Many countries have their own national varieties of cured pork fat – lardo, bacon, pancetta and many more. It seems that almost every culture has its own way of curing pork fat.
Salo is the Ukrainian cured pork fat and is the ultimate national food of Ukraine. Salo is so important to Ukraine that if you ever visit Ukraine, you’re not legally allowed to leave the country until you try some salo! Ok, maybe not. But there is a museum of salo with an on-site restaurant that has salo in every item on the menu – even in the desserts. How crazy is that?
When I was little, I remember my grandpa curing literally buckets of salo at a time. Studies have shown that 99.99% of men in Ukraine know how to cure pork fat – the other 0.01% have not read this post yet.
Salo is one of those national dishes that has a slightly different recipe in every household. Every family in Ukraine makes salo their own way following a recipe that has been secretly passed inside the family from father to son for multiple generations.
Traditionally, salo makes a great accompaniment to Borscht. If you don’t have borscht, you can simply serve salo with some rye bread and vodka. And you can feel good about it because in Soviet Ukraine salo cures you!
The key in making good salo is very good and very fresh piece of pork fat from a trusted source. Don’t bother making this with an off-the-shelf grocery piece. Go with a local grower, who is raising pigs the old way; our source have always been Dingo Farms. They do a fantastic job of raising their pigs in good conditions without the use of antibiotics, growth hormones and other nasty stuff.
You will only need a few ingredients to start:
2 lb organic pasture pork belly
2 cups sea salt
few bay leaves and peppercorns
a handful of garlic cloves
2 tsp red pepper flakes
Place the pork belly on a cutting board and let it sit for at least an hour in room temperature.
Fill about an inch of glass container with salt and place bacon on top. Layer bay leaves, peppercorns, red pepper flakes and garlic on top and cover it fully with salt.
Leave it in the fridge for 3-4 days and it’s done! Delicious and flavorful cured Ukrainian-style bacon, a.k.a salo.
- 2 lb organic pasture pork belly
- 2 cups sea salt
- few bay leaves and peppercorns
- a handful of garlic cloves
- 2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Place the pork belly on a cutting board and let it sit for at least an hour in room temperature.
- Fill about an inch of glass container with salt and place bacon on top. Layer bay leaves, peppercorns, red pepper flakes and garlic on top and cover it fully with salt.
- Leave it in the fridge for 3-4 days and it’s done!
Do I need to cook it after the 3-4 day curing process or is it ready to eat?
Salo is ready to eat after curing. Enjoy with fresh crusty bread 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Chad!
Is salo the same as salted pork used in many US southern cooking?
Sorry, No it’s not.
So the question is: does it need to be cooked before you eat it? I wasn’t sure when I read your previous answer.
No cooking is necessary, bacon is fermented and can be eaten as is with a piece of fresh bread.
just wondering how long the shelf life on this salo recipe is?
would love to use your recipe in a commercial capacity!
The shelf life in the fridge would be around 1 month. In the freezer – 12 months. Thanks for stopping by and good luck!
Nice recipe, thank you, Lily!
PS: who will keep it in the fridge for more than a month?;))) I’m not talking about a year in the freezer even. It will be eaten in a very short time 😉
I can tell you this as a Ukrainian!
Best,
Art
haha I know what you mean Artem! Thanks so much for stopping by!
I thought the product requires air dry for several weeks post cure…
Hi Daniel. The salo is ready to be consumed without air drying for this recipe.
Thank you for the great recipe I’m going to put it together tonight.. when it’s done do you just lightly brush the salt off or do you rinse it with water?
Do you wash off excess salt after the 3 or 4 days ?
No.
Eat it as it is
Yes, gently brush off excess salt before serving
I tried your recipe but after 4 days the salt at the bottom had a lot of water (so the underside of the meat was still somewhat raw compared to the top which was not wet). Is this normal? The container was air tight and completely sealed so water did not come from outside.
Hi Sassy! Yes, the salt tends to extract all the moisture from the meaty part, this is normal. I suggest just changing the salt if it happens.
Hi Lily, isn’t Ukrainian usually pure fat without flesh? That’s how my family makes salo and I heard that is Ukrainian, not Russian. Of course, back when my family settled in Harbin there was no distinction between Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. In any case, you’ve saved me a lot of money. I was going to get some salo from a nearby Russian market here and it costs an arm and a leg here in SoCal. Thank you very much.
Freezing pork that is less than 6 inches thick at 5 F (-15 C) for three weeks will kill the roundworm parasites. But roundworm parasites in wild-animal meat won’t die by freezing, even over a long period. Know that other processing methods don’t kill parasites.May 25, 2022
https://www.mayoclinic.org › syc-…
Trichinosis – Symptoms & causes – Mayo Clinic
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Freezing fish or fish products to an internal temperature of -35°C for 15 hours, -20°C for at least 7 days, or to -35°C until frozen, and held at – 20°C for a minimum of 24 hours. 2 The critical factor is to ensure that the center of the fish is solidly frozen. Not all home freezers can freeze to these temperatures.
http://www.bccdc.ca › FPSPDF
Illness-Causing Fish Parasites (Worms) – BC Centre for Disease Control