What to do with salt pork?

My husband bought salt pork, and I have no idea what to do with it! He thought he bought pork belly (I make a great Filipino lechon), but this does not seem like the same thing. Help!

dcmaggie
  • Posted by: dcmaggie
  • September 2, 2013
  • 77114 views
  • 11 Comments

11 Comments

Heidi,Harris September 4, 2013
My grandmother used to cut it into very small cubes and cook it until golden brown and add to perogies instead of bacon.
 
MTMitchell September 3, 2013
My husband is from Maine and we have to keep salt pork in the house at all times. He uses it to start clam, fish, or corn chowder (and he is a master of all three), and, as stated a few times above, for baked beans. I've never thought to use it other ways....so these were good ideas (we have more than enough on hand...).
 
ChefJune September 3, 2013
Salt pork enhances just about anything I can think of... a pot of greens, chowders, baked beans... and you can freeze it if you can't use it all right away.
 
amysarah September 3, 2013
We used to go to Maine in the summer and dig huge hauls of clams. My mother used diced salt pork to flavor the gallons of clam chowder she made - it gave it a distinctive and delicious flavor.
 
pierino September 3, 2013
Ah, yes! Clams. In Spain and Portugal chorizo is a common companion to mollusks. So salt pork for sure. It's all salt cured pig.
 
David September 3, 2013
Salt pork can be pork belly, pork side or fatback. With the rise in popularity (and therefore price) of pork belly salt pork found in grocery stores today is almost always fatback or pork side.
My favorite way to use it in addition to flavoring beans as previously mentioned is when braising bitter greens such as collards, kale etc. When you do use it be careful because it is much saltier than bacon so adjust your salt at the very end.
 
pierino September 3, 2013
Definitely great with collards now that you mention it. Mustard greens too.
 
rainey September 3, 2013
I forgot that when the fat was rendered it was also used to fry dough. This is something, I think, more common to the Native people of the Southwest but I can well remember my grandfather frying bread dough which had been stretched thin and had a couple knife cuts to accompany fried fresh caught fish. It was golden and glorious.

We work hard to eliminate unnecessary fat from our diets today but I'm glad to have the memory of what a special thing it could be.
 
pierino September 3, 2013
Salt pork actually is pork belly but obviously with the addition of salt. Think of it as unsmoked bacon, cured slightly. Per the previous answers it is great with beans and legumes.
 
rainey September 3, 2013
Salt pork was a staple in the kitchen of my father's aunt who lived in Maine. It was always in baked beans flavoring the beans and keeping the narrow top of the bean pot moist. It was rendered to fry fish. And sometimes it was cubed and fried crisp as a special treat.
 
davidpdx September 2, 2013
Often used in baked beans. For fun, you could try adding a slab of it to beans or lentils as they cook, sort of like a ham-hock substitute.
 
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