For many cultures around the world, salt pork is a beloved ingredient that adds a unique savory flavor to many indigenous dishes. And in Louisiana, it’s a favorite in everything from red beans and black eye peas to cassoulet. But what exactly is salt pork? And what does it bring to the table?

What is Salt Pork?

Salt pork refers to heavily salted slabs of pork belly, pork shoulder, or other fatty cuts. The meat is rubbed with salt or submerged in a salt brine, which preserves the meat and infuses it with concentrated flavor.

The History of Salt Pork

The use of salt pork traces back to Europe in the Middle Ages, when salting and curing meats was an essential preservation technique. The practice spread around the globe as Europeans explored and colonized other continents. In the Caribbean, West Africa, and the United States, salt pork became a culinary tradition in New England dishes like Boston baked beans and clam chowder, and in the South, in staple dishes like beans, peas, and greens.

How to Use Salt Pork

Imparting flavor and fat into bean and blackeye pea dishes, salt pork adds body and a silky texture to stewed and slow-simmering favorites, thickening and enriching the cooking liquid. Traditional southern dishes like BBQ Beans and Field Peas with Snap Beans feature salt pork for its signature flavor.

The Difference Between Salt Pork and Bacon

Salt pork and bacon are both made from pork belly, salted to cure the meat, and available in slabs or sliced. But unlike bacon, salt pork is not smoked and contains substantially more fat. It also costs less! And since it has more fat, the collagen that’s released from salt pork during cooking melts into beans and other slowly simmered dishes, giving them amazing richness and texture. Salt pork can be used as one large piece, cut into cubes, or diced, depending on the recipe.

The Difference Between Salt Pork and Pickled Pork

Another common question is, what’s the difference between salt pork and pickled pork? While both salt pork and pickled pork are favorites in slow-cooked dishes like beans, pickled pork is cured with salt and then brined in vinegar, spices, and seasonings, providing a tangy flavor in addition to the saltiness. Salt pork is cured with just salt, and no other seasonings are involved.

Here’s what home cooks say when asked about the secret to their red beans:

“Sometimes cook with pickle and salt pork, or mild smoke sausage, also some people use bacon.”- Roxanne F.

“Salt pork!”- Wade L.

“I use the trinity, salt pork, smoked or regular turkey necks, Tony’s, and that’s about all. I will try the crab boil.”- Saja M.

“I’ve been cooking Camellia red beans for 55 years. I use onion, garlic, bacon fat and salt pork. If I can’t get salt pork, I use pickle meat. I taste the beans before I add salt.”- Eunette B.

When it comes to adding smoky flavor, richness, and delicious fat to the base of your red beans, many cooks say there’s nothing better than bacon. A popular method involves chopping and cooking bacon in a cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over low-to-medium heat until the fat has slowly melted out of the meat, and the bacon becomes crisp.

A Little Goes A Long Way

The flavor that even a small amount of bacon imparts to red beans is noteworthy, so a little can go a long way. Which is why many people use bacon grease as a base, cooking the trinity in it until translucent, and then adding beans, stock and any other meats they may be using.

The Magic of Bacon Grease and Crispy Bacon

Many Southern cooks are so enamored with bacon grease that they’ll often cook a whole pound of bacon just to store the resulting grease, using it later to add a rich smokiness to red beans as well as other favorite dishes, such as greens and cornbread. If you’re making a big batch to store it, be sure to let the bacon grease cool first, then pour it through a strainer and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Of course, the resulting crisp bacon is a treat and full of flavor as well. Many leave it in the bottom of the pot along with the bacon grease to add even more meatiness to their red beans, while others remove it and drain it, adding it back to the pot when the beans have finished cooking – or crumbling it atop individual servings.

Keep in mind that bacon is cured and salty, so when using it in your red beans, be careful not to over-salt the pot. You can always add salt at the end of cooking, tasting and adding more if needed.

Here are some of our favorite red beans & rice recipes that feature bacon:

Camellia’s Classic Small Red Beans and Rice

Devin’s Feed the Krewe Red Beans

Devin’s “Feed the Krewe” Red Beans

Looking for good fortune and prosperity in the new year? In most cultures, traditional dishes made for New Year’s Day are said to bring luck and money. Often, they include beans — which resemble coins or closed circles signifying the end of one year and prosperity in the next, greens — which represent wealth, and pork — because pigs root forward as they eat — symbolizing a positive direction in the upcoming year.

Throughout the South, blackeye peas and collard greens flavored with pork are popular New Year’s fare for the promise of luck and money (and because they taste so good). So, to cover all of your bases for a prosperous new year, we’ve created a complete menu of comforting dishes that are perfect for a New Year’s Day feast. These recipes are simple to make, big on flavor, and feed a crowd easily. After the champagne’s been consumed and the noisemakers set aside, invite family and friends to come on over (whenever they manage to wake up) and enjoy a casual New Year’s Day celebration that’ll start things off right.

Southern Blackeye Peas

Our classic Southern Blackeye Peas recipe gets its great taste by starting with a savory base of diced ham and chopped bacon. The aromatic trinity of onion, celery, and red bell pepper (for a nice hint of color) gets sautéed in the pot with the ham, bacon, and bacon fat combo. Then chicken stock is added along with the blackeye peas, for even more richness in the final dish. Blackeye peas simmer till tender relatively quickly compared to other beans, so you can make and serve this delicious dish in short order and without much pre-planning.

Southern Collard Greens complement blackeye peas beautifully and also incorporate the wonders of bacon and its grease. First, the fat is rendered out of the bacon, and the crispy, crumbled bacon is reserved for topping. Chopped onion and garlic are cooked in the grease until translucent, and then chicken stock, rice vinegar, sugar, and seasonings are simmered with bright bunches of chopped collard greens till tender. Finally, the greens are topped with the reserved crumbled bacon for an amazing dish that doesn’t disappoint.

Southern Collard Greens

Finally, our Easy Pan Fried Pork Chops round out the menu. So fast and so simple! Thin cut, bone-in pork chops are dredged in a mixture of flour, Creole seasoning, and garlic powder, and then fried in vegetable oil in a skillet. After three minutes per side, they’re done — as well as delightfully golden brown and tasty.

Easy Pan Fried Pork Chops

This whole menu can be cooked up in a little over an hour and is an extremely satisfying way to usher in the new year. Let the prospect of good luck and money (and a wonderful meal) put it on your must-do list for January 1st.

And don’t forget the cornbread!

Buttermilk Cornbread