[Sca-cooks] fat back or salt pork

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Angie Malone wrote:
>
> What is the difference between fat back and salted pork.
>
> IIRC the fatback looked more like a hunk of fat cut off a slab of
> bacon and when I found the salted pork in the store yesterday it
> looked more like a hunk of bacon that hadn't been smoked.

Fatback is a particular cut; as the name implies it is the fatty
portion, normally, from just under the skin near the shoulders, from
what we would call the blade or shoulder butt. It has some meat on it
but not much. Normally it is dry-rubbed with salt, essentially buried in
salt, rather than being rubbed in a vat where a brine is allowed to
form. This is why it generally tastes like salted fat, rather than
having that pickled tang such as you find in salt pork, corned beef, etc.

Salt pork is generally brined; it can be any cut of pork, either
dry-rubbed and stored in a vat or crock, where the meat juices exuded in
the salting dissolve the salt and form a brine, or an actual brine can
be added, sometimes including wine, spices, or other ingredients in
addition to salt. Commonly salted portions in the U.S. are jowls,
fatback, and side or belly meat.

Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com