so salty I need to soak it in water prior to
frying up. Would they actually smoke and salt
cure both?Maybe for longer shelf life in the stores?????
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[omarick1948]

John,
Just about all fresh meat and poultry is salt water injected these day's to, as the industry states, "Inhence the flavor" of the product. They don't mention, that it also adds to the weight and bottom line....PROFIT!....Pays to look on the packaging to note how much salt water percentage is in the meat you are planning on buying.

Rick