Part 1 (1/2)
Home Pork Making.
by A. W. Fulton.
INTRODUCTION.
Hog killing and pork making on the farm have become almost lost arts in these days of mammoth packing establishments which handle such enormous numbers of swine at all seasons of the year. Yet the progressive farmer of to-day should not only provide his own fresh and cured pork for family use, but also should be able to supply at remunerative prices such persons in his neighborhood as appreciate the excellence and general merit of country or ”homemade” pork product. This is true, also, though naturally in a less degree, of the townsman who fattens one or two pigs on the family kitchen slops, adding sufficient grain ration to finish off the pork for autumn slaughter.
The only popular book of the kind ever published, ”Home Pork Making”
furnishes in a plain manner just such detailed information as is needed to enable the farmer, feeder, or country butcher to successfully and economically slaughter his own hogs and cure his own pork. All stages of the work are fully presented, so that even without experience or special equipment any intelligent person can readily follow the instructions.
Hints are given about finis.h.i.+ng off hogs for bacon, hams, etc. Then, beginning with proper methods of slaughtering, the various processes are clearly presented, including every needful detail from the scalding vat to the kitchen baking dish and dining-room table.
The various chapters treat successively of the following, among other branches of the art of pork making: Possibilities of profit in home curing and marketing pork; finis.h.i.+ng off hogs for bacon; cla.s.s of rations best adapted, flesh and fat forming foods; best methods of slaughtering hogs, with necessary adjuncts for this preliminary work; scalding and sc.r.a.ping; the construction of vats; dressing the carca.s.s; cooling and cutting up the meat; best disposition of the offal; the making of sausage and sc.r.a.pple; success in producing a fine quality of lard and the proper care of it.
Several chapters are devoted to putting down and curing the different cuts of meat in a variety of ways for many purposes. Here will be found the prized recipes and secret processes employed in making the popular pork specialties for which England, Virginia, Kentucky, New England and other sections are noted. Many of these points involve the old and well-guarded methods upon which more than one fortune has been made, as well as the newest and latest ideas for curing pork and utilizing its products. Among these the subject of pickling and barreling is thoroughly treated, renewing pork brine; care of barrels, etc. The proper curing of hams and shoulders receives minute attention, and so with the work of dry salting bacon and sides. A chapter devoted to smoking and smokehouses affords all necessary light on this important subject, including a number of helpful ill.u.s.trations; success in keeping bacon and hams is fully described, together with many other features of the work of home curing. The concluding portion of the book affords many interesting details relating to the various cuts of meat in the big packing houses, magnitude of the swine industry and figures covering the importance of our home and foreign trade in pork and pork product.
In completing this preface, descriptive of the various features of the book, the editor wishes to give credit to our friends who have added to its value through various contributions and courtesies. A considerable part of the chapters giving practical directions for cutting and curing pork are the results of the actual experience of B. W. Jones of Virginia; we desire also to give due credit to contributions by P. H. Hartwell, Rufus B. Martin, Henry Stewart and many other practical farmers; to Hately Brothers, leading packers at Chicago; North Packing and Provision Co. of Boston, and to a host of intelligent women on American farms, who, through their practical experience in the art of cooking, have furnished us with many admirable recipes for preparing and serving pork.
CHAPTER I.
PORK MAKING ON THE FARM.
During the marvelous growth of the packing industry the past generation, methods of slaughtering and handling pork have undergone an entire revolution. In the days of our fathers, annual hog-killing time was as much an event in the family as the harvesting of grain. With the coming of good vigorous frosts and cold weather, reached in the Northern states usually in November, every farmer would kill one, two or more hogs for home consumption, and frequently a considerable number for distribution through regular market channels. Nowadays, however, the big pork packing establishments have brought things down to such a fine point, utilizing every part of the animal (or, as has been said, ”working up everything but the pig's squeal”), that comparatively few hogs out of all the great number fattened are slaughtered and cut up on the farm.
Unquestionably there is room for considerable business of this character, and if properly conducted, with a thorough understanding, farmers can profitably convert some of their hogs into cured meats, lard, hams, bacon, sausage, etc., finding a good market at home and in villages and towns.
Methods now in use are not greatly different from those followed years ago, although of course improvement is the order of the day, and some important changes have taken place, as will be seen in a study of our pages. A few fixtures and implements are necessary to properly cure and pack pork, but these may be simple, inexpensive and at the same time efficient. Such important portions of the work as the proper cutting of the throat, scalding, sc.r.a.ping, opening and cleaning the hog should be undertaken by someone not altogether a novice. And there is no reason why every farmer should not advantageously slaughter one or more hogs each year, supplying the family with the winter's requirements and have something left over to sell.
THE POSSIBILITIES OF PROFIT
in the intelligent curing and selling of homemade pork are suggested by the far too general custom of farmers buying their pork supplies at the stores. This custom is increasing, to say nothing of the very large number of townspeople who would be willing to buy home cured pork were it properly offered them. Probably it is not practicable that every farmer should butcher his own swine, but in nearly every neighborhood one or two farmers could do this and make good profits. The first to do so, the first to be known as having home cured pork to sell, and the first to make a reputation on it, will be the one to secure the most profit.
In the farm census of live stock, hogs are given a very important place.
According to the United States census of 1890 there were on farms in this country 57,409,583 hogs. Returns covering later years place the farm census of hogs, according to compilations of _American Agriculturist_ and _Orange Judd Farmer_, recognized authorities, at 47,061,000 in 1895, 46,302,000 in 1896, and 48,934,000 in 1899. According to these authorities the average farm value of all hogs in 1899 was $4.19 per head. The government report placed the average farm price in 1894 at $5.98, in '93, $6.41, and in 1892, $4.60.
A TRAVELING PIGPEN.
It is often desirable to change the location of a pigpen, especially where a single pig is kept. It may be placed in the garden at the time when there are waste vegetables to be disposed of, or it may be penned in a gra.s.s lot. A portable pen, with an open yard attached, is seen in the accompanying ill.u.s.trations. Figure 1 presents the pen, the engraving showing it so clearly that no description is needed. The yard, seen in Fig. 2, is placed with the open s.p.a.ce next to the door of the pen, so that the pig can go in and out freely. The yard is attached to the pen by hooks and staples, and both of them are provided with handles, by which they can be lifted and carried from place to place. Both the yard and pen should be floored, to prevent the pig from tearing up the ground. The floors should be raised a few inches from the ground, that they may be kept dry and made durable.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1. PORTABLE PEN.]