preserving hogs after slaughter the old way

[sparky911]

I have been curious as to how it used to be done
I have been asking my dad how they did it on his farm back in the 30s and 40s
very interesting
Dad said they had an outside shack with a big box and they take the hams and shoulders and put them in the box and pack them around salt and sometimes brown sugar.
In the spring, they would bring them inside and wash them and then smoke them.

It is hard to imagine how things like that were done prior to refrigeration.

 

[buffcreekforge]

We still put up a hog every winter in the "old way". My Dad is 80 and inherited all of the old butchering equipment from his great-grandparents, so most of what we use dates by prior to 1870. First, after slaughter and sticking, the hog is not skinned, but rather scraped. We dip 1/2 the hog (top and bottom) at a time in a barrel full of scalding water and scrape the outside layer of dermis and hair off, leaving the carcass as white as a piece of paper. Then, we gut and split the carcass. Leaving the skin on, the hams and bacons are separated from the hog and set aside to cool. The remaining meat is separated from the skin, with the fat carefully removed, ground, and thrown into the rendering kettle. Stirring the rendering lard is an all day job shared by the very young and very old on butchering day. The meat is separated into various components, the lean, easily accessed muscles being ground into sausage and the bony joints and various other cuts boiled in a salt brine (strong enough to float a raw egg) until fully cooked, then placed in crocks and covered in brine. This salt meat is eaten first, but must be soaked in water a day or do to help "desalinate" it. The ribs are typically cut up and thrown into the rendering lard which will eventually reach a rolling boil. There is nothing better than a lard fried rib served cold with a little salt and pepper. Sausage is ground with some fat, seasoned and stuffed using an old stuffer. It is hung to dry in a cool spot (the old smokehouse) over a set of broom handles for 2-3 weeks, then is slow smoked for 24 hours (cold smoke). The sausage at that point is a bit dry and can (but shouldn't - trichinosis) be eaten raw - tastes like a Slim Jim. The hams and bacon are laid on a large table with about 6 inches of salt as a base, then covered with 6-10 inches of salt. For the first week or two, the bloody salt is removed on a daily basis. After that, once every 3-4 days is all that is needed. After about a month under salt, the hams and bacon are largely dessicated (dried). They are then smoked for about 24 hours, wrapped in cheesecloth, and hung in the rafters. Beware - home-cured ham, while very tasty is also very tough. Nothing is better on a hot summer day than a fried ham sandwich on homemade rye bread with a big slab of bermuda onion and a cold brew under a shade tree! While I am sure I left out more than I included, that is the basics of home curing a hog.

For your perusal, with due respect,

Dave

 

[bison1]

Remember, smoking or salting do not cure your meat for trichinosis, only high temperatures do. You should have your meat controled on veterinary basis.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

right much as Dave explained.
my G-dad had a large smokehouse set into a hillside, he 'cold smoked' meat for nieghbors all around. the 'firebox' was built into the bank sort of down hill from the actual smoke chamber and connected by terra cotta pipe. he had scavenged an old stove door that had a draft control on it to use for the access door to the firebox.
after butchering the meat and sausage that was to be smoked was packed with salt and seasonings for a few days in a cellar to keep it cool.
some fresh meat such as chops was lightly seasoned and then placed into the smokehouse (g-dad did beef this way too) - this meat was eaten soon after the smoke-curing process was completed.
some of the rendered lard was used to fry the tissue (underskin mostly) that contained the fat for 'cracklings' that would keep for quite awhile packed in lard and was used in cornbread. even some of the skin was fried - 'pork rinds' it was called. I've never cared for this but some people love it. (usually folk that have never scraped a hog).
the only thing not used was the hair that is scraped off and the tail.
the head was slow simmered after the jowls were removed for cureing/smokeing (to season beans with and to fry like bacon) to make 'head cheese' after it fell apart seasoning were added and it was simmered down to a 'gel' then cooled and sliced when needed. even the feet were cleaned and scraped then simmered to cook and then put up in pickleing brine - I've eaten them a few times but don't really go out of my way to get them as some do, quite salty.
the hide was well scraped (the flesh added to the 'crackling' pot), tanned and smoked and was used for various items such as gloves, my g-dads brother was a cobbler and sewed it.
the gut was used for sausage caseing. the liver, heart and kidneys was cooked and made into 'scrapple' which is fried for breakfast meat.
some folks even ate the lungs but my folks didn't, it was called 'lights' and cooked (fried) with the liver.
my g-dad's smokehouse was about 15' X 10' (he was a carpenter and my dad too) and I saw it packed full many times as he smoked meats for folks. he used hickory, rock maple and apple wood and grape vine. the best bacon you could wish to find.

