Secrets of meat curing and sausage making / how to cure hams, shoulders, bacon, corned beef, etc., and how to make all kinds of sausage, etc. to comply with the pure food laws

by B. Heller & Co.

KILLING AND DRESSING HOGS.

Fig. 18.—Manner of holding and sticking a hog.

A good sticking knife, hog hook, scrapers, a barrel or a trough for scalding, and a convenient place for working are the important necessities. Set the barrel at the proper slant with the open end against a table or platform of the proper height, with the bottom securely fastened; a strong tackle built for the purpose is desirable, but not necessary. Hogs should not be excited or heated, and in catching and throwing them bruising must be avoided. However, it is not necessary to stun hogs before sticking them. At slaughter houses they are usually hung up by one hind leg. If there is no hoisting appliances, lay the hog on its back and hold it there until stuck. Two men can handle a hog if they will but work with intelligence. By reaching under the animal, one at the fore leg and the other at the hind leg, they can turn a heavy hog on its back easily. One man, standing astride the body, with his feet close against the side and holding its front feet, can control it while the other does the sticking.

Fig. 19.—Scalding a hog. Note arrangement.

The knife should be eight inches long, straight bladed and narrow, and stuck into the hog’s throat just in front of the breast bone, the point directed toward the root of the tail and held in line with the back bone. This is necessary to prevent cutting between the ribs and the shoulders, which would cause the blood to settle there with waste in trimming of the shoulder. When the knife has been stuck in six or eight inches, according to the size of the hog, turn the knife quickly to one side and withdraw it. The arteries that are to be cut run close together just inside of the breast bone and both are cut when the knife is turned, providing the edges are sharp at the point.

The water for scalding when heated in the house should be boiling when removed from the stove. If put into a cold barrel it will be about the right temperature when the hog is ready for scalding. During the scalding process the water should be about 185 to 195 degrees, if the scalding tub holds only enough water to scald one hog. Water at 150 degrees will scald a hog, but, of course, more time is required. In large packing houses where a large tub is used and steam is continually blowing into the water, the water is kept at 150 degrees. Too hot water is likely to cause more trouble than too cold, and for this reason it is always best to have a thermometer at hand. Of course, the temperature may be reduced by putting in a little cold water. A hog should not be scalded before it is dead or the blood in the small blood vessels near the surface of the skin will cook and give a reddish tinge to the carcass.

To make the hair easy to remove and to cleanse the skin of the hog and free it from all the greasy filth which forms a scurf on the skin of all hogs, our Hog-Scald should always be used. Hogs scalded with the aid of Hog-Scald do not require so much heat to loosen the hair, it requires much less labor to clean them, and the dressed hogs will look much nicer and the rinds will cure and smoke nicer than when it is not used. No Farmer or Butcher will dress his hogs without Hog-Scald after giving it a trial. For description and price list on Hog-Scald, see [page 278].

Fig. 20.—A convenient way of hanging up a hog.

While being scalded the carcass should be kept moving constantly to avoid cooking the skin. While scalding, the hog should occasionally be drawn out of the water for air, when the hair may be tried. When both hair and scurf slip easily from the skin, scalding is completed. Remove the carcass from the water and begin scraping. The head and feet should be cleaned first, as they do not clean easily when cold. Use a “candlestick” scraper on the head. Use the hands and a knife if you haven’t this tool. The feet and legs are easily cleaned by grasping them firmly with the hands and twisting them around and back; pull the little bristles of the body by hand and remove the scurf and fine hair with the scraper, long corn knife or other tool. Wash the entire carcass with hot water and shave it with a sharp knife. Insert a stick under the gambrel cords and hang up the hog.

Wash down with hot water, shave patches and rinse with cold water. Occasionally the hog is too large to scald in a barrel. Cover it thickly with blankets or sacks containing a little bran, pour hot water over it and the hair will be readily loosened.