A Little Something Different

 

With the weather turning a little colder, the work on the farm is starting to wind down.  Now Andy and Lizzie have time to work on all those things that have had to wait.  One of those projects is hog butchering.

 

I can't believe Andy didn't let me know it was hog butchering time!  I would have loved to have had the experience.   And I can just imagine the pictures.  I promise they would have been tasteful.  I'll have to remember this time next year.

 

The Andy's participate in a 'butchering ring" with three other Amish families.  The ring actually is helping out the other families that need to butcher their hogs for meat for the winter.  Lizzie's sister, Katie (she is a funny one that Katie), will be the first on the list.  They plan to butcher on Monday. 

The first thing that needs to be done is to kill the hog.  He hasn't gone into detail about that which is probably a good thing. Next the list of how tos is take the hog to a tub where the water is 170 degrees (HOT).  When the hair starts to come off it is time to take them out and scald them....which is removing all the hair until the skin is nice and smooth.  Then they are hung and dressed.  After splitting them in half, they take the half in and put them on a table in the basement.  This is where the different cuts are removed from the animal...the bacon, the sirloins, the ribs and the hams.  As the bones are taken out they are placed in a cast iron kettle with water and they are brought to a boil.

 

The lard needs to be separated from the meat.  The meat needs to be cut up into smaller pieces and ground into sausage.  When the meat that is still on the bone gets nice and soft, the bones are removed from the kettle and someone has to pick all the meat off.  The meat will be put into pudding later in the day.

 

As soon as all the bones are out of the kettle, the lard needs to be cut up into pieces and put into the same kettle.  This needs to be boiled just right and then run through a press.  The liquid that runs off is put into containers where it will be left to harden.  This is now ready to be used or to make soap or keep for cooking and baking.  When the lard is done it is time to  put the meat that came off the bone in the pudding and then the bacon and hams need to be put in brine for a few days and then it will be smoked.  Most of the meat will be canned in a day or so but the bacon and hams will need to be hung in the cellar after being smoked.  And there they will keep.

 

Andy says that there are a lot of details missing from the processes that are done when butchering hogs...he just wanted us to have an idea what happens in a butchering ring.  Sounds like a very