§ 12. Scalding Equipment
In China, the water for scalding is heated in a sort of a furnace commonly called t’ong chue ts’o. (劏豬灶). The furnace is made of brick and concrete, or concrete only. It is usually about thirty-six inches wide, six feet long, and twenty-eight inches high at one end, gradually sloping to about twenty-six inches high near the other end, where a large brass or iron basin for holding water is placed over a fire grate. The basin in which the water is heated is usually about twenty inches in diameter, eight inches deep in the center, and diminishing in depth from the center to the rim. The shallow basin with large contact with the fire obtains quick heating and saving of fuel. The top of the furnace is made to slope from all sides toward the bowl so that, when hot water is poured on the hog which lies on the table, the water runs back into the basin.