Salt pork

[maineman]

This is bit off topic but does anyone have experience making salt pork? I’m looking for a recipe or how to. I have a good pork belly and love using salt pork in beans but it’s hard to find in my area.I’d like to find a safe, good recipe that follows the “old” school way if possible. Thanks in advance

Chad

 

[pc farmer]

Why not use cure #1 and cure it? I never made salt pork, as in a salt box.

 

[DougE]

just cure it out as bacon and chunk some of it up for flavoring beans. I find that I need to soak salt pork to get some of the salt out of it anyhow before I use it.

Cubed bacon I use for flavoring, or turn into ground bacon. This is buckboard bacon, but I'd do the same with trim from belly bacon.

 

[Sven Svensson]

It’s pretty much cured belly fat that isn’t smoked. Right? I think you don’t even need cure #1.

 

[DougE]

It’s pretty much cured belly fat that isn’t smoked. Right? I think you don’t even need cure #1.

Pretty much, but I'd still cure the whole thing as bacon, square it up before smoking to get my flavoring meat, and smoke the rest for bacon.

 

[maineman]

I would like to stay away from cure 1 if possible. Seems like I get a ham type flavor when I use it.
Yes, real salt pork requires soaking before use due to salt content.
I saw a video where the meat was put into a brine. Another I read just coats it in sea salt and sugar and sits in fridge for a while.

 

[smokerjim]

I never made it but I think the belly is coated with a salt and sugar mix wrapped up and put in fridge for a few days then remove the juices and repeat that again.

 

[chopsaw]

a salt and sugar mix wrapped up and put in fridge for a few days then remove the juices and repeat that again.

Yup . Rinse and repeat or drain the juice about the 5 day mark , and continue on for another 3 to 4 days .

Guanciale is made from Jowl . Pretty much made the same way .

 

[maineman]

Thanks, do I coat it with a lot of sugar and salt? Any ideas I. Salt to sugar ratio? I’m thinking 5:1 salt sugar?

 

[rjob]

Links from Meats and Sausages that might be of interest.

Curing Meats for Smoking

The highest quality smoked meats and sausages are made from cured meat.

www.meatsandsausages.com

Smoked Back Fat

Smoked back fat is an old classic which tastes great with bread, mustard and beer

www.meatsandsausages.com

Try a internet search for "How to make salt pork" several recipes are available.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Here is how I would look at this and approach this project.

Traditional salt pork was done in a salt box At ambient temperature. The meat was covered with salt and liquid allowed to drain away. Final product was between 4-5% salt. So you needed to boil the meat or soak in water before use.

In contrast, I make bacon with 1.5% salt and .75% sugar and .25% cure #1, for an all in of 1.75% salt. This product is delicious to eat by itself. So there is a baseline.

Now if we want to make salt pork today with refrigeration, we can make it with exactly the salt percentage we want to be used how we want. No water soaking required.

If you want this product to flavor beans, stews or soups or generally add salt to the dish, I would start with 3% salt to meat weight along with about half that amount in sugar. So 3% salt and around 1.5% sugar all to meat weight. This will give a nice saltiness to the meat but a nice sugar balance to level out the salt. If you want salt as the star and sugar in the background then cut sugar to 1%. Rub this on the meat and then into a plastic bag with all the remaining salt/sugar mix and let ride for two weeks. Then pull and rinse of and dry. I think you will enjoy the efforts. If salt is to low then do it again with 3.5% salt. In this way you can Taylor your salt pork for your specific use. Enjoy and post up the results.

 

[Dave1000]

This is bit off topic but does anyone have experience making salt pork? I’m looking for a recipe or how to. I have a good pork belly and love using salt pork in beans but it’s hard to find in my area.I’d like to find a safe, good recipe that follows the “old” school way if possible. Thanks in advance

Chad

 

[Dave1000]

We used to use a Crock, cut the pork into 4" Pcs. put a 1" layer of Rock Salt down, put pork in with Rjine side up, put wood cover on top with heavy rock on top to keep the pork from coming up.
Fill over top of board with clear , Cold, Water. We put in Cellar which stayed below 55 degrees. give about a month before beginning to use. It will get Salter as time goes. Caution........If it gets warmer than 55 to 60 degrees It may spoil. That is how we did it on the farm when I was growing up. Our pigs were raised as Lard pigs so the belly had much more fat than you find today.. Good Luck...

 

[charlesmoxley]

This is bit off topic but does anyone have experience making salt pork? I’m looking for a recipe or how to. I have a good pork belly and love using salt pork in beans but it’s hard to find in my area.I’d like to find a safe, good recipe that follows the “old” school way if possible. Thanks in advance

Chad

Soaking it in water, and cycling the water a few times, will definitely help pull some of the salt out. I do it with some of the meats I cure. Usually, overnight while trying to swap the water every four hours. Also the more volume of water the better. The concentration of salt will attempt to equalize throughout the water, so a small amount of water won’t pull as much salt. It will still be salty after, but this can certainly take the edge off.

 

[atomicsmoke]

I use 10% brine (no cure) for backfat and hocks. Salt uptake in backfat is not as high as it is in meat. Its edible (and very tasty) without soaking. The belly though would be inedible unless you soak.
Or if used for cooking.

 

[maineman]

I’ll let everyone know how it turns out, trying to do it with just salt and sugar packed around the meat

 

[maineman]

Just an update…… I pulled the pork belly out of the salt and sugar mix today. It’s been in it for exactly one week in the fridge. It turned out well, I fried a small piece without soaking it and it was SALTY! So I think it was a win. Before using to cook with I will soak it in water for a 1/2 to 1 hr to draw some of the saltiness out.
I used a 3:1 ratio of kosher salt and white sugar. Packed it all in a container making sure every bit of pork was covered and let it do its thing.thanks for all the suggestions