Everything But The Squeal

[Yeps]

So, largely due to budget constraints but also for fun, I have been experimenting with the odd cuts of meat, especially pork. So far I have had fantastic results by putting trotters in my spaghetti sauce, and I have been using salt pork in various applications.

Any ideas for what to do with fatback, salt pork, or pig tails?

Also, share your recipes and experiences with the less common cuts.

 

[1961MJS]

Hi

Based on your title, I thought that this was something a little different. When I was in school, the local Kiwanis club had a quarterly fundraiser Pancake and Sausage supper. These were held on Thursday Nights. The pig was still alive on Monday and the whole thing went into the sausage (everything but the squeal). I've never purposefully bought fatback or salt pork.

Later

 

[Big Man]

Fatback is good fried (very crisp) and eaten like bacon. But, the best use (I think) for fatback is as seasoning when cooking green beans. Cut a couple chunks an inch or so long and throw in the pot as the beans cook. It really adds great flavor.

 

[lolly_loisides]

Have you tried Crispy Pigs Tails? The link to "Nose to tail at home" is a good blog. They recreate all of Fergus Henderson's recipes in his fantastic book Nose to Tail. I'd recommend buying the book. Other recipes include Lamb brains terrine, Sorrel, Chicory & pigs ear salad and Brawn (yum, yum, yum).

 

[Haversack]

Cut up the fatback into cubes, fry them, and use them as croutons in a salad.

 

[Miss sofia]

Pig cheek and the neck meat is some of the most flavoursome and succulent i have eaten. We used to have a broiled pig or piglet head quite often for supper when it was available, when i lived in Italy. It's great roasted too.They eat pretty much all of an animal that is humanely possible. I draw the line at brains though.

Tripe is lovely, slow-cooked italian style, with lots of garlic and herbs and tomato

Gizzards are pretty good. I always have the warm gesier salad if it's on the menu in a french restaurant.

 

[dnjan]

You didn't mention the ears, but I read something recently about pigs ears being sliced thin and deep-fried. Kind of like shoestring potatoes.

 

[dnjan]

Gizzards are pretty good. I always have the warm gesier salad if it's on the menu in a french restaurant.

Every so often I get a craving for gizzards, buy a pound, and fry them up!

Could never find a use for chicken liver though. When I was a kid (we butchered our own chickens on the farm), nobody would eat the chicken liver. And we had to cook it just to get the dog to eat it ...

 

[Mr. Bingley]

While it's not an "uncommon" cut I like to smoke butts. After 12 hours or so in the smoker what starts out as 15 lbs or so is down to oh 8 lbs maybe. I'll pull it all and we'll eat great that night and have a large amount of leftovers which I vacuum seal in roughly 1lb portions. Makes fantastic pasta sauce and pulled pork nachos are something to die for.

 

[1961MJS]

Cut up the fatback into cubes, fry them, and use them as croutons in a salad.

Hiya Haversack

That actually sounds good, but last month I got grossed out at a local Illinois diner eating a salad. A SALAD, it was too greasy. Greasy, not rotten, not wilted, but greasy. This place made their own croutons by cutting up toast, battering it, and deep fat frying it. I'm well over 40 and felt like I needed to pop zits when I left the place. The fries were batter dipped and deep fat fried too. The club sandwich was good however.

Could never find a use for chicken liver though. When I was a kid (we butchered our own chickens on the farm), nobody would eat the chicken liver. And we had to cook it just to get the dog to eat it ...

Chicken liver is great bait, try it on bluegill or catfish.

Later

 

[dnjan]

Chicken liver is great bait, try it on bluegill or catfish.

Great suggestion! Do you think bass would go for it?

 

[Big Man]

... Could never find a use for chicken liver ...

I love fried chicken liver. Years ago when I was working on the ward at the State Hospital and had to pull weekend duty, my grandmother would fry up a big mess of chicken livers and send them to me and the other two boys that worked with me for our Sunday dinner.

 

[Haversack]

Here's the redaction of a 16th C. Italian recipe for grilled chicken livers that our neighbor downstairs tried out when we went camping together back in July:

1 lb livers (I used chicken livers, which I halved)
4 parts powder douce
2 parts salt
1 part fennel seed
pork caul fat

Mix spices together. Roll livers lightly in spice mixture, wrap in caul fat, and skewer. Grill until done. Using two skewers makes the livers less likely to fall off.

They were mighty fine hot off the grill. Tasty little meat bombs. Powder Douce by the way is a sweet spice mixture commonly used in Renaissance and Medieval cooking. It is usually comprised of cinnamon, ginger, sugar, nutmeg, and cloves.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Great suggestion! Do you think bass would go for it?

I used to use it a lot as a kid, when my grandparents would take me fishing.
Not sure about Bass, because I thought they were more about the movement.
As for fatback, yes green beans seasoned with it is a Southern staple, behind pork rinds.
You can also use it on other beans, although most people use bone-in ham.
My grandmother used to use bacon fat in corn, with black pepper.
In a long answer to your question, fatback can be used for lots of things.

 

[Tomasso]

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/70095/

 

[HepKitty]

Yeps the title of the thread cracked me up lol

as for actual help here, I got nothin'