Hey Folks,

I'm lookin' for some authentic salt pork for the trail. I'm about to the point of tryin' to make some myself, but I'd rather just pick it up from the a fort suttler.

Suggestions?

Will

I would look first in a real butcher shop. They still exist. If they didn't have it, they might know where else to look. Another thing I always do any more is to look on Google. It is amazing what I find there sometimes.

Whatever you find, let us know.

Three Hawks.

don't buy the "salt pork" sold in most grocery stores...it ain't right!! and it's nasty!! Try blueheronmercantile.com or turkeyfoottraders...hope this helps

Why, what's the bid deal about makin it yourself? I do.

You need a large plastic container with a sealing lid. I got a couple from Wally World. I went to the local Seven States agri-supply store, and got a 50 lbs. bag of pickling/canning salt, and a small pack of Morton's Salt Cure. I then went to Costco and bought a really big package of boneless "country" ribs, which is just pork meat stips.

I put 3" of salt in the bottom of each container, and rubbed down the meat with the cure as per directions. Then I put down a layer of meat without the pieces touching, and covered them with salt. I added about 2" of salt over the top, and repeated. when the last layer was down I covered it with salt and put on the lid. No worries. After about 3 months it's fully cured. I cheated with the Mortons, which you can omit if you want the proper color, as the Mortons will make it redder than it would normally have been.

BTW it's BS that Nitrites give you cancer.

LD

Great info LD!! I tried this with some venison, but haven't taken it out of the salt...

There was an old Frenchman (Canadian)who use to put pork up the same way but he added black pepper to the mix and pounded the salt/pepper in between the meat with a mallet and a tool with an edge about 1/4" thick and 2"wide like a paddle.He said it was pepper cured,sometimes he would put in the smoke house and other times not.Always come out good.

This is a dry cure method, as a proper piece of salt pork for the AWI and prior should really be brine cured( in water with lots of salt).

Pepper doesn't cure anything, contrary to legend, what you're doing is creating an enviornment that will stop bacterial growth, so very low moisture, or high salt, or both. I don't know of anything in pepper that stops bacteria, though it might ward off insect larve.

Pepper was often used to cover any tainted taste from meats that were cured in water above 40 degrees F, or meat that was a bit bad when it was preserved. Pepper was also believed to ward off flies from dried meats that were being hung prior to smoking.

Another method is to lower the pH of the liquid to a high acid state, which will also prohibit bacterial growth, as in pickling which uses a combination of vinegar and salt.

I have been told that if you boil meat in vinegar and water (sorry don't know the ratio) you will have a piece that will not spoil for three days without refidgeration, and as long as it's wrapped in a cloth. Never had the guts to try it as if I was wrong I'd lose my "guts"..., know what I mean??

LD

LD-I've done the boiled in vinegar meat thing..works great and gives an interesting flavor...don't know if it'll last 3 days-ours only lasted 2(we ate it!)

Dont know but the pepper was just for flavoring,made some great baked beans.Like the pepper cured bacon I get when traveling up the DELMARVA coast,R.M.FELTS does a right smart tasting bacon.Dont know much about PC but I have a clue about good eating.

I tried a couple of pounds of dry cured bacon from Turkeyfoot traders. It tastes quite a bit different from regular bacon, its peppered. I fry up corn meal in the grease and it makes a filing breakfast.

Hey Mitch: What was the recipe for the brine you boiled the meat in? I'd like to try it with some beef or elk (a bit leary about not refridgerating pork if ya know what I mean)

No likee Virginia ham? Salt cured stuff still has to be cooked, and I boil my stuff and change the water at least once..., gets the salt out, but takes lots of the flavor too.

Not talkin' about pepper vs. PC, just don't want a greenhorn to use pepper an too little salt thinkin' it's the same thing. PC wise ya should use pepper unless it's a reproduction military (re: cheapest vendor) ration. 'Course ya should add some worms to the military ration if ya do that!

LD

quote:

Originally posted by Loyalist Dave:
. 'Course ya should add some worms to the military ration if ya do that!
LD

Jist think of 'em as added protein!
Heeheehee

I always thought salt pork was bacon.
I remember as a kid bacon covered witha cotton
stocking. It was salty as hell but filling on a cold morning. Seemed it lasted a long time.
That's my memory.

