Salo as a national symbol of Ukraine

Salo is a traditional Central and Eastern Europe food: slabs of pork underskin fat, with or without skin. It is often mistranslated to English as “bacon” or “lard”. Unlike lard, salo is non-rendered pork fat. Unlike bacon, salo has little or no meat.

Preservation. For preservation, salo is salted, sometimes also smoked and aged in a dark and cold place, where it will last for a year or more. For flavouring and better preservation salo may be cured, or covered with a thick layer of paprika, or sometimes black pepper. Usually the underbelly fat is not used for salting. The slabs of fat are cut into manageable pieces, typically 15×20 cm, and smeared with salt. The slabs are placed skin-down into a wooden box or barrel, alternating with one-centimetre layers of salt.

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.

Culinary. Salo may be consumed raw, but can also be cooked or fried or finely chopped with garlic as a condiment for borsch. Small pieces of salo are added to some types of sausage. Thinly-sliced salo on rye bread rubbed with garlic is a traditional snack to accompany vodka in Russia, or horilka in Ukraine.

Salo is often chopped into small pieces and fried to render the fat for use in cooking, while the remaining cracklings (shkvarky in Ukrainian) are used as condiments for fried potatoes or varenyky.

The thick pork skin that remains after using the salo’s fat can also contribute to the stock for soup or borscht. After boiling it is discarded.

Salo in popular culture. In Eastern-European humour, salo is a stereotypical attribute of Ukrainian culture. In jokes salo is often represented as the highest object of desire for the stereotypical Ukrainian.