Hog Killin' Day

Suppose to be cooler on Fri. At least down in the 50's. This time of the year I want pork. Pork chops, sausage, ham, bacon. . . any of it. And I remember pork that didn't come from Wal-Mart. I think it goes back to hog killing day when I was a kid. My grandma and grandpa raised hogs and in early winter, after the first freeze they killed at least one hog to supply meat for the year. I never went over there until after the animals were dead and the operation was under way. There was always two of three water filled cast iron pots boiling over an outdoor fire. There were used to dip the hog into before scraping off the hair. The skin was used for pork rinds and cracklings. I remember the day was always cold, usually with a misty wetness combining with smoke in the air. It was heavy coat weather, requiring caps or hats. It turned your fingers and nose red. Does it even get that cold anymore here in the south? I watched my grandma grind the meat into sausage and season it with red pepper, and other seasonings. After she had cleaned the intestines she stuffed the seasoned meat into the casing. Some of the intestines were also saved to cook as chitterlings.

Chitterlings are the intestines of the hog. They are washed thoroughly, cut into pieces and boiled until tender. Like tripe, this boiling stage gives off a strong, distinctive odor which can permeate your house.

The head was scrapped of every scrap of meat for hogs head cheese. Pork chops were cut and wrapped for the freezer. The hams were taken to the smokehouse to be rolled in salt and the stuffed sausage were looped over boards hung in the top of the house. The oak fire was built in a metal pan on the floor, and smothered down with grass and then the meat smoked for weeks. I think it was suppose to be smoked and cured for 70 days. There was always cracklings and pork rinds. These came from rendering the fat into lard. This was before we knew about cholesterol. We used lard from hogs and butter from cows. The second round of rendering fat included scraps of fat and skin and had a slightly off white or light tan color and the residual meat left after the rendering was firmer and crispier. The skin made especially good cracklings. After the cracklings had cooled, they were ground up with the coarse blade of the food mill, stored in a stoneware crock in a cool place to be used for seasoning vegetables. They were especially prized for use in cornbread. My grandma Dovie always made a big pone of cornbread with cracklings on hog killing day. Then she fried some pork chops to go with collards and sweet potatoes. Yeah, it's about time for some pork with greens and baked sweet potatoes even it they have to come from Winn Dixie.

Dovie's Cracklin' Bread

1 cup self rising cornmeal
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup pork cracklin's
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup and 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
Preheat oven to 450. Add 4 tablespoons to cast iron skillet and heat in oven til very hot. Mix other ingredients. Pour in skillet. Bake 20 minutes. Serve warm with sliced onions and a glass of iced tea for the best eating you'll do in the South.