What Are Pickled Pig Lips?
With a rich food heritage, the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Alabama are part of a region that specializes in traditional soul food and producing some bizarre products, such as pickled pig feet and crawdad eyeballs. Pickled pig products are often mysterious additions to markets, as many people do not understand the pickling process and are not accustomed to the strong taste. Does this Spark an idea?
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Culture
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Popular in southeast America, particularly in Louisiana, pickled pig lips are the product of a culture that loves pickling and making the most out of a pig. Pickled pig meat has been popular in the Deep South for over a century. Frugal picklers of past generations popularized the use of uncommon pork cuts, such as feet, lips and tails. The pickled parts are often eaten out of the jar or prepared in rice and bean dishes.
Preparation
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Before refrigeration and commercial curing, pickled pork meat was a main ingredient in many Creole dishes, such as red beans and rice. The pork was cured in a large barrel and kept for one year. Traditional preparation would take place about 20 hours after slaughter. The pork meat was pulverized, perforated and rubbed with salt. Subsequent layers of saltpeter, spices and meat filled the barrel, which was sealed for at least 10 days. In modern times, the meat is placed in jars and covered with a brine mixture.
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Ingredients
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The brine used for pickling pork is mostly made of vinegar. The meat does not require cooking before pickling, but some parts are boiled to increase tenderness, such as feet. Pork lips are cut from the face and pickled without boiling. Farm Fresh Food Suppliers (farmfreshfood.com) is a popular producer of pickled products. Their pickled pig lips are submerged in an artificially colored brine that contains water, vinegar, salt and hot sauce.
Taste
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According to taste testers working for The Onion's AV Club online, a jar of pig lips has a strong chemical-like smell that is "not at all reminiscent of meat or brine." The test-team described the taste as "fast but distinct waves" of salt, meat and vinegar that eventually blend together to taste like "meaty, salty vinegar spoilage." A traditional bar snack, as described by a resident of Louisiana, is pickled pig lips coated with crushed crawdad-flavored potato chips.
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