Today we will be talking about a preparation
\nthat is fundamental to traditional culture in Romania, as well as the rest of
\nthe Balkans, fatback. In fact, that is an approximation of the term, since its
\npreparation may be quite elaborate, and the better term is the Romanian one,
\nslanina, which is a term derived from the old Slavic word for salt. In fact,
\nmost neighbouring peoples use a similar term, since most of them speak Slavic
\nlanguages. Slanina generally indicates fatback and with the rind on, and is
\nmost times salted and smoked, sometimes spiced and seasoned. It is the most
\ncommon way of preserving pig fat from the back or belly. <\/p>\n
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Its making is closely related to the entire
\nrange of winter traditions related to the slaughter of pigs in traditional
\nhouseholds in villages. Each area has its own ways of preparing it, and the
\nmethods also vary in terms of how long it is expected to last. In some
\nvillages, it is kept buried in salt. In others, it is kept in a brine. One
\nversion of that is using a brine made by dissolving two tablespoons of salt per
\nlitre of water. After bringing the brine to a boil, crushed garlic is added,
\nthen peppercorns and black pepper powder, thyme, and bay leaves. The fatback is
\nset into a barrel or a large pot, then covered in the cold brine, and left for
\nabout three weeks. Then it is sent to get smoked. <\/p>\n
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In certain areas of Transylvania, people salt
\nthe fatback using brine in which sauerkraut was made, which has a distinctive flavour
\nand salty tangy taste. They add peppercorns and bay leaves to the brine. They
\nfirst boil the fatback until a fork can be pushed into it easily, then they
\npress it. After draining it, it is covered in a garlic paste, then sprinkled
\nwith paprika, sometimes mixed with chili powder. It is then kept in a dry, cool
\nplace. Before refrigerators, people used a room, sometimes a dedicated one, for
\nhanging out their preserved pork products. In Medieval Saxon villages in
\nTransylvania, the fatback was kept in rooms set aside in defence towers. Almost
\nevery fortified church in Transylvania has a fatback tower, which is actually
\ncalled just that. Every family had its own set of hooks for hanging out their
\nfatback. You could only go in there on Sundays, because the temperature was
\nkept low by blocks of ice covered in straw, brought in during the winter
\nmonths. <\/p>\n
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No matter how you prepare it, you can eat the
\nfatback as is, sliced thin, alongside other entrees, preferably with red onion
\nor cloves of raw garlic, as the people in villages traditionally do when they
\ngo work in the field. Also, smoked fatback is essential to many other dishes,
\nbecause it is the main method of lending a smoky flavour to cooked dishes. One
\nof them is the famous sarmale. In some areas of Romania, it is even used to
\ngive a smoky taste to meat and vegetable soups, usually thick concoctions eaten
\nin the cold months of winter. One other popular preparation is the so-called
\nspiked roast pork. The hunk of meat is stuck with the tip of a knife, and in
\nthe cuts people put cloves of garlic and slices of smoked fatback, which gives
\nit a unique flavour. In any case, there is nothing like the taste of smoked and
\nsalted fatback. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today we will be talking about a preparation that is fundamental to traditional culture in Romania, as well as the rest of the Balkans, fatback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":172562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45767],"tags":[43183,43064],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-173652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cooking-show","tag-fatback","tag-romanian-cuisine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n