Old Fashion Butchering — A Dying Art
I have a nephew who asked me to write down what I remember about butchering years ago. Things have changed greatly from my memories of butchering day years ago.
Years ago, a “pig pole” was used to raise/lower the pig into a barrel of scalding water. There was a swivel on top of the pole that would rotate around while moving up/down. I have never seen one of these used but my son said the old pole is here on the farm.
Getting ready to butcher took several days to get ready. Good dry wood was piled near the kettles and the scalding pan. The scalding pan and two large kettles were filled with water. The wood for the fire under the scalding pan would be made ready for starting the fire early next morning.
Butchering day was usually in November as the weather was colder and keeping the meat from spoiling was of great importance. A lot of butchering was done on Thanksgiving Day.
Daddy would start the fire under the pan and kettles around 4:00 a.m. The scalding water would be hot enough, just at dawn if the wind behaved.
I believe there are chains that are used to get the pig in/out of the scalding pan. As soon as help was assembled and the water ready, the first hog would be killed.
The women and children weren’t allowed to be out during the killing.
The hog was dipped into the hot water, and rotated until all areas were scalded. It would be taken out of the pan and placed on a table where the hair was all scraped off. Hog scrapers were used.
After the hair was removed, the hog would be hung between three wooden poles that are shaped like a triangle. Two men with very sharp knives would cut the hog down the middle of the stomach to let the intestines drop out into a wash tub.
These intestines would be placed on a table where some of the women would remove the fat for lard, along with the stomach and sweet bread.
The stomach was emptied and turned inside out and scraped until clean and white.
The sweet bread would be cooked in the kettle with the lard or put in water for cooking later. Several people would be waiting for the sweet bread to come out of the kettle. I would never eat that part of the hog myself.
The killing/scalding process would start over once the first hog was hanging and continue until all the hogs were cleaned and hanging. This allowed the meat to cool before starting the cutting up process.
The cutting of the meat started by removing the head—which was hung against a building to be cut up later. Using sharp knives and a hand saw, the pig was cut into two halves down the back—the front was already open. The loins, liver, heart and other organs were removed and a half at a time would be carried to the cutting table.
A portion of loin and one of liver would be cut off and taken to the kitchen where the ladies preparing lunch would slice it, hammer it and fry it. Onions would be fried with the liver. This fresh meat was always a part of the lunch served on butchering day. Sweet potatoes, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade bread with butter and pumpkin pie would round out the meal.
The men and women working outside would come in shifts to eat to allow for the butchering process to continue. There was usually a kettle of lard on by the time lunch was ready.
The cutting of the meat would start with the feet/legs being removed and then the hams, bacon (sides), and shoulders would be cut away from the backbone and ribs and trimmed. This trimming supplied the lean meat for the sausage, and canning meat, and fat for the lard. The loins, fishes, heart along with the head meat would be canned—no freezers back then. The ribs and backbone were cut as small as possible to allow for canning.
The shoulders, the hams, and the bacon were placed in a box with a screen lid in the smokehouse and salted down for curing. After weeks of curing, the meat would be placed in clean, cotton bags and hung on nails that were in the rafters.
In the 1960s a new curing method was started at my home and at my in-laws. Brown sugar, black pepper, and salt were mixed, and rubbed into the meat of the hams, shoulders, and bacon and then each piece was wrapped in brown paper that had been doubled and tied with twine. It would then lay on a table until cured enough that it could be hung.
The sausage would be ground using a hand grinder. This grinder was positioned over a large tub so the ground meat would drop into the tub.
My granddad Smith, as long as his health would allow, mixed the sausage after grinding was completed. Mom used salt and pepper to season the sausage.
After a thorough mixing, granddad would take a small bit on his finger and taste it to see if there was enough salt in the sausage. That would be frowned up today for sure. On rare occasions a small sausage cake would be fried to check the seasoning.
The sausage would be put into crocks, covered and put on the shelf in the smokehouse until mom was ready to can it. Mom would shape the sausage into balls and put them in the large bread pan, then put the pan in the oven and cook until done. The sausage was then put into clean jars and covered with some of the hot grease. The can lids, a metal top and a rubber ring were placed on the jars and the sausage was canned. This process took her most of a day to complete.
The fat for the lard was placed into a kettle, a small portion at first to get the cooking started and then more was added. The kettle would be filled half full. The person keeping the fire under the kettle had a big responsibility as the fire was not allowed to burn too hot. A wooden paddle was used to stir the lard, and this was done often pushing the fat from the bottom of the kettle up to keep it from roasting. The chunks of fat would be cooked until the skins were crisp and brown. If not cooked enough, the lard wouldn’t set and if roasted or burned, the lard had a burned taste destroying the flavor.
The lard press was attached to a board that was placed across the kettle with the spout to the outside above a waiting lard can. The cylinder would be filled with the hot lard and the top fastened down. Using a handle, you would turn the top down until no more grease ran from the cracklings. The cracklings would be poured into a box and this process continued until the kettle was empty. I remember times that we had three or more kettles of lard to render.
The lard cans each held five gallons of hot lard and were carefully carried into the smokehouse where the lids would be placed on top but not pressed down until the lard was cool. This lard would stay good for months, but once it got strong, it was no longer used for cooking. Old lard was/is used to make soap. This soap was used for laundry, dish washing, scrubbing walls and yes, our baths. The last time I tried to purchase a lard can in Franklin, many years ago, they couldn’t get them. Maybe things have changed since then.
Getting the meat canned and put away took several days. As we didn’t have a freezer, everything that couldn’t be salted down and cured, needed to be canned as soon as possible. The older family members, made “pon hoss” and “pudding” out of things that wouldn’t do to can. I don’t eat either one of these! There was very little if any of a hog that wasn’t used in one way or another.
Butchering day was a long often cold, hard day, and required the strength and skills of hard working men and women. Unlike today, we didn’t have a heated building, electric tools, vacuum sealing and such. I remember well cutting sausage meat and lard while my fingers were like ice cubes!
Gone are the days when you could go to the smokehouse and take down a piece of meat, slice off what you wanted, soak out most of the salt, and fry until nice and brown. Fried country ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, a favorite meal of mine.
I have people who read my articles ask where I get my information or how I remember all this. I give a lot of credit to mom and daddy for all that they shared with me until I was old enough to remember it for myself.
Simply put, I have lived this. The old saying goes, “a life well lived is a life worth remembering!” So true!
Violet R. Eye
Jan. 11, 2025
