ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Salt pork

Okay kiddo, have you ever had bacon for breakfast? Well, imagine if bacon didn't taste so deliciously smoky and salty, and instead tasted more like regular pork. That's what salt pork is!

Salt pork is a type of pork that has been preserved in salt. This is kind of like when we put salt on our food to help keep it fresh, except with salt pork the salt is used in a much bigger way. The salt helps to dry out the meat and prevent bacteria from growing, which makes it last longer without spoiling.

You might think that eating salty pork sounds kind of gross, but it's actually been used for a long time in cooking to add flavor to dishes like soups and stews. Because salt pork is so rich and flavorful, even a small piece can add a lot of taste to a big pot of food.

So there you have it, salt pork is basically just pork that's been preserved with a lot of salt. It's a way of using a little bit of meat to add a lot of flavor to a meal, and it's been used in cooking for a long time.
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