This one's been a long time coming. Several years of getting in the field since joining this forum and diving into Middle Earth in a hands-on way have all kind-of come together to teach me that camping with crappy food...sucks. Back in my days with Boy Scouts, we usually had good food, but we weren't limited by a historical perspective. Shake-and-bake anything was the name of the game, and we ate well. Finding a way to 'dine' well in Middle-Earth when everything you consume must be carried unrefrigerated and fit into Tolkien's vision...well, that's another story. But over the months that this article has been "stewing" in my mind, I think I've finally found my own personal solution to this dilemma...I hope you'll enjoy!
Without a doubt in my mind, including the words "Salted Pork" in that line may be one of the greatest contributions to our wonderful hobby the professor could have made. It's made using historical methods of preservation, is cheap and readily available to pretty much everyone, can be used in a wide variety of recipes, and can be carried unrefrigerated for days at a time, or smoked to last weeks."'...you need not turn your nose up at the provender, Master Gimli,' said Merry. 'This is not orc-stuff, but man-food as Treebeard calls it. Will you have Wine or Beer? There's a barrel inside there--very passable. And this is first-rate salted pork.'"
-Meriadoc Brandybuck, in the storerooms at Isengard. The Lord of the Rings, Part 2: The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter 9: Flotsam and Jetsam
What we're going to do is go through a full treatise on Salt Pork, from acquisition to basic packing, tools, and cooking methods, through several good trekking recipes, to nutritional value on the trail, in hopes that you will fall as in love with Salt Pork as I am. What we won't do, is discuss how to make Salted Pork from scratch. Though I know we're all do-it-yourselfers and love a good project, in the spirit of this website's goal and vision, budgetauthenticity.org, I'm going to only cover inexpensive, pre-made, store bought Salt Pork.
Where to Buy
I'm not familiar with many locations to acquire true pre-made Salted Pork that is of any value to us, but I CAN provide a single store that I can guarantee nearly every member of this forum has access to:
Wal*Mart.
Now, not every Wal*Mart carries the right stuff...not every Wal*Mart even has a grocery section. I've had the best success at the newest great phenomenon: the SUPER Wal*Mart. If your Wal*Mart has a grocery section, check out the meat area (near the ham and bacon is a good bet) and see what you can find. Most Wal*Mart's I know of carry two, sometimes three different packages labeled "Salted Pork", but not all of them are trek-worthy. The most common one you'll probably encounter looks like this:
It's pre-sliced and tastes pretty good...but isn't really trek-worthy. Being pre-sliced isn't all that big of a deal, but it takes a little out of the authenticity for me. The major problems inherent in this brand come up when you open the package, and a huge flood of juices start running out. They aren't greasy...they're juicy. Not okay for trekking...unless you're carrying plastic zip-lock bags *wags finger*. Shame on you! (Don't worry...I've been guilty of plastic bags hidden in pouches many times, and still carry my hawk's food in one, since it's uncooked, tends to smell by day three, and could contaminate my own food.)
Now, the juiciness can be remedied...but it's time-consuming and not really worth it for how little Salt Pork you get out of the deal in these particular packages. If it's all you've got, read on to the section on "Smoking", and go forward from there.
The other form of pre-made Salt Pork found at Wal*Mart are nothing short of amazing. They are precisely what I've been looking for over several years of Middle Earth Reenacting, and either somehow overlooked, or are newly stocked items. Either way, here we go. The packages will look something like this:
The key words to look for on the label (particularly if your Wal*Mart doesn't have the same brand for some reason) is "Smoked Pork Jowl Bacon". Now "Pork Jowl Bacon" isn't mentioned in Tolkien, but he never goes into so much detail as for us to know what part of the animal is being consumed at any point in time. Fact of the matter is, Wal*Mart stocks Salt Pork made from jowl, and it works great for our purposes. For the record, if you weren't exactly sure what Salt Pork really is...well, essentially, it's Bacon.
NOW you're sold, aren't you? *grin*
This particular item is unevenly packaged, so you buy it by weight, and as a result, get precisely the amount that you're looking for. The package in the photograph cost me less than three dollars. It runs about $2.40 per pound, and this particular one is just a hair over a pound. I can get between four and six meals out of this. This brand is far less juicy than the previous package because it has already been smoked. When I say it is "less juicy", what I really mean is that it's NOT at all juicy. The texture could be described as "greasy", but never juicy...we'll discuss the benefits of this in short order.
