I have lived in Mongolia for two years, from 2010 to 2012.
I lived in the city of Sukhbaatar, Selenge province, on the border with Russia (25 km from Russia).
Because it was so close to Russia, it was a city where Russian food habits were introduced.
One of the most surprising dishes that came from Russia in that city was “Сало”, salted pork fat.

It is not cooked, it is just the fat of the raw meat that has been salted.
It is very tasty when baked on bread or on a pizza as if it were bacon. It’s addictive!
I learnt how to make this recipe from a Mongolian colleague and it’s been a long time since I’ve made it.

Ingredients
* Pork belly block (with as much fat as possible) 200g
* About 300g salt (enough to cover the meat)
* 3 to 5 cloves of garlic (to taste)
* 3-5 bay leaves (to taste)
* Rosemary (to taste)

How to cook
(1) Cut the pork fat into small blocks and rub the surface of the meat with salt. Place in a container and leave in the fridge overnight.
(2) Wipe off any moisture from the surface of (1) with kitchen paper. Stick the slices of garlic on the surface.
(3) Spread salt all over the bottom of the container, place the fatty meat prepared in (2) above it. Garnish with a bay leaf and rosemary. Fill in the gaps with salt, then cover the fatty meat with salt and place in the refrigerator. Place in the fridge or in the freezer.
(4) Leave to rest for a fortnight, then slice and eat.
This is the way I was taught.

The other day, when I was looking for Mongolian videos, I found various photos and videos from when I lived in Mongolia on my hard drive. It made me nostalgic to see them. I’m going to put the Salo(Сало) in the refrigerator for about a week before I eat it, so I’m looking forward to waiting until it’s ready!