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Reminiscing: Thanksgiving and Hog Killing Up until the 30s, 40s, and 50s, it was an annual thing to kill hogs on Thanksgiving days in the Green River Country of Adair County. It took days of planning, and the morning started with getting the scalding box ready, and the boiling water just right - the temperature was measured by the number of times one's finger could be swiped through the water. The work started at 4am, but sometimes, the actual shooting of hog had to await the daylight so the men could see he sights on their rifles. There was scraping, then hanging the hog on the gambling poles, then butchering and sausage making. The tenderloin was given to the women who prepared lunch for the men and workers ate in shifts. There was lard making, with its side of cracklings, wonderful wonderful for crackling bed. George Rice remembers the process in great detail, and wonders if those were the good old days. even with the rabbit hunting which followed the Thanksgiving meat making ritual. He wonders, after enjoying a far different breakfast on Thanksgiving Day, 2014, and concludes that they were. They were the Good Old Days. Click on headline for this brand new CM Thanksgiving Classic. By George Rice As I sat at the breakfast table this morning eating my bowl of oats I began to reminisce the so called good old days of hog killings. At our house, it was an annual thing to kill hogs on Thanksgiving Day. Neighbors went to neighbors or the annual hog killing It was a time when neighbors went to neighbors for the annual hog killing. Hog killing had to be done in the fall or early winter to preserve the meat. It required days of preparations for the event. At our house my father would hitch up a team of mules to the wagon and with a chopping ax and cross cut saw, this was before chain saws, and we went to the woods looking of just the right kind of wood to heat the scalding box of water for the scalding of the hogs once killed. The woods were searched or the scalding box fire wood We would search the woods for preferably dead dog woods or seasoned hickory. The sticks had to be cut longer than normal wood as the scalding box was about six feet long. Now the scalding box was made of wood sides and a metal bottom. Wide enough and deep enough to hold sufficient water to float the killed hog. Days before the big event there was a trench dug two feet wide and seven feet long that the scalding box was positioned over. The box was filled with water - and no later than 4am. The fire was built beneath the scalding box in preparation for the first killed hog. Neighbors began to assemble before daylight around the fired scalding box By or before daylight neighbors would begin to arrive and assemble around the fired scalding box. We are now waiting for the water to get hot enough to slip the hair on the hog after the kill. Sometimes we would have to wait for it to get light enough to see the sights on the rifle to shoot the hog. The water temperature was tested from time to time for just the right temperature. The water was tested by various ones by swiping the finger through the water. If the finger was swiped through the water more than three times it was not hot enough, more time was needed. If you could not swipe the finger three times it was too hot and it would set the hair on the hog and the hair would not be removed. Water temperature had to be three stripes, no more and no less The temperature had to be three stripes, no more and no less. Now the water is just right and it is light enough to shoot the first hog. An effort was made to drive the hog as close to the scalding box as possible before shooting it as the deceased hog would have to be manually drug to the hot water box for scalding. Now is the time for the men to try their marksmanship in shooting the hog. The proper place is to shoot it about an inch and half above eye level. If it is shot any higher than that the pig will squeal, with just reason. Or if it is shot about eye level, it will still squeal with just reason. It was almost impossible to get a kill with a hog's head raised. Once the hog is in the scalding box it had to be continually rolled from side to side until the hair began to slip off. This was done with butcher knives scraping the hair off. Next was to hang the hog on the gambling pole Next is the time to hang the hog on the gambling pole. The gambling pole consisted of three poles about twelve feet long. Two poles were secured together about three feet from the ends and then spread apart at the other end making an x at the top for one end of the gambling pole to lay in. One end of the third pole in placed in a tree or something to hold it up while placing the other end in the pre-assembled poles. Now all hands are needed to hang the hog upside down on the gambling pole as most hogs would weigh no less that three or four hundred pounds. This was done by placing a gambling stick between the hind legs and heaving the hog upside down for beheading the hog and removing the intestines. The neighboring ladies arrived to prepare the dinner By now the neighboring ladies have arrived to help preparing the dinner. The first hog is now rushed to the cutting table and the women are inquiring when the tenderloin from the first hog can be ready to cook for dinner. Meanwhile hog two, three and four are being processed. Once the killing, scalding and hanging is processed it is now time for all hands to assemble at the cutting table where the meat is separated to sausage, ham, shoulder, tenderloin, lard and etc. By now the women are announcing time for the first table of men to come in and eat. There were always so many people that dinner was served in two separate times. When dinner is over, the first lard kettle is ready for cooking By the time dinner is over the first lard kettle is ready to start cooking. A fire is built under the kettle and the cooking starts. Some one had to stand by the kettle to keep just the right amount of fire so as not to get the cooking lard too hot as it would boil over. This was done with someone using a lard paddle and constantly stirring the hot boiling lard. The particles of fat meat used for lard was cooked until they became almost crisp and the hot liquid was ready for the straining process. New lard cans, a clean straining cloth and squeezing paddle is now used to strain the hot grease and separate the crisp pieces of meat called cracklings. Cracklings could be eaten as they were or to make crackling bread The crackling could be eaten as they were or sometimes they were used to make crackling bread that eat surprisingly well. While the lard processing is done another crew is grinding sausage. The sausage grinder is mounted on a plank about six inches wide and eight feet long. Each end of the plank is either set on stick of wood or on the chair rounds of two chairs facing each other. While one man set on the plank and cranked the sausage mill, another would feed the strips of pre-cut lean and fat meat into the grinder. Usually before the meat is ground it is pre-seasoned with homemade seasoning made of ground hot pepper, sauge, salt and black pepper. When all the sausage is ground, some of it is canned in fruit jars and the other is sacked in homemade sacks, hung on nails in the smoke house and smoked with the other meat. Then it was time to salt the meat The next day it is time to salt the meat. This is done by sprinkling a layer of salt in the bottom of the salt box. Then a layer of meat and another layer of salt until all the meat is literally covered in salt. Some six or eight weeks later the meat is taken out of the salt box, washed with warm water to remove the salt and sprinkle with skipper compound and hung in the smoke house to be smoked. Just the right kind of wood had to be used for that job. A few sticks of dead hickory to keep the fire burning and green sticks to make the smoke. Now for those of us old enough to remember these days, were they the good old days to remember??? For most of us they were. That was the way of life back in the 30s, 40, and 50s. And if we worked hard and got the hog killing over with we boys would grab our guns and go rabbit hunting. By George Rice, Thanksgiving Day 2014/11/17. While sitting by a good wood fire after a breakfast of oats from I.G.A., sausage from Fairplay Meat Market, and biscuits from Save-a-Lot. - George Rice For the epilogue, what happened to the feet and head, click to Epilogue to Thanksgiving and Hog Killing This story was posted on 2014-11-28 16:20:05
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DAV Service officer at VFW Post 6097, Mon 1 Dec 2014 Business: Charles & Holly Grimsley open 2nd store in Glasgow Columbia's Christmas Lights: They will be up Mon 1 Dec 2014 Happy Thanksgiving: A Thanksgiving with Graves clan Chamber Annual Christmas Gathering will be Tue 9 Dec 2014 LWC community celebrates college's largest Thanksgiving meal Wonders how many Chestnuts might have survived if left alone Thanksgiving stories, photo(s) welcome today. LWC offices closed Thanksgiving, & Fri; re-open Mon 1 Dec 2014 Proposals sought for lodging Facility at Burnside Island park View even more articles in topic News |
 
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