Packing Salt Pork
Like mentioned before...if you have the juicy stuff, the only way to keep it from running all over all of your gear as-is would be to carry it in a zip-lock bag. To avoid steering people away from authenticity and towards plastic bags, we're going to assume that you have either the Pork Jowl variety, or have smoked your juicy salt pork dry (read the cooking section for details on this.)
The most reasonable way I've found to package Salt Pork is to simply wrap it in a piece of linen that you don't particularly care about, and then slide this bundle into a waterproofed (oilcloth or waxed linen, etc.) bag that can be sealed off with a tie of some sort. The trick is to make sure you pre-wrap it in untreated fabric before placing it in your bag...placing your unwrapped pork directly into a waxed linen bag will smear wax all over it and make it taste terrible. NO bueno. Another alternative would be wrapping it in parchment first, but this seems a bit wasteful to a Ranger of the north, for whom paper would most likely be in short supply. You all may have some other ideas...which is why this is a discussion board!
Depending on how you intend to cook your pork, you may want to ration it out in advance, wrapping it separately in daily or meal-sized segments to avoid overeating and running your supply dry, etc.
Tools
Cooking tools needn't be fancy. However, a few things might be taken into consideration to help you make things a little more efficient."...Sam was a good cook, even by Hobbit reckoning, and he had done a good deal of the camp-cooking on their travels, when there was a chance. He still hopefully carried some of his gear in his pack: a small tinder box, two small shallow pans, the smaller fitting into the larger; inside them a wooden spoon, a short two-pronged fork, and some skewers were stowed; and hidden at the bottom of the pack in a flat wooden box a dwindling treasure, some salt."
-The Gear of Samwise Gamgee described during their time in Northern Ithilien, The Lord of the Rings, Part 2: The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter 4: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Sticking a sharpened stick through raw meat to cook it has a romantic appeal...but it's a pain. Having a pointed metal stake that's around 10-12" long and around 1/8" in diameter can be handy. Having a pointed FORK that's around the same length could be invaluable for the same reasons, as well as for frying and eating.
Spoons are useful if the recipe you're making involves a pot/boiler, but odds are that you already have one of those if you're looking for better ways to eat in the woods.
Frying pans are not, to my knowledge, of medieval invention, but it's been widely discussed here that the Hobbits tended towards 18th century culture, and heaven knows they knew how to cook. There are tons of sources for 18th cen. frying pans...I don't need to reference those here. In the same way, a good copper corn boiler can be useful for dealing with Salt Pork, but it's up to you to find a pot/boiler that fits your kit/style/impression of what Tolkien wanted (or, for the time being, your budget). In short...it's a pot. It boils stuff. You should have one, even if you don't carry it all the time. Some recipes listed here, or others you'll generate on your own, will require a certain amount of water per unit of dry goods (ie. rice, corn meal, etc.) Bringing a measuring cup is a pain...you've got enough to carry already. What I did was pour a measured cup of water into my boiler, and held my thumb at the level it came to on the outside of the boiler. Slip the boiler over a narrow hard surface (like the horn on an anvil) and use a smooth-edged coin and a light hammer to tap a mark into the boiler at that point. Rinse and repeat for two and three cups, etc. and you'll be able to guesstimate amounts quickly and accurately enough for trail food.
Basic Cooking Methods
Cooking Salt Pork is one of the more idiot-proof things a ranger can do in the woods. If you're a bad cook, you can cook Salt Pork and impress yourself. If you're a good cook, you can cook Salt Pork and impress everyone else. Not difficult. The best part is, because the meat is heavily salted for preservation's sake, little to no seasoning is really required (this, of course, varies by brand). The meat is very greasy, which lends a lot of rich flavor once cooked, and adding a few herbs for pizzazz is easy. Just don't add salt unless you really, really, really, really, really like salt. Like, really.
Smoking
Smoking is something to be done before taking to the woods, if you wish. Smoked Salt Pork will be drier, and can resemble jerky. I'd recommend cutting your pork into rationed sizes, and then smoking the excess misshapen cutoffs into a jerkey for trail food that you can chew on as you go, without cooking.
