Pork on the Farm - Killing, Curing and Canning

By Anon

This vintage book contains a detailed and comprehensive guide to pork production, with information on slaughtering, curing, and canning. A highly accessible and profusely illustrated handbook, “Pork on the Farm” will be of considerable utility to both existing and prospective farmers, and would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “Importance of Proper Methods”, “Equipment”, “Medium Weight Hogs most Desirable for Slaughter”, “Care of the Hogs just before Slaughter”, “Sticking”, “Scalding”, “Scraping”, “Removal of Internal Organs”, “Chilling the Carcass”, “Care of the Internal Organs”, et cetera. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on farming.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473355224

Book preview

thoroughly

IMPORTANCE OF PROPER METHODS

SINCE FRESH MEAT is highly perishable, proper handling is necessary to make it into sound and palatable products that will keep satisfactorily. Only through the elimination of waste and spoilage can the advantages of dressing hogs on the farm be realized. Success in preparing meat depends upon strict attention to the methods used. None of the details of these methods are difficult, but all are important.

There are many different ways in which to prepare pork products. The most desirable one for each farmer is that which best suits his family or locality. However, certain general rules for cutting and curing should be observed by all.

EQUIPMENT

Elaborate and expensive equipment is unnecessary, but certain tools are essential and others are very desirable (fig. 1). Most useful of all is the curved 6-inch skinning knife. It may be used for sticking the hogs, raising the gambrel tendons, shaving and dressing the carcass, and cutting and trimming the meat. It is also the best knife for skinning cattle and lambs. Once the user becomes accustomed to its shape, the curved knife will be found to cut more easily and smoothly than the straight butcher knife. A narrow-bladed boning knife, the narrower the better, is needed in preparing boneless roast and boning meat that is to be made into sausage or canned.

In sharpening a knife a grindstone commonly is used first. With it an even bevel, about one-fourth inch wide, is put on each side of the blade. An oilstone is used to give a smooth, keen edge. A smooth, high-quality, 9- to 14-inch steel is used to keep a sharp knife in good cutting condition. A smooth steel straightens the edge of a sharp knife or removes the set from the microscopic teeth that compose the edge. When they are purchased, most steels, even those of high quality, are too rough to be serviceable and should be rubbed down with an emery stone until the surface is smooth and glassy. One can form the habit of steeling the knife briefly but frequently while using