Salt Pork Stew
Salt Pork Stew: A Simple Supper from Hard Times
Hard times can teach you a lot about a person, and the Great Depression showed the true grit of folks who refused to quit. The stories I grew up hearing from the old timers painted a picture of dust storms rolling in like a black wall and families doing everything they could to stretch what little they had. Supper was never fancy, but it was honest, filling, and made with a whole lot of heart.
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One of those meals was salt pork stew, a dish that carried families through days when the wind blew the dirt so thick you had to light a lantern in the middle of the afternoon. This stew was built on whatever vegetables were on hand and a little piece of salt pork from the smokehouse that could feed a whole table when times were lean.
How to Make the Salt Pork Stew
1. Start the Beans
Begin by soaking your beans to soften them up. Any bean will work, but lima beans were common because they were cheap and stored well. After soaking, simmer them gently in a pot of water without any seasoning. The flavor will come later.
Tip: Do not season the beans early. The salt from the pork will take care of that later.
2. Prep the Salt Pork
Salt pork is the cured rind and fat from the hog, and it was a staple on the farm because it kept a long time. Give it a quick rinse to remove some of the surface salt. Chunk it into pieces and place it in a cast iron skillet to render. Let the fat melt down low and slow until the pieces turn crisp.
Tip: Keep all the rendered drippings. That fat is the heart of the stew and the base of the gravy.
3. Add the Vegetables
Chop carrots, onion, and potatoes. Add them into the pot with the beans once they begin to turn tender. Still no seasoning at this point.
4. Make the Gravy
When the salt pork is crispy, remove the pieces but save every drop of the drippings in the skillet. Add flour a little at a time to the fat, stirring and mashing until it forms a smooth paste. Keep working it until it begins to brown slightly.
Take it back to the heat and slowly add water to build a loose gravy. Stir constantly to keep lumps from forming. A few lumps never hurt anybody, but smooth gravy will blend right into the stew.
Tip: If the gravy clumps, just keep stirring. A batch of gravy can always be saved.
5. Bring It All Together
Drain the water from the beans and vegetables. Pour the gravy over the top and stir well. Add water as needed to thin it to a stew-like consistency. Simmer it all together until everything blends into one hearty pot.
Finish by stirring in the crispy salt pork pieces. That crunch was a treasure during hard times and is still the best part today.
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