Should it be your unfortunate situation that the juicier, pre-sliced variety of Salt Pork be all that you have access to, you will need to smoke it to dry it out sufficiently for transport. Essentially, you will want to place it on one extreme end of a charcoal barbecue, and put pre-soaked hickory, mesquite, apple, or cherry wood chips over the coals on the other side for an hour or so. The slow heat and smoke will cook the juice out of the pork and add to its shelf life. It's your call when it is "done", but if you plan to eat it as jerky, be sure that it is thoroughly dried to a crispy texture...otherwise, plan to cook it again on the trail.
Roasting
What I'll refer to as 'roasting' in this article is really, the simplest form of cooking over a fire. Put a chunk of meat on a spit, and roast that sucker rotisserie style, like a hot dog on the fourth of July. This method burns off the most fat, as it doesn't simmer in the grease after it falls, if you're picky about that kind of thing. You can eat your roasted Salt Pork straight (a personal favorite of mine), which can be handy if you're just making a quick fire for lunch, or you can roast it as part of cooking a more extravagant meal (read on!)
Frying
This cooking method will appeal to you bacon lovers...if you carry a frying pan in your kit, you may live by this. Slice it up, and fry it like bacon, cooking it until the texture is at your preference for bacon...soft, crispy...your call. Eat it like bacon, or use it in a larger recipe. I'm a big fan of cleaning out the bacon grease with a crust of bread after I've eaten the meat itself, if I'm not adding the meat to a larger dish.
Boiling
Boiling Salt Pork can yield a bit of a broth to help flavor soups or stews, among other things. I wouldn't recommend boiling it and them simply eating it straight...roasting or frying tastes better, but boiling still has its uses (seen below.)
Recipes for a Ranger in the Wilds
In this section, we'll cover one recipe using each style of cooking to give you some ideas, and then you can expand your own menu list to further add variety to your meals in the wilds. I don't claim any culinary genius in the following paragraphs...these recipes are designed to be cheap, Tolkien-appropriate, easy to make, easy to carry in period containers, and effective at keeping an active body in a hostile environment alert and well-satisfied. If you smoked your juicy-pork to a greasy, non-jerky state, you can then in the woods cook it further using these methods. If you smoked all of your pork all the way to jerky...you're eating cold rations for the rest of your outing.
Recipe for Roasting: Salt Pork-Stuffed Baked Potato
Yep, you read that right...Rangers can dine in style. Thanks to Hobbits' love of growing potatoes, we can have a good old classic American meal in the woods. Just don't expect any sour cream.
Needed:"'Smeagol won't grub for roots and carrotses and--taters. What's taters, precious, eh, what's taters?' 'Po--ta--toes' said Sam. 'The Gaffer's delight, and rare good ballast for an empty belly.'"
-Smeagol and Samwise Gamgee during their time in Northern Ithilien, The Lord of the Rings, Part 2: The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter 4: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
One meal's Ration of uncooked Salt Pork
One Potato (variety is up to your preference and conscience)
A lump of cheese (optional...variety is up to your preference, but I would hope you would choose something period)
Seasoning of your choice (salt, if your pork needs it, and pepper work well)
This recipe could make use of a fork/roasting spit and a plate, if you happen to have one. Even a small plate...just bear in mind that baked potatoes are messy. Having a work surface is handy...a small slab of wood will do the job, and doubles as a cutting board.
Credit goes to Deadextra for the potato bit...I watched him cook a potato in this fashion last Spring, and it was nothing short of mind-blowing.
Start up your fire, and build up a decent bed of coals. Find some mud, or make some by digging an impression in the ground with the heel of your boot and pour in a potful of creek water. You want it to be soft and wet, but not runny...almost like clay. Take the mud, and coat your potato completely with it, building up a layer around half an inch thick.
Scoot your main fire off to one side, exposing some of the bed of coals. Place your mud-caked potato on them, and it'll start to bake. It'll take between 30 and 60 minutes to bake thoroughly...the mud should be completely dried all the way around well before you remove it from the fire.
After about 3/4ths of your cook time, start working on the Salt Pork. Cut your pork up into quarter-sized chunks, and slip them onto a stick/rod/fork. Roast them to your own personal preferences...I like them juicing, and lightly charred on the edges, but not crispy. Your call. Once they're cooked, cut your chunks into halves or thirds, and pile them on your plate.
By this time, the potato should be about done. Use a few green forked sticks or your cooking tools to pick the potato up and out of the fire. Set it on your plate (or improvise one). Do NOT pick it up with your fingers...it will be insanely hot. Promptly get to work with doctoring it up. Scrape the mud off as much of the potato as you can...a stick will do this job fine. It's common for the peel to come off during this step...don't freak out if it does.
