re: Good Substitute for Pickle Meat?

Yes, the salt pork made them horrible.

Will experiment with the other suggestions. I'd just use sausage, but the pickle meat gave the beans more flavor I think. Pancetta sounds like a good idea.

Also, will be cooking my beans in beer. I know it sounds weird, but my cousin cooked the absolute best red beans I've ever tasted, on New Year's Eve and when asking him what he put in them he said the usual, but then said he cooked them in beer. I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't. I tried it out with some Michelob Ultra that was in my fridge and even with that shitty beer, they came out wonderful. I'm not sure why beer would make red beans taste amazing, but it sure does.