Salo is the Eastern European cure of pork back-fat — the thick subcutaneous slab from along the pig's spine, dressed with salt and garlic and either left to ripen plain or cold-smoked, then chilled and sliced paper-thin. Eaten raw on dark rye bread with garlic and a shot of vodka or horilka, it is a beloved everyday food and a near-national emblem of Ukraine, also central to Russian, Polish, Belarusian and other Slavic tables.