Slit the top as you always would, and load the potato. Shave bits of cheese in first so they can melt, and then pile in your Salt Pork bits. Season if desired, and dig in.
If you're in the mood for a little extra flavor and don't mind really greasy food, fry the Salt Pork up in a pan instead of roasting it, and pour the grease over the potato for some added flavoring.
Recipe for Frying: Salt Pork Wild Rice
A Middle-Earth equivalent of the San-Francisco treat, this is about as close to Rice-a-Roni as you can get without bringing a cardboard box with you into the wilds.
Needed:
One meal's Ration of uncooked Salt Pork
One cup uncooked Wild Rice, your preference
A frying pan and a pot/boiler
Water (see manufacturer's directions for rice)
Build your fire, and either surround it on two sides with parallel logs to prop your cooking pots on, or place a few rocks in the bed of coals to rest them on. Memorize the manufacturer's directions on the rice package for the ratio of water to rice (so you don't have to bring the package with you!), and boil the rice until cooked through.
As the rice nears completion (about five minutes prior), cut the Salt Pork into quarter-sized chunks and put them in the frying pan on the fire. Fry them to your desired texture, and then check on the rice.
When the rice is done, check to see if there's any excess water in the bottom of the pot. Carefully dump this, and then pour the rice straight into the frying pan with the pork. Stir everything around, and lightly brown the rice. If you're attempting to be healthy in your use of Salt Pork, this is your opportunity to drain the excess grease from the pan before adding the rice. I keep it in for added flavor.
Let it cool off, and then dig in.
I'm not a big fan of seasoning this one...but I have diced up a few pearl onions and tossed them in with the Salt Pork a few minutes before adding the rice with good results.
Recipe for Boiling: Salt Pork Cornmeal Mash
Inspired by a recipe for Cornmeal Mash on the back of Quaker Brand Yellow Corn Meal, brought to my attention by Odigan on a trek, and the old stew recipe from Andy's website. Might sound weird, but I guarantee you'll like it. Well...if you like grits, anyway.
Needed:"Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow."
-A Poem of Rohan, Recalling Eorl the Young, The Lord of the Rings, Part 2: The Two Towers, Book III, Chapter 6: The King of the Golden Hall
One meal's Ration of uncooked Salt Pork
1/2 Cup Quaker Yellow Corn Meal
2 1/4 cups water
Pot/Boiler
Start up your fire, either hang your boiler over the flames, or scoot your main fire off to one side, exposing some of the coals, and place your boiler there, with the water alone, for starters. While it's heating, cut up your salt pork into quarter-sized chunks. Toss them in the water, and boil covered for about ten to fifteen minutes, or until the pork appears cooked and the water has taken on a significant amount of pork juice.
Slowly stir the corn meal in to the boiling water, and stir frequently until thickened. Cover, and continue to simmer at a lower heat (take a few coals out from under the boiler) for another five minutes. It should get to the consistency of grits/oatmeal, and you'll be good to go.
The Quaker recipe calls for salt...but the Salt Pork may add plenty of that all on its own, depending on brand. You can season with whatever you'd like, but you may find that the best way to flesh out this meal is adding some dried veggies when you first toss in the Salt Pork, like dried peas or carrots.
Nutritional Value on the Trail
I won't lie to you...there's nothing super 'healthy' by today's standards about eating Salt Pork as a staple to your diet. It has a high fat content, and has far more salt than necessary for a person on a day-to-day basis. You DO need to watch your hydration eating this stuff...a little more water in your costrel will go a long way.
That being said, there is a decent reason for all of the high calorie intakes involved here. Any book on wilderness survival will tell you that you go through more calories per day in a wilderness situation than you do in your normal day-to-day life. Same goes for soldiers...says so right on the MRE pouch. Sleeping on the ground during cold nights has a similar effect. Downing those extra calories, even if they are from fat, can really help you keep yourself warm and energized . Just don't overdo it on the Salt Pork during your everyday life. I love the stuff...but I'd feel better if I wasn't responsible for plugging everyone's arteries.
So there you have it. Salt Pork is an amazing thing, and can be used in a myriad of different recipes. If you follow these recipes as I've laid them out, you can easily do two days of breakfast lunch and dinner with half a pound or so of Salt Pork, a lump of bread, a few potatoes, and a few handfuls of dry goods. I'm eager to hear what kinds of trail meals you all come up with.
-Greg
