Hog Killing Time

Anyone who comes from an old-fashioned Canadian farm background remembers the varied activity at pig-slaughtering time. There was so much to do that the whole family joined in to help. The men, of course took care of the actual sticking and butchering, and the women prepared the sausages, bacon, and hams(fresh and cured), and put the chops down in lard. Nothing was wasted.

The pigs head simmered gently in a great pot with herbs and seasonings; then the meat and juices left to chill and turned into that cold jellied dish, head cheese. Ears were boiled, then dipped in crumbs and broiled to be eaten with a spicy devil sauce; tails were cooked for hours with sauerkraut and beer or wine; pigs feet were pickled, or maybe boned and stuffed with ground pork to make an unusual sausage. Even the fat was used and in the process of rendering out the lard you got great cracklings. You buy them at the store today in packages labelled pig skins but they don't taste anything like fresh cracklings.

What wasn't rendered to make fine lard for pastries was used to preserve the chops and pork steaks. In the old-fashioned process, these were cooked down slowly and packed into great crocks; then melted lard was poured over the meat. Stored in a cool spot, a deep cellar or spring house, the cooked chops and steaks would keep all winter. They needed only reheating and crisping for dinner.

Tools of the Trade: Include a boning knife, steak knife, steel, and meat saw-many meat cutters would also include a heavier butcher knife and a cleaver. 

Weather and Scalding Barrel

After the first good cold spell of the year was the time to butcher the hogs; it had to be cold enough to keep meat from spoiling but not cold enough to freeze the carcass. Utensils, knives, buckets, straining cloths, and barrels were gathered. The wood for the fires was cut and neighbours and friends were waiting. Butchering day started before daylight, a fire was built just to keep warm, and one was started under the scalding barrel and another iron kettle (often this was just another barrel [this step is now pretty much obsolete, as most people use a propane torch, instead of scalding and scraping).

Killing

Killing the hog was usually done with a single 22 calibre long rifle bullet between the eyes. A larger calibre was too destructive and just sticking inhumane, messy, and wasteful. Draw an imaginary line from the right ear to the left eye and a line from the left ear to the right eye. Where these lines cross is where you placed the shot. The job was usually given to an expert hand and for good reasons. There is a lot of "good eating" on a hogs head. One delicacy (which I do not recommend) is pig brains. Another reason was; a misplaced shot could just injure the animal and a 180 to 240 pound hog can be very dangerous.

Immediately after the hog was shot, it was bled. This was accomplished in more than one way. One way was to insert a knife about three inches behind the jaw on the left side of the neck and cut the jugular vein. Another way was to lay the animal on its back and find the breast bone. Insert a 6 inch or more knife pointing to the rear and parallel to the backbone, with an upward thrust sever the carotid artery.  The important thing was to bleed the animal within about two minutes of shooting it. If you waited too long the animals blood pressure could increase and a condition called "blood splash" could occur. It didn't ruin the meat but it did give it an unpleasing colour.

Scraping

After the hog was bled an incision was cut in the hind legs just above and back of the foot. The gambrel tendons in the back of the leg were stretched out and hooked to a hoist; in this way the hog could be lowered and raised in the barrel as needed. The water in the scalding barrel needed to be heated from about 165 degrees to "just below the point of boiling". If it was too hot it would set the hair and make it almost impossible to remove and if too cold the hair would not slip and could not be scraped—it helped to add just a little wood ash, to soften the water and loosen the hair

You judged the time by raising the hog and scraping a small section to see if it would slip or remove easily. It was important not to let the hog stay in the water too long or the hair would set and was almost impossible to remove. Small patches of hair were removed by pouring hot water on it and scraping

Some people made the mistake of using a scraping knife that was too sharp. The idea was to scrape it away, removing it roots and all, not shave it. After the scraping a very sharp knife could be used, Just in case some hair escaped the scraping. Today some people use propane torch

Head

Removing the head was next and this was done simply by cutting around the neck at the base of the head until the entire neck bone was rounded. It was finished by a quick and firm twist then set aside for later use.

Gutting

It was important to have your tubs ready for this operation. It was also the time when you came to appreciate the withholding of food from the animal for the last day or two. The idea was to open the entire gut cavity without puncturing the gut. A cut was made from from the crouch to the chin. With this done, and the tubs ready; the large intestine was cut loose at the anus and tied off with a string and the entire mass was allowed to fall into the tub. When this was done; the liver was removed and the gall bladder was carefully removed. The liver was usually eaten that night for supper or it was used to make liver sausage.

Here is where you find people differ in their eating habits.

Cutting the Carcass

When the carcass was clean inside and out it was time to cut it into usable pieces. This was usually done with the equipment at hand—butcher knife and a chopping axe. At the same time the sausage making operation was started and the lard pot was going. The lean trimmings went in the sausage mill and the fat went into the lard pot. The lard pot was started while the hog was still hanging; with the fat from the inside cavity around the intestines or leaf fat. This is also where you get cracklings. The axe was used to cut the hog down the middle into halves. In the old days, they just cut down the back bone on each side, staying as close as they could. You got some good meaty backbones and a nice thick piece of fat back. Nowadays it is cut in half using a saw and the loins are removed whole.

The hams and shoulders are removed at the joints and you have the middling or side meat left. Separate the ribs from the side meat.

Lard

Making of lard was in many ways the most important chore of the day and required careful attention to detail. This was an art that you could become known for and your expertise was on demand on killing day. In fact, messing this job up could make you very well-known also. The lard barrel (and therefore major meat supply) could go very rancid before the winter was over if the job wasn't done right.