 

[shmrck1]

bison1,
Apparently meat in Belgium,is a bit different
than the US.I use to hear about trichinosis as
a young person mostly related to pork.Now today
both pork and beef are ate at medium rare to
medium.I,to this day and since my teenage years
have eaten raw hamburger sandwiches...Maybe I have just been lucky :hmm:

 

[rafterob]

Where my people are from (North Dakota)you could count on a freeze from November to March. My Mom's family would turn a back bedroom of the house into a freezer. They would take some of the doors off the hinges and set them up as shelves. The meat then wrapped in butcher paper and the windows left open. My Grandpa made lots of different sausages, but none were smoked or dried. Occaisionally carcasses were hung in the barn most of the winter. That may not work too well with the wild fluctuations of temperature in recent years.

 

[skunkskinner]

I,to this day and since my teenage years
have eaten raw hamburger sandwiches

I mean no disrespeck with this question, why do you eat raw hamburger ?

 

[Claude Mathis]

I,to this day and since my teenage years
have eaten raw hamburger sandwiches

I mean no disrespeck with this question, why do you eat raw hamburger ?

I used to eat it as a kid too. Not in a sandwich, but right out of the butcher paper. I love raw beef. That was back when meat was safe. Back when you didn't have to sterilize your kitchen after handling a raw chicken. :haha:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

ah, steak tartar - breakfast of Cossacks and other Russkis.
I was on a camping trip with some yahoos years back and one of 'em was seized with hunger so badly (drunk) that he cut off a chunk of frozen bacon and gnawed it. the other folk with food that wasn't frozen hadn't arrived yet.

 

[BenCoogle]

Not hard to imagine at all! Still plenty who remember or still do it!

Foxfire 1 has a good article on doing it. You have to wait for the right weather, cold spell, so the meat will "keep" until the salt penetrates.

Another technique used down South was packing the cooked sausage down in fresh lard. I personally love Liver 'n' lights. Boil them down to a mush with red pepper, onions and some ribs, maybe the heart. We called your "Scrapple" Liver Puddin', eaten for breakfast with fresh fried tenderloin and brains 'n' eggs, finest kind!!

Most we ever killed was 13 in one day!

Ben

 

[Blizzard of '93]

Scrapple had cooked corn meal mixed into it along with seasonings. it set up into a block in a mold was poured into. I like it, it was kept for awhile around here sometimes with lard poured atop it. it was mixed with the 'head cheese' rendered from the head cooked down.
liver mush is something like it. good fried with breakfast.

 

[BillinOregon]

I can also recommend the Foxfire Book One chapter on killing hogs. I've never seen it done personally, and am sorry to say so. You guys who grew up on farms and ranches really have no idea how lucky you are.
By the way, I picked up a hog scraper at an old second-hand store a few years back. Will try to post a photo.

 

[shmrck1]

I,to this day and since my teenage years
have eaten raw hamburger sandwiches

I mean no disrespeck with this question, why do you eat raw hamburger ?

skunkskinner,
Trust me I know that raw hamburger is not for
everyone.But,with onion,pepper & salt it brings
back memories I am hard pressed to forget.
My mother when making meatloaf always made like
1 1/2.The 1/2 was used for sandwiches for my dad,
brother and myself.
Please keep in mind this was 40+ years ago when
ground beef was like 60/40 beef to fat.Today you
can get 80/20 even 90/10.
Today an 80/20 sandwich with sliced onion,salt &
pepper is excellent but not for all.But for maybe
$1.50 to $3 it would beat the hell out of
Steak Tar-Tar for $30 to $60. And for you squimish
folks the sandwich will not have raw egg in the
center of the sandwich. :applause: :applause:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

bruce lee was fond of raw ground lean beef with uncooked eggs in the center.

 

[BillinOregon]

Here's that old hog scraper:

 

[zimmerstutzen]

One of those country cured hams. Hard as a rock.

we butcher our own every february, but no one renders the lard anymore. I got the huge cast iron scrapple cauldron. We freeze most of it. I do have a smoke house in disrepair here at the farm. I've thought about fixing it and trying it. Just that it isn't set up right for cold smoking. firebox is a hole in the floor. Some folks claim that a Christmas ham for next year has to be started between Christmas and New years of the prior year. I know they used salt and some borax to cure it and then it would hang on the top of the smoke house for nearly a year.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

g-mom would simmer hers nearly all day to cook it. in just enough water to keep maybe a couple inches in the pot. you could smell that ham cooking 100's of yards away.

 

[Black Hand]

Remember, smoking or salting do not cure your meat for trichinosis, only high temperatures do. You should have your meat controled on veterinary basis.

Freezing the meat before processing should also kill the parasite that causes trichinosis.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Remember, smoking or salting do not cure your meat for trichinosis, only high temperatures do. You should have your meat controled on veterinary basis.

Freezing the meat before processing should also kill the parasite that causes trichinosis.

If I remember correctly ,the meat needs to be frozen at or below 4 degrees F for twenty days or more to kill them little worms.