side meat
Bacon or salt pork cut from the side of a hog.
Also called side pork, middlin', middlings.
Updated September 24, 2026
side meat pronunciation
/SIDE meet/
Meaning
Side meat is the fatty slab you pull from a hog's side, cured or salted, and use like bacon. Folks fry it for breakfast, throw a chunk in a pot of beans, or render it down to grease greens. It is the same cut as store bacon, just talked about like farm meat instead of a package.
How folks use it
- “Ma fried up some side meat and biscuits before daylight.”
- “Throw a hunk of side meat in them beans and they'll taste like something.”
Origin and etymology
American farm talk from the late 1800s. The name is literal: meat from the side of the hog. Dictionaries mark it as chiefly Southern and Midland. In parts of Appalachia you also hear middlin' or middlings for the same cut.
Frequently asked questions
Is side meat the same as bacon?
Pretty much the same cut. Side meat covers bacon and salt pork from the hog's side, whether it got smoked or just salted.