As mentioned before, the lard pot was started early in the operation. A slow fire was built out of small sticks of wood so the temperature could be controlled. The first thing into the pot was a small amount of leaf fat from the gut cavity. This was the most pure and easiest to render. As the leaf fat began to render, the other fat was added slowly and the heat was increased until a slow boil was achieved. Cooking the lard took a couple of hours or more and it had to be stirred constantly with a large wooden paddle. If you were a kid, this was a good time to be somewhere else.

The temperature of the fat should be kept at about 212 degrees. As the water evaporates the temperature will rise but it should be controlled. This is where the small sticks of wood came into play. In much the same way as when baking bread, they could be added as needed or could be raked away if the pot became too hot.

The rendering process was complete; when the cracklings turned brown and floated to the top. When the pot quit boiling and the water had evaporated out of the fat, it was time to strain the liquid fat through several layers of cheese cloth into your lard bucket, chop, or steak barrel. As the pure lard set; it was stirred until it became creamy. If you had not left too much lean on the trimmings or scorched the fat while cooking you now had a supply of pure lard that would meet your needs hopefully until next winter at "Hog Killing" time"

Farm people who raise their own pigs know what wonderful eating they provide. As it has so often been said, the Canadian hog is good from snout to tail. Not only is the entire animal delicious, the meat of the pig also lends itself to many variations in cooking and saucing: the number of sauces for spareribs alone would fill a book. Here are a variety of ways to prepare the popular cuts.

Selection of Pork

Good quality pork is grayish pink, changing to a delicate rose in older animals. The flesh is relatively firm, fine-grained, well-marbled, and covered with firm white fat. Fresh pork must be thoroughly, but not over cooked.

Note: Since pork has never been knighted in Europe and cannot be by the United States there is no Sir Loin. This could be, at least one reason why, there is no such thing as the sirloin pork chops; we now see advertised in many of our American based supermarkets and on the so called integrated market.

Duxelles; A Traditional French Recipe For A Classic mix of Wrung Mushrooms And An Excellent Way Of Storing Mushrooms By Freezing.

Yes, mushrooms can be frozen, very, very, successfully.

Duxelles; a traditional French recipe, for a classic mix: of wrung mushrooms, onions and garlic that are fried in butter and flavoured with spices and lemon juice that makes an excellent way of storing mushrooms by freezing. The duxelle mix and preparation presents an excellent way of preserving perishable mushrooms that otherwise do not freeze or keep well. Once duxelles are frozen they do keep; and can then be stored; and be used as the basis for a whole range of dishes. The ingredients and quantities given below are suggestions only. Use whichever mushroom you like or have on hand (this is a great way of storing shop-bought mushrooms that are getting old-there are often many excellent such bargains to be found on produce reduce to  clear counters) Vary the quantities, according to what you have, or what you can find.

Ingredients:

Approximately 3 lbs. mushrooms, washed-cut small dice (do not mince or randomly CHOP- United States of the Americas style)

2 small onions-small dice

3 garlic cloves, small dice }use extra caution , when sautéing to prevent burning.

 1 tsp. sea salt

 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper

Pinch of freshly-grated nutmeg

 8 Tbsps. olive oil, margarine, or butter for frying duxelle

Preparation Method:

Place the mushrooms in a large tea towel; then twist the ends of the towel thereby wringing out as much liquid from the mushrooms as possible. Melt the butter in a sauté pan; then add the onions. Sauté approx. 5 minutes, or until soft then add the mushrooms and garlic. Season with the salt and pepper, lemon juice and nutmeg and continue to sauté until the mushrooms have released of their water and the contents of the pan have been reduced enough that the mushrooms begin to turn crispy. Take off the heat, allow to cool; then place duxelles in zip- lock bags-or preferably- use a vacuum sealed bags- freeze to store.

©Al Alex-Alexander) D Girvan 2013. All rights reserved.

German Red Cabbage (Blaukraut)

Ingredients

1 medium head red cabbage, shredded
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine
1/2 medium onion, finely diced
1 apple, peeled, cored, and finely diced
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
4 Tbsps apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 cup water
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Heat olive in a large pot over medium heat.
• Add and onion and saute until translucent.
• Add the 1/3 cup of red wine
• add the shredded cabbage, 1/2 of apple, 1 bouillon cube, 2 Tbsps vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup water, season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
• repeat the layer, adding the other half of the ingredients in the same fashion.
• Stir, and simmer, covered, for about 30 minutes or until cabbage is soft
• Taste, and adjust seasoning, if needed.

Kartoffelsalat--Hot German Potato Salad

2 lbs new potatoes (red or white)

1/3 lb side bacon

1 stalk celery, small dice

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp flour

1 tsp flour

4 Tbsp cider vinegar

1/2 C good beef stock

Salt. Pepper- to taste

Chopped parsley-for garnish

Procedure:

1. Boil potatoes in their skins until done but do not over cook. cool, peel and slice into a bowl.
2. Cook bacon until starts to crisp-do not over cook. Reserve pan fat. drain bacon on paper towel.
3. Sauté onion and celery in pan until onions start to become transparent.
4. Crumble bacon into small pieces.
5. Add sugar, flour and dry mustard to celery onion mix. stirring well to form a roux. 
6. Slowly add stock and vinegar, stirring constantly.
7. cook until sauce starts to thicken.
8. Pour sauce over potatoes. Add crumbled bacon and mix very gently. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve at room temperature.