Let's talk about salo

[W. R.]

http://img.lenta.ru/news/2010/01/28/salo/picture.jpg

I don't mean Salò (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Social_Republic) or Salo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Salo) but salo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salo_(food)).

Last time I ate it... some ten minutes ago with white bread, but it's more usual to consume it with rye bread. My uncle once stated that it is possible for a person to live on salo with bread for weeks without longing for other food. You can consume it with ketchup, onion, garlic or something like this.

Now it is difficult to buy 'classical' salted salo in a shop, thus it is common food rather for countrymen than for town-dwellers.

How fatback is cooked, preserved, and consumed in your part of Europe (or the world)? Do you eat it often? What with?

I heard once that it is unhealthy food. Don't you think it is a blatant lie and a Jewish plot? :biggrin:

Please discuss.

[The Ripper]

Its the first time I hear of it but it sounds delicious. :D

[Absinthe]

First time I hear it as well, and I can feel my cholesterol levels skyrocketing just by reading about it :p

[W. R.]

Its the first time I hear of it but it sounds delicious. :D:blink: Okay, but can you solve the riddle what Finns do to fatback? If they don't consume it? :mmmm:
First time I hear it as wellThen the same question to you. :)

[Absinthe]

I am trying to figure out if we even do something with it.

This is the chart I found:

http://www.alphamega.com.cy/sites/all/files/uploads/XOIROS_ELLINIKA_0.jpg

It does not specifically mention fatback, if I am reading it correctly.

[Daos]

We call it "slănină (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl%C4%83nin%C4%83)"...:D Very popular!;) It's somewhat like bacon.

http://www.fermazootehnica.ro/images/produse/afumaturi/slanina_afumata.JPG

http://www.catering-cluj-napoca.ro/DisplayImage/ProcessImage.aspx?ImageContentID=164&ObjectType=Product&ObjectID=184

http://coquinaris.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/imgp4373.jpg

We usually eat it with mămăligă (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%83m%C4%83lig%C4%83) (polenta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polenta)) or we put it in sarmale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarma_%28food%29), others eat it with bread and onion, but you can pretty much eat it with anything.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iYwE055LntI/SqQWy-pCQEI/AAAAAAAACb4/37gp_P-heJs/s400/040920093901.jpg
:hungry:

[W. R.]

I am trying to figure out if we even do something with it.

This is the chart I found:

http://www.alphamega.com.cy/sites/all/files/uploads/XOIROS_ELLINIKA_0.jpg

It does not specifically mention fatback, if I am reading it correctly.If pigs don't have fatback it means that they are bad pigs. :sad:

[Amarantine]

Yap, tradition food in Montenergo...in all possible variants:P also used in combination with garlic as medical (and really successful) treatman against tuberculosis.

Btw I don't like it. Concerning cholesterol, nothing more then other bacons, of fat meats.

[Treffie]

I think the closest we get to this here is crackling - nom, nom :p

http://genuiness.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/favouritefood2.jpg

About salo - if you don't want to eat it, it comes in handy for other purposes :thumb001:


When salo has been aged too long, or exposed to light, the fat may become oxidized on the surface and become yellowed and bitter-tasting. Then it can be used as a water-repellent treatment for leather boots or as a bait for mouse traps or simply turned into homemade soap.

[Amarantine]

When salo has been aged too long, or exposed to light, the fat may become oxidized on the surface and become yellowed and bitter-tasting. Then it can be used as a water-repellent treatment for leather boots or as a bait for mouse traps or simply turned into homemade soap.


exactly, in Montenegro we used to use slanina, exactly for all above things.

[Osweo]

Please don't talk about САЛО. I'm getting tearful already.... :cry:

Heavenly... Perhaps I should have gone to Kiev rather than Moskva. :p I did have a Ukrainian nearly-mother-in-law for three years though, so I did receive some education in this miraculous substance.

When going on long camping expeditions in Russia this is an essential provision. Sliced thick or thin, on rye bread... MMM!!!!!!! :hungry: Shpig or however it's spelt is an interesting variation, and all in all there must be far above a hundred different types of salo for the connoisseur.

I can't STAND it boiled though! :D

[W. R.]

First time I hear it as well, and I can feel my cholesterol levels skyrocketing just by reading about it :p<...> Another joke depicts a conversation about two friends or kums, as they are called in Ukrainian. “Kum, do you know what Russians call our salo? – What? – Cellulite!” This joke refers to the widespread stereotype that salo, consisting of 88 to 94 percent pure fat, is harmful to one's health and may cause obesity and atherosclerosis. “In fact, salo contains only traces of cholesterol that causes atherosclerosis and obesity,” said Valentyn Rybalko, academician and doctor of agriculture science. “One hundred grams of pork has 60 grams of cholesterol, ham has 67, butter has 244 and cod-liver oil has 5700.” He has been studying salo for almost 40 years and came to the conclusion that 50 grams of salo a day with fresh vegetables and apple or grape vinegar is not harmful, but rather healthy and helps to remove radioactive nuclides from a person’s system. Salo contains irreplaceable fatty acids. One of them is arachidonic acid, which plays an important part in cholesterol metabolism and helps the heart muscle work. If you put a piece of salo between your cheek and gum, it can cure your toothache. Melted fat is helpful for joint pain and varicose veins. Even a rind of salo is good for memory and increases potency.

"All you need to know about salo" (pdf file) (http://www.ukrcham.ch/docs/salo.pdf)

:nod