Hog Killing and Lard Making

by Thurman Dwight Lane

One of the things your ancestors did when the weather turned cold.

( This was originally published this on my genealogy web page, Lane-Collier Cousins but the web host went belly up and all was lost.)
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You may ask, what has killing hogs and making lard got to do with genealogy? Well, I'm glad you ask. Genealogy is about the past and my past and my genealogy for many generations was in the rural areas of the southern states of Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia to name a few. Making do with what you had at hand was not by choice but a necessity. With the relatively small farms and the profusion of trees, grass land was not plentiful enough in most cases to raise herds of cattle, except for milking and oxen for working. Hogs on the other hand could live quite well in the woods and thickets. These hogs along with a few chickens and hunting wild game provided the protein and fats needed for survival. I would venture to say that every man, woman and child in the genealogy section of my family had some knowledge of how to set a hen, skin a rabbit, hitch a mule, and butcher a hog. It was a way of life.


FREE RANGE

I grew up in Lawrence County, Arkansas and I have traced several lines and generations of my family. Most lived in Lawrence, Sharp, Izard and Independence Counties in Arkansas. They settled there in the 1840s and 50s and continued a way of life their forefathers had live. In most places the law of the land favored open range, and families had a brand or ear mark for their animals that was known to everyone. You let your hogs free range and checked on them occasionally to keep up with their condition and location. If my memory serves me correctly, hogs fattened on acorns tended to have a bitter tasting meat and did not produce bright white lard. For this reason most hogs to be slaughtered were rounded up and fattened on corn for a month or longer. A day or two before the slaughter the hogs were taken of all their food and just given water.

A bit of Advice:

The first thing I would point out is the danger of slaughtering and preparing your own meat, of any kind. The need for clean working areas and tools along with the difficulty of keeping proper temperature makes it almost impossible to do this in a manner that is without risk. My advise is just don't do it, leave it to the professionals. If your response is that it has been done for centuries then just remember the life span was much shorter back then. The purpose of this accounting is to acquaint you with a chapter of family life that I only had a brief glimpse. I was born in 1943 in rural Arkansas where electricity was a thing still hoped for and the old way of life was quite common. In many ways life was about the same as it had been for generations.

{ The people who think their meat comes wrapped in plastic at the local Safeway may want to stop reading about here. }

The time of year to butcher hogs depended on the weather, it had to be cold enough to keep the meat from spoiling but not cold enough to freeze the carcass. Utensils, knifes, buckets, straining cloths and barrels were gathered. The wood for the fires was cut and neighbors 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 iron kettle. The scalding barrel we used was just a 55 gallon oil drum that had been burned out and cleaned. The kettle was used to keep fresh hot water to replenish what slouched out of the barrel and to heat water to clean.
Killing the hog was usually done with a single 22 caliber long or long rifle bullet between the eyes. A larger caliber was too destructive. 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 crossed is where you placed the shot. This job was usually given to an expert hand and for good reasons. There is a lot of “good eating” on the hogs head. One delicacy is the pig brains. I have had this a few times and as a butcher have sold many, many pounds over the years. One way to eat them is with scrambled eggs. It was important to place the shot where it would not splinter the bone and ruin the brain. 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 long, 6 inches or more, knife pointing to the rear and parallel to the back bone, 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 some called blood splash” could occur, It didn’t ruin the meat but it did give the meat an unpleasing look.
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 the hooks from a “single tree” {used to hook a horses harness to the wagon or plow} were inserted 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 to 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. I have been told it helped the scalding water 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 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 places of hair was removed by pouring hot water on it and scraping. It was important not use a scraping knife that was not too sharp. The idea was to scrape it and remove it, roots and all, not shave it. After the scraping a very sharp knife was used just in case any hair escaped the scraping. Today some people use propane torches to burn the hard to reach hair. Just be careful and don't burn the skin.
I have seen several methods used to hoist the hog up and keep him off the ground. One way was to build a tri-pod out of poles and hang the animal, I have used a pole hung between two trees and I have seen Y-Poles stuck into the ground and a pole placed between them. I have also just hung them from a convenient tree limb. I remember one time when some friends of mine were butchering a calf for a celebration in Memphis, Tennessee and hung it from a tree limb. The limb was not strong enough and broke, and the calf fell to the ground. A short time later the local police arrived and said they had a call that some people had shot a calf out of a tree. In that case I think it is a good idea to invite your neighbors over so you can keep an eye on them.
Gutting, it was important to have your tubs ready for this operation. This was also the time you appreciated the withholding of food for the last day or two. The idea was to open the entire gut cavity without puncturing the gut. It was done by carefully separating the outer skin and the membrane that holds the gut. A cut was made 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 slide into the tub. When this was done the liver was removed and the gall bladder was carefully removed. Some of the liver was most times eat that day for supper or used to make liver sausage. [recipe later] Here is where you find people differed in their eating habits. Almost all the hog could be used for some purpose or another. The lungs, heart and were almost always used and the stomach and small intestines were considered a delicacy by some. I have eaten chitterlings only once but as a butcher I have sold them in 10 lb. buckets by the truckloads.
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 and set aside for later use.
When the carcass was cleaned inside and out it was time to cut it into usable pieces. This was usually done with the equipment at hand. Butcher knife and an chopping ax. At the same time a sausage making operation was started and the lard pot was going. The lean trimmings went into 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 cracklin’s and if you ain’t had cracklin cornbread, I just don’t know what to say. The ax 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 fatback. 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.
Making lard was in some ways the most important chore of the day and required careful attention to detail. This was an art that you could become know for and your expertise was in demand on hog killing day. In fact, messing this job up could make you known also. The lard bucket could get vary rancid before the winter was over, if you didn’t do the job right.
As mentioned before, the lard pot was started early in the operation. We used a large iron kettle or pot. 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 fat and the easiest to render. As the leaf fat begins to render, the other fat was added slowly and the fire was increased until a slow boil was achieved. Cooking the lard took a couple of hours or more and was stirred constantly with a large wooden paddle. If you were a kid, this was a good time to be somewhere else or you would be put to work. If you ask my brothers, I am sure they will tell you that, being somewhere else, was something I was good at. The art of looking busy and just hiding came in handy.
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. They could be added as needed or could be raked away from the pot if it became too hot.
You knew 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 through several layers of cheesecloth into your lard bucket or pails. As the lard set, it was stirred until it became creamy and if you had not left too much lean on the trimmings or scorched it while cooking, you had supply of pure lard that would meet your cooking needs, hopefully until next winter at “Hog Killin” time.
Hog lard has been given a bad ‘rap’ the last several years and I am sure that if my kin folks had lived in a region of the country where olives were grown, I would be writing this about olive oil, but they didn’t and if you ever had a young farm raised chicken fried to a golden brown in hog lard, I won’t have to say anything about biscuits made with lard and Martha White Flour.

