Salt Pork

Salt pork is a slab of heavily salted pork belly or fatback, usually pale to pink with a rind and thick streaks of fat. It tastes intensely salty and porky, renders abundant fat, and turns crisp when fried; cooks use it to season beans, chowders, braises, and greens, or cut into lardons for garnish. It is sold in slabs or slices, often packed in brine.\n\nDeveloped as a preservation method in Europe and adopted widely in New England and the American South, salt pork traveled with sailors and settlers. Producers cure fatty cuts with heavy salt, sometimes storing in brine, and it remains a staple in regional dishes like clam chowder and pot liquor greens.