fatback

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1: fatback

Fatback is a cut of meat from a pig. It consists of the layer of adipose tissue (subcutaneous fat) under the skin of the back, with or without the skin (pork rind). Fatback often is rendered to make a high quality lard, and is one source of salt pork. Fatback is also an important element of traditional charcuterie. In several European cultures it is used to make specialty bacon. Containing no skeletal muscle, this bacon is a delicacy. Finely diced or coarsely ground fatback is an important ingredient in sausage making and in some meat dishes. In the Americas it is commonly known to consumers in the form of fried pork rinds.

Bacon

Salo with the rind on

Fatback is processed into slab bacon by any method: brine curing, dry curing, smoking, or boiling. Usually the skin (rind) is left on.

This fatback bacon is widely eaten throughout Europe. In Italy it is called lardo, and a notable example is Valle d'Aosta Lard d'Arnad. In Ukraine, Russia, and other Russian-speaking areas of the former Soviet Union, it is called salo. In Hungary, where it is called szalonna, it is very popular for campfire cookouts (szalonna sutes). In Germany, where it is called Rückenspeck (back pork fat), it is one of two cuts known as Speck (pork fat, also known as bacon).

Pork rinds

Breaded and fried fatback

Fatback is a traditional part of southern U.S. cuisine and soul food, where it is used for fried pork rinds (known there as cracklings), and to flavor stewed vegetables such as greens and black-eyed peas. A common delicacy is strips of heavily salted and fried fatback. Fatback was extremely popular in the South during the Great Depression because it is an inexpensive piece of meat.^{[citation needed]} In the southwestern United States, fried fatback is known by its Spanish name, chicharrón.

In sausages

Fatback is an important ingredient in notable traditional sausages including nduja, cudighi, and cotechino Modena.

In cooking

Fatback being made into lardons

Homemade lard rendered from fatback

In French cooking, very thinly sliced fatback is used to line the mold when making a terrine or pâté, and thin strips of fatback are inserted under the skin of lean gamebirds for roasting. These techniques are barding and larding, respectively, and in both the fatback is used without the rind. Fatback also is used to make lardons, salt pork, and lard.

Notable traditional dishes

Dishes commonly made with fatback products include:

• Túrós csusza
• Hoppin' John
• Tourtière
• Ciccioli

See also

• Butchery
• Primal cut

References

External links

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