Sausage, now here is where everyone is an expert and a critic. There are as many “old family recipes” as there are old families. I will start with just the basics. Good pork sausage is made by grinding and seasoning lean pork trimmings from the bellies, hams, and shoulders. Sausage should contain from 20 to 30 percent fat. If more fat is included, the sausage may be too greasy and shrink too much in cooking. If entire shoulders of hams are used, it may be necessary to add some fat.
Good sausage should start with good ingredients. Great care should be given to the selection of meat to be ground and since sausage is usually made on the farm in somewhat large amounts it is wise to make even batches, say 10 to 15 lbs. at a time. The spices should be added sparingly, just remember, in this case it is easier to add than subtract, and a test batch should be fried up and enjoyed by all, before you proceed to making the whole batch. Just remember that spices shorten the freezer life of the meat and fresh sausage can be kept safely frozen for about 1 or 2 months. If you have more trimmings than you need it would be wise to freeze the trimmings and later thaw and grind them into sausage.


MILD SAUSAGE

10 lbs. GROUND PORK
6 TABLESPOONS SALT
4 TEASPOONS SAGE
3 TEASPOONS BLACK PEPPER
white pepper can be substituted
for the black

MODERATELY SPICY SAUSAGE

10 lbs. ground pork
5 tablespoons salt
3 teaspoons black pepper
4 teaspoons ground red pepper
5 tablespoons sage
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons ground cloves

Add 2 to 3 teaspoons Cayenne pepper if you like it HOT.
Get your hands in and mix.

I have used several ingredients to liven up the taste of pork sausage but a really well made sausage does not need much.
Add a quart of buttermilk to about 20 lbs. of sausage and hand mix well, after it sits over night it is indeed a wonderful flavor. I do not know how this will freeze, I have never had any left over long enough to try it.

Cayenne will give it a hot flaming taste.
Honey will sweeten it.
Thyme is a good addition.

I am not going to tell you how to make sausage gravy to go with the hog lard and Martha White Flour biscuits. You will be knocking on my door every morning for breakfast.

It may be best when making large batches to just stick to the tried and true recipes you know and love. If you want to experiment try small batches at first and when you reach perfection, go for it.

Hog Head Cheese or Souse

Here is another place the iron pot or kettle was used. After cleaning the hog head and removing all the hair it was cut into quarters and soaked in cold water overnight. It was given a thorough rinsing in cold water and put into the pot along with other scraps like skin, bones, tongue and heart. This was simmered until the meat slipped from the bone and the skin was easily pierced with your finger. The skins were cooled and ground through the fine plate, about 1/8 th inch holes, on the meat grinder and the meat was picked from the bone and ground through the large plate, about 1/2 inch holes. This was mixed together with broth to the consistency of cake batter. you then added the spices.


FOR 1 HOGS HEAD


2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
dash red pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
dash of marjoram
dash of savory

Bring this mixture to a boil and remove from heat. Pour into loaf pans and chill. This will setup into loafs and can be refrigerated for a few days and frozen for a month or two. A head cheese press is sometimes used. It can range from a press designed for the job to a heavy weight set on top of the loaf pan. The hogs head usually produces enough gelatin to set the loaf without a press.

Break out the crackers!