How to cook salt pork?

Answer 1

asin :) Well...

From the Preparedness Blog Network: How To Salt Fish.

I recently came across a cookbook from the 1850s. That cookbook is very interesting covering all types of pioneer cooking. One of the articles covers the preserving of shad, a type of fresh water fish. The recipe used for shad can be used for any fish.

The following recipe is taken directly from the cookbook.

"Clean the shad nicely, place them in layers with back down, and laid open so as the inside of the fish may be up. Sprinkle each fish plentifully with ground salt, and let them stand twenty four hours. This draws out all the blood. Wipe them all dry with clean napkins.

Place them in layers in a clean tub, with the backs down as before. For one hundred shad take half a lb. saltpetre, and 2 pounds of brown sugar. Strew plenty of rock salt over them with the saltpetre and sugar, there is no danger of putting on too much salt as they will only absorb a certain quantity."

As you can see, this is a very simple recipe. You will notice this recipe uses quite a bit of salt, I strongly recommend that everybody store at least 100 pounds of salt, if you intend to do any food preserving. Saltpeter or saltpetre is commonly known as potassium nitrate.

Answer 2

I'm sure there are more ways than this, but I always bake it in the oven like bacon. Heat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (only for ease of cleanup.) I usually give the strips of salt pork a quick rinse under some cool running water, pat them dry, and place them on a rack on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven until crispy - sorry, the time depends on how thick your salt pork is, so you have to keep an eye on it, but it won't normally be less than 20 minutes unless it's cut really thin. ***We usually eat this with boiled potatoes, white onion gravy, and a cooked veggie...like my grandma always did. Comfort food!***

Answer 3

To make salt pork, someone has to cut up small pieces from the fatback, pork belly and pork side. The pieces are then cured in salt containers without smoking.