Peasant Dishes

Smoked Backbones (Pig)

This edition is dedicated to rib enthusiasts. Smoked pig backbones taste very similar to smoked ribs. The dining experience is a lot like that of eating St. Louis ribs. There is of course more bone and gristle with the backbones since they are in fact the spine of the swine. But I can tell you that the reward of getting every morsel of meat off the bone is so much sweeter.

According to Wikipedia, the pig was domesticated circa 5000 B.C. by the Chinese. Having been to China, I can vouch for their never-ending cuisine of pork. Throughout history, butchers, farmers and cooks have been using every part of the pig, yes, even the oinker in some regions of the world. The backbones are from the loin cut of the pig just above the spare ribs. Like I said, it’s the spine of our beloved farm animal. Now in keeping with our theme of peasant dishes, backbones are absolutely considered the throw away parts. The local butcher knows that the cut of meat will not fetch a high price. In fact, in your neighborhood grocery store, you’ll find them grouped in with ham hocks, turkey necks, and hog jowls. When you are looking for it in the meat section, look all the way at the end of the freezer. It is typically labeled smoked backbone. It is usually smoked for flavor these days. However, smoking and salting were used as a form of preservation before refrigeration.

The ingredients of this dish make pure comfort food. It’s hard to imagine that our peasant ancestors would have had time to enjoy it this way. They were just looking to stay alive during the winter. When I pulled the backbones out of their squeaky Styrofoam package, I knew that they were going to be good. The backbones were boiled for an hour until the meat was a Christmas ham red. You could just see that the meat was going to be tender. Flavorful and delicious can’t even begin to describe the taste. Just think of the best rack of smoked ribs you have ever had. Forget the barbecue sauce. You don’t need it. The potatoes were cubed and tossed into the backbone stew for the last 20 minutes of cooking. Potatoes love the water and they love to soak up any flavors that are near by. I like to think of potatoes as brown nosers. They will do anything to please you. Potatoes have no problem even changing shapes just to suit your palate. This time the potatoes had taken on the juices of the stew and had this ham-flavored, buttery goodness. I will take these potatoes over baked or mashed any day. Last, but certainly not least, the rice was cooked in the broth that was made from cooking the backbones and some baby lima beans finished it off. All in all, it was a sweet look back at the pig backbones

Backbones, the way I remembered them, were not as tasty as the ones that I cooked today. The backbones that I remember were greasy, brown, and not ham flavored at all. I think it’s possible that I was served beef backbone first, and that ruined my outlook on the backbone delicacy. Beef backbone needs a great deal more help to be savory like pig backbone. Maybe we can tackle that later. There is a famous picture of my dad eating what I believe is pig backbone at our family dinner table. The most striking thing about the photograph is that he is clearly, and appropriately, alone. And, here’s why.

When I cooked the ham hocks, I wasn’t true to tradition when it came to eating them. I didn’t get out the knife and carve every piece of meat and cartilage from the bone. True hock lovers are amazing to watch when it gets to this point. There wasn’t the slightest hesitation with the backbones. This time is got messy and personal. And it was private. I realized after the meal that it was a good thing that Heather had gone out to run some errands. There was carnage every where. I was wearing a gleaming grin with an overwhelming look of completion on my face. Nirvana had been reached.

The Recipe
Smoked Backbone (Pig)


1 to 2 lbs Smoked backbone
6 cups Cubed new red potatoes
1 cup Long grain rice
2 cups Baby lima beans
1 Tsp Salt
3 strips Bacon

Preparation: Fry bacon for 3 minutes in the pot that you plan to use for the baby lima beans. Let pot cool for 2 minutes. After cooling, boil the baby lima beans in the same pot in 6 cups of water with salt on high for 30 minutes then simmer on medium heat for another 30 minutes. Boil backbones on high in 12 cups of water for 40 minutes. Drain 2 cups of broth from backbones. Pour broth into rice cooker, or pot, and cook rice for 20 minutes. Add cubed red new potatoes to backbones. Add 4 additional cups of water to the backbones at this point and continue to boil on high until rice is done. Then make sure you have a small plate for the bones and a few napkins, cause es gone get messy.