The Vintage Preserved Meat That Kept Cowboys Going In The Old West

When you think of the Old West, you likely picture people bursting through swinging saloon doors and ordering whiskey, shootouts, and crowds of travelers moving toward California in hopes of finding gold. One thing you might not think about: what exactly cowboys ate when they were exploring the vast, wide-open spaces of the West. Some of the staples of life on horseback included beans, hardtack (dry crackers), and, believe it or not, pork. Of course, cowboys couldn't simply pack up a container of fresh pork, sling it in their saddlebags, and call it a day. The pork was heavily salted, allowing it to stand the test of time as they rode from one camp to the next. Even though the salt pork was loaded up with enough salt to prevent spoilage, it still had to be cooked before it was consumed.

The way salt curing worked (and continues to work today) was pretty simple. When liberally applied to meat, salt takes water out of bacterial cells. This kills the bacteria, working as an effective preservative (fun fact: pure salt actually never expires). The technique has been around for thousands of years — it was first practiced by ancient Egyptians. For the cowboys of the Old West, it meant the ability to enjoy meat on their travels, even when food was scarce. 

If you'd like to give salted pork a go, you certainly can — but you'll likely want to it to enhance the flavor of soups and stews, as the taste is pretty strong. The method is simple: toss 1 pound of pork scraps with 2 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon or so of sugar (plus any flavorings you'd like to add), then refrigerate it for a week or so. Rinse and dry the pork, refrigerate it for a week or two (or freeze it a few months), and you're good to go. Take pieces out as you need them, and enjoy the salty, savory flavor of cured pork in a variety of dishes.

While cowboys might have added salt pork to their go-to meal of beans over the fire, it's possible that they also ate this staple on its own at times. Some accounts even say that cowboys ate salt pork as a part of breakfast (which makes sense, as salt pork and bacon were potentially used interchangeably depending on what the trail cook could source). Many people today find salt pork too tough to enjoy on its own, but if you want to really see what breakfast was like on the range, you can certainly give it a try. Have a little cooked salt pork alongside coffee and biscuits for a true taste of what life was like for a cowboy in the Wild West.