Salt pork

Frozen salt pork

Salt pork[1] is salt-cured pork. It is prepared from one of three primal cuts: pork side, pork belly, or fatback.[2][3][4] Depending on the cut, respectively, salt pork may be lean, streaky or entirely fatty. Made from the same cuts as bacon, salt pork resembles uncut slab bacon, but is considerably saltier and not bacon-cured or smoked. It is thus virtually identical to the Ukrainian food salo, which also displays similar variation in meat-to-fat ratio. Long used as a shipboard ration,[5] salt pork now finds use in traditional American cuisine, particularly Boston baked beans,[6] pork and beans, and to add its flavor to vegetables cooked in water, or with greens as in soul food. It is also central to the flavoring of clam chowder. It generally is cut and cooked (blanched or rendered) before use.

Along with hardtack, salt pork was a standard ration for many militaries and navies throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, seeing usage in the American Civil War, War of 1812, and the Napoleonic Wars, among others.

Streak of lean

Cooked streak o' lean

Streak of lean or "Streak o' lean" is the common name given to the much leaner version of salt pork or fatback.[7] It is particularly popular in the Southeastern United States. It has a much higher meat content, as much as 50% by volume, and is typically salt-cured and sold in small blocks that can be cut and fried or used in other dishes. The streaking resembles regular bacon in many respects, including the marbling of meat and fat, although it is typically sold in blocks like regular salt pork with the skin intact. Like many cured pork products, it is typically very high in sodium due to the salt content.

As a stand-alone food product, it is typically boiled to remove much of the salt content and partially cook the product, then fried until it starts to develop a crisp exterior. It can be used as a stand-alone meat product or in many dishes that call for regular salt pork.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bacon cousins"
  2. ↑ Salt pork from Answers.com
  3. ↑ Kitchen Dictionary: Salt Pork from Recipezaar
  4. ↑ Salt pork from recipetips.com
  5. ↑ Invention of Salt Pork from Cyclopædia
  6. ↑ Baked bean recipes using salt pork
  7. ↑ Nathalie Dupree (1 March 2004). New Southern Cooking. University of Georgia Press. pp. 321–. ISBN 978-0-8203-2630-6. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
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