Comments on: Ohboyohboyohboy -- It's saltpork!!

Question: Ohboyohboyohboy -- It's saltpork!!

meese — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:22:41 -0800

What can I use as a non-porky substitute for salt pork?

I absolutely love the added oomph salt pork gives to beans, soups, and similar recipes. However, I don't want to eat pork anymore. I'm cool with any other kind of meat. Is there anything else that can come anywhere close to replicating the deliciousness of salt pork?

By: mareli

mareli — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:24:16 -0800

Turkey bacon.

By: rabidsegue

rabidsegue — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:26:42 -0800

Smoked oysters?

By: Mngo

Mngo — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:29:20 -0800

Liquid smoke? Maybe plus some fat. In some applications, tempeh could help too.

By: mamaquita

mamaquita — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:33:37 -0800

Smoked turkey thighs

By: peachfuzz

peachfuzz — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:33:47 -0800

Cured duck breast with a thick layer of fat is probably as close as you're going to get.

By: deludingmyself

deludingmyself — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:34:41 -0800

Fermented black beans have a different character, but could be good depending on the dish.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:34:43 -0800

Salt beef. Salt cod.

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:34:54 -0800

Pastrami. It's the Jewish pork, I'm telling you.

By: peachfuzz

peachfuzz — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:35:18 -0800

Cured duck breast with a thick layer of fat is probably as close as you're going to get texture- and usage-wise (you're not trying to get a smoky taste, right?)

By: emilyw

emilyw — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:38:12 -0800

Fish sauce (aka nam pla).

By: The Toad

The Toad — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:38:35 -0800

Corned Beef and lots of fat.

By: meese

meese — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:42:12 -0800

Wow, now that it's been suggested, I feel kind of stupid for not having thought of pastrami or corned beef. It seems so obvious now!

I'm still ignorant, though. I only know about pastrami from sandwiches: lunch meat. And I only know corned beef as what I eat on Yay For Ireland Day. Is the pastrami I should get the same lunch meat-type stuff? At the deli window at the store? Is the corned beef I should get the same as I get when I cook it as a meal?

By: furnace.heart

furnace.heart — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:45:36 -0800

Yeah, cured duck breasts is a good replacement for salt pork, they also happen to be incredibly delicious, and stupid easy to do at home.

You can also make corned beef at home, for way cheaper than you'd normally be able to... Yay brisket!

By: halogen

halogen — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:49:40 -0800

Liquid smoke can be great if you want to cut down on calories or have vegetarians over. Also, while an entirely different oomph, smoked chipotle peppers add fantastic flavor to beans, soups, stews, and sauces (and I don't even eat spicy food).

By: jeb

jeb — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:53:37 -0800

Consider branching out of the meat world and into the "good sources of glutamate" world that J. Kenji Lopez-Alt calls "umami bombs": soy sauce, parmesan cheese, anchovies, marmite, etc. None of these things come close to replacing pork in the general case, but for meaty bass in soups and such like you're talking about, worth a shot.

By: holgate

holgate — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 15:58:56 -0800

Parmesan rinds. Different oomph, but oomph all the same.

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:05:03 -0800

A dollop of Marmite/Vegemite and some liquid smoke. Your mind will be blown.

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:05:54 -0800

oops..And a bit of light flavored oil for the unctuousness.

By: Salamandrous

Salamandrous — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:42:55 -0800

Oh wow. Cooking with marmite... I'm intrigued!

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:00:38 -0800

I was surprised by how amazing it was myself. I'm in love with Marmite in general, but never did more than bread+Marmite. This morning, I loaded up a crockpot full of collard greens, onions, carrots, chana dal, liquid smoke, black pepper, paprika, a touch of olive oil, a sprinkling of crushed sanaam peppers (beware!) and a big ol' dollop of Marmite.

When I got home this afternoon, I took a taste and was blown away by how amazingly delicious it was. Tasted just like the stuff mom used to make (I think I'm one of the few Jews on the planet who was raised on ham hocks and collard greens).

By: bonobothegreat

bonobothegreat — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 17:14:04 -0800

My local grocery store sells vacuume-packed smoked turkey drumsticks in the luncheon meat section. I think they taste exactly like smoked ham.

By: sanko

sanko — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:41:59 -0800

Liquid smoke is pretty much that - smoke. Salt pork hasn't been smoked, but does contain serious amounts of salt and fat (smoke is fat-free last time I checked.) Try the fattiest corned beef you can find, or cured duck.

By: librarina

librarina — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:32:22 -0800

Cured duck is indeed awesome and easy to make. We use Ruhlman's recipe for that and corned beef, which furnace.heart linked, and also consulted Alton Brown's corned beef recipe.

As far as umami-bombs go, don't forget miso!

By: jb

jb — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:37:39 -0800

marmite, vegemite and soy sauce all add salt and umami to many dishes. Soy sauce is my go-to instead of broth/bullion in cooking (because it's more convenient, and I don't like the taste of bullion much).

By: desuetude

desuetude — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:39:43 -0800

Nthign smoked turkey parts. If you're anywhere near a real butcher, they'll be cheap as heck.