Hey Folks,

Thanks for all the great input. I found some slab baccon at Virginia Peanuts, aka Virginia Favorites. Couldn't find any salt pork, so I reckon I'll try LD's salt pickelin' trick. I wished I'd knowed Turkey had some, I just got an order from 'em last week.

I'm doin' a lot of 1820s Trekkin' this winter and could'a used the fat and protien on some of those nights when the tempurature got below zero, but four hot rocks made up the difference I suppose. But, I'm plannin' on takin' my two youngest boys prospectin' this summer, so I want to put up some salt pork for the trail. We'll be too far out to hike back to the trail-head and run to town for meat.

Thanks again,
Will

Gentlefolks,

I remember as a wee lad that we had salt pork as a regular meal from what was put up in the fall. Now I am not that terribly old...but my folks lived the old lifestyle of subsistance farming and such.

As I got older we had more modern foods from the grocery store. However, My Pa described the method of putting up meat (pork especially) in salt barrels for storage.

In the fall after the first frost there was always a "hog killing". They wanted the temperature to be lower while handling the fresh meat. We killed several hogs, boiled the hogs in water over a fire in a metal barrel and pulled the hair of the hogs after boiling them for sufficient time to ease hair removal. Then we hung and skinned the hog taking care to save all lard. The skin was later used to fry up into "pig skins". The fat/lard was saved out for rendering down to separate the cracklins for eating and the oil/lard for cooking and other uses.

The liver, heart, etc. were for relatively immediate eating. The intestines were put aside to be cleaned later for sausage casings. The main meat cuts were prepared for salt curing.

Wooden barrels were used for the salt curing process. About 6-8 inches of salt was packed in the bottom of the barrel; a layer of meat (not touching); 3-4 inches of salt packed in and above this layer and the layering and salt packing process continued to fill the barrel and have a 4-6 inch layer of salt on top. The barrels were stored in a "smoke house" which may or may not have been a true smoke house.

To use the salt pork....In the morning, some was retrieved from the barrel and put in fresh water to soak. Every couple of hours the water was poured off and replaced with fresh water. By supper, the pork was ready to cook. By our standards today it was still very salty but folks were very happy to have it.

All the remainging meat and organs would be used to make stew, pickled pigs knuckles and ears. The stew was made in a large cast iron pot on a fire. Typically, the head was included in the stew pot for flavor. However, sometimes folks acquired the brains to be fried up with scrambled eggs for breakfast. Vegetables were added to the stew to make a complete meal of it. Many other interesting snacks were made from the skimmings of this stew and lard.
The cracklings were cooked up in corn bread and makes a terrific bread.

We made lye soap with some of the lard and wood ashes.

I am sure I have left out a few things but this is how I personally remember it and as my Pa told me.

This is from old poor southern ways and I do not claim it to be PC or other. This was a big event and many family members or whole communitys were involved in the process.

Getting hungry DanL

NOTE TO SELF....,

DONT read any of DanL's emails concerning "cooking" when you have missed breakfast and it isn't time for the lunch break yet!

LD

I've read some accounts of military operations by the South during the early 1860s, and there are a lot of references to eating their bacon 'uncooked.'

Sparks

Grandfather use to make a salt brine and soak the pork in it.Just remember that salt was added to the water till you could float a raw egg in it.How long it stayed after that I dont remember,howsoever, might be time to go to the FOXFIRE books and research it.Might just be if we were to ask the elders they could enlighten us.I know the elder to ask, he's 93 and still going,get back with you.

Para-Medicineman
Heres how I do 'Travel Beef' take a LEAN beef (or Venison) roast, put in an enamel pan, cover w/ 50/50 mix of White vinegar and water, bring to SLOW boil, cook until it is done all the way thru, NO PINK, but you dont want it falling apart either.. once its DONE, remove from pan and put in fridge on a plate till its cool.
Pat dry, and rub w/ salt and pepper, makesure you cover it lightly, but thoroughly.
soak a hand towel w/ either cider or malt vinegar andloosely wrap up the roast and let sit in fridge overnite. Now its done and ready to be taken on the road (loosely wrapped in dry cloth) or zip-locked and frozen..... it will keep on the trail for 4+ days if kept dry, in the freezer I think it will outlast cockroaches....
This beef is good eaten cold, or sliced thin and broiled or chunked into stew...