Hog heaven

Grandpa was in ‘hog heaven’ come weather for pig-killing

Story by Steve A. Maze Photos from the author’s collection

My grandpa, Jay Hugh Maze, was literally in “hog heaven” during the fourth week of November each year. Not only did he look forward to his large family gathering around his table for a Thanksgiving meal, it was also a week he reserved for his annual hog killing.

Frosty fall mornings announced cold weather was on its way, but only toward the end of November would the outside temperatures drop low enough to prevent meat from spoiling when a hog was butchered.

Family members and neighbors were anxious to pitch in and help with the butchering once the sharp teeth of autumn first nipped. They looked forward to receiving a portion of tenderloin, backbone, ribs and other delicious cuts of meat in exchange for their labor.

The day prior to the butchering, a wooden tripod – equipped with a singletree stock – would be set up to hang the hog’s carcass. Knives and axes were sharpened to a razor’s edge that night to cut up the meat.

Fog would still be low to the ground as the sun broke over a smoky dawn the following morning. Even before daylight, an outdoor fire of green oak would blaze beneath two black cast iron pots of water in preparation of the hard day of work that lay ahead.

Grandpa used his ground slide to drag the dead hog next to the black wash pots of boiling water. The water would be poured over the swine, and a knife was used to scrape the hair, bristles and dirt from its body. Upon completion, the hog would be hung upside down on the tripod. Jay Hugh Maze of eastern Cullman County, left, gets help from his son-in-law Coy Holloway, right, and a few neighbors during hog-killing time.

The organs and intestines would be removed before the meat was cut from the carcass. Foot tubs and dishpans were used to store the meat in until it could be washed.

The first cut of meat was usually the tenderloin. Grandma would take it straight to the kitchen and fire up her wood cook stove to serve the meat for dinner. A hot tenderloin biscuit filled with mustard was mighty tasty on a cold day. The remaining tenderloin would be used to make pork chops.

Then the ham and shoulders were cut out and trimmed. These cuts would be placed on top of the saltbox in the smokehouse and allowed to set out overnight so the “animal heat” could escape. They would be thoroughly rubbed with salt the following morning before being completely covered in salt and placed in the saltbox to cure for a period of six weeks.

Middlin’ meat, which most people now call bacon, would be cured in the same fashion. The shoulders of the hog were often ground into sausage with an old-fashioned grinder. Grandma would

Back in the day, times were hard for farmers, but at least they had meat they raised and butchered to go along with the vegetables they grew in their gardens.

season it with sage, red and black pepper or Morton Sausage Seasoning, and at least part of it would be canned in pint jars.

At times the hams and shoulders were cured by smoking. A wire would be run through a bone in the meats so they could hang on an overhead ceiling joist by a nail. A fire made from green hickory would be built on the dirt floor of the smokehouse and kept burning for up to five days. The smoke from the fire would be absorbed into the meat and give it a delicious hickory flavor.

All of the trimmed fat from the hog would be tossed into a bucket, rendering the lard. The fat would be cut into small blocks and placed into one of the cast iron pots to cook. The remaining skin pieces that settled into the bottom of the pots were called cracklings – similar to our modern day pork skins. They would be used to make cracklin’ cornbread – a delicacy in the south.

Times were hard for everyone back in Grandpa’s day, especially farmers. Hard work usually reaped benefits, unless Mother Nature decided otherwise. Butchering hogs was an absolute necessity for large families to keep meat on the table.

Yet farmers were better off than some city folks. Not many farmers went hungry since they had chickens, brown eggs, milk from the cow and a large vegetable garden. Still, dried beans, turnips, potatoes and cornbread always tasted better with a little meat on the plate.

Good Life Magazine

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