The first and most important thing to do is find the correct pig. (The term “pig” or “hog” may be used interchangeably in this essay) This means you must find the best proportioned pig in the pigpen. If you are a cheap ass, you will use the runt of the litter. Next you must single the chosen one (no, not Obama) out from the rest of the pigs. This can be a problem. Pigs do not, yea hate, to have someone direct them in any direction. They are suspicious creatures and seem to zig when you zag. A day or so before the fateful day it is best to stop feeding the pig but make sure that he gets plenty of water. If you don’t understand the reason, you have never been around pigs. The pig should be washed thoroughly just before being dispatched. This tends to sooth the pig and removes any doubts about what lies ahead. The pig’s spirit is removed from this earth by shooting it in the front of the head right between the eyes with a .22 caliber rifle. This causes the pig great discomfort and he (she) feels a great need to lie down and think the situation over. The pig’s throat is slit with a thin butcher knife (exsanguinated!!! This is a word that I learned from the Orielly show) and the pig is left to “bleed out”. It is best to elevate the rear of the hog to get a good bleed out. About this time, as a kid, I was usually behind the barn puking my guts out and may have missed a few steps
Butchering is usually done in the fall after the fly “problem” has been eliminated by cold weather. It is a festive occasion with a neighborhood get- together. Many hands are required to do the butchering process correctly. Everyone has a gay time.
After the pig is “bled” it is dragged (or better yet carried) to a large caldron (55 gallon drum) of hot water that sits on 4 cement blocks with a coal fire underneath. There is a tripod assembled above the drum. The pig is attached to a block and tackle hung from the top of the tripod. Cuts are made in the pig’s rear hocks and a rope is assembled to tie the hocks together. The hog is hoisted in the air and two men pull the pig to the side until he (she) is directly over the drum. The pig is then lowered into the water to be scalded, much the same as dunking a fresh killed chicken in a bucket of hot water. The water should be hot enough that a finger cannot be inserted without great pain but not hot enough to start to simmer. Dunk time should be between two or three minutes. The pig is then hoisted up and a test is made to see if the hair has been loosened. If not, the pig is again dunked a second time. After the hair is sufficiently loosened the pig is hoisted up and transferred to a plank covered pair of sawhorses. The same two guys that got him into position above the drum move him to the table. The hair is scraped off using cup shaped scrapers. ----- There is an alternate method that I don’t personally think works as well. The hog is placed in a trough and boiling water is poured over the carcass. This tends to loosen the hog hair somewhat. The hog is turned over and the process is repeated on the other side. The hair is then scraped off the entire hog using the special cupped shaped scrapers until the hide is as smooth as a babies butt. ---- In the first method, the carcass is then washed with very hot water to completely clean it This done, the tripod is removed from the fire area and moved to a spot away from the fire. The hog is hung from the scaffold by his rear feet and he (she) is eviscerated. (I know a few big words too. Anyway it beats “degutted”) Be careful at this time because the guts can tumble out and make a mess. If the guts do not tumble out, you may have to remove them by the handful. Yuk.
The head is removes and the feet removed at the knees. The heart, tongue, and other offal is saved for a later process. The intestines are removed from the disembowelment pile and washed. Care should be taken to remove the bung hole from the intestines. The intestines will be used later in the sausage making process. Sometimes instead of using the natural intestines, modern purchased casings are used. At this time, the operation may be suspended to let the carcass cool overnight. All hands can enjoy a case of beer.
The carcass must be cool in order to cut properly. (Just like a thanksgiving turkey)
Next is the division of the carcass. The first operation is to cut the hog lengthwise down the spine using a meat saw. This is nothing more than a three foot long hacksaw. This gives you two “half hogs” or two “sides”. The hog is then quartered.
The carcass is divided (cut, hacked, sawed, and chopped) into many categories of cuts. Among the parts are head, jowls, shoulders, hocks, ribs, bacon, side meat, hams, pork chops and loins. Salt is usually applied to the hams and bacon and they are smoked in a “smokehouse”. The smoke house can be an elaborate building that could be mistaken for an outhouse except it has no crescent moon on the door. The inside is usually plastered and many “meathooks” are bolted into the ceiling. Two small openings about 4” square are located near the ceiling to permit the escape of the smoke. Shagbark Hickory is usually the smoking wood of choice; however wood like cherry can be used. This curing tends to cause drying and will help to preserve the meat. The perfect smokehouse fire actually smolders and does not burn. Hams may also be “sugar-cured” but the exact method escapes my memory. I do remember that it requires a crock, salt brine, and brown sugar.
Most of the fat is cut into small pieces. A caldron is heated over a fire and the pieces of hog fat left over are heated to a boil. This produces lard and cracklings. The cracklings produced from a midsized hog would amount to a ten quart bucket full. You can buy a similar product today but it costs a lot. The lard is stored in “lard buckets” and kept cool less it go rancid. Intestines not used in the sausage making process are cut into small sections and fried to make chitlins. Any spare parts left over are made into “headcheese”. I will not go into detail on that as the thought sort of turns me off. Parts of the skin can even be saved to cook with beans. To the best of my knowledge, the squeal and tail are not saved.
The parts that I personally liked best were the parts that could be “pickled” in vinegar. This included the pigs feet, heart, tongue, and other parts I do not wish to recall.
Try as I might I do not recall the complete sausage making routine. I do remember that it took cooked meat, fat, spices and the aforementioned (used it again) intestines. One person holds the intestine open and the other turns the meat grinder and forces the sausage into the casing with a round piece of wood. I cannot remember how it was processed or stored.
There, you have it all. I cannot remember any more because I was only seven years old the last time I saw a hog butchered. Enjoy
Dal
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