[AT] Scrapple & Head Cheese

[George Willer]

Bear,

I might wander a bit, 'cause I don't know where this will go.  We had an old
bob sled.  They were made like a wagon, but much lower.  We used it the
first year to haul the grain box (maybe Studebaker) to haul firewood from
the woods, pulled by the team of Belgians.  The wood was mostly old split
rail fence (white oak) that was cut up on the buzz saw powered by that !#$%^
John Deere GP.  We had about 80 rods of this fence to clean up, and it kept
us warm.

Anyway, it was only one year, and then the bobsled was made into an outdoor
scalding platform.  A barrel was leaned against one end for the scalding
water which was heated in an enclosed iron kettle.  A can of lye was added
to the water.  We had a hook like a bale hook, but with a longer handle so
two men could work together with it.  The hook was used in the lower jaw of
the hog to pull the hog to and up on the bobsled, and then used to lower the
carcass into and out of the water barrel.  Pop just told me that the hook
had no other use, but I didn't remember any other.

Pop always killed with a 22 short between the eyes.  He didn't believe in
those more expensive 22 longs, and you never knew where the bullet would go
anyway!  Well, he missed one and it just made the hog mad.  He was a good
runner and it took a lot to bring him down.  If I remember the story right,
he was shot 13 times before he could be stuck.  To go along with Gene's
idea... yes, even the sausage was tough.

BTW, that rifle, a 1906 Winchester just found its' way to my collection a
week ago.

In later years, after the bobsled was rotted down, Pop got the idea of using
the loader on his new '47 J.D. A to lower the hog into an upright barrel.
Excellent!  That's a whole lot easier. Problem... when the hog was in the
water was when the tractor ran out of gas.

I really learned a lot on that farm.

George Willer


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Billy Hood" <aggie1967 at msn.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2004 4:09 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Scrapple & Head Cheese


George et al
 As one who made my families groceries for about 1/3 of my working life by
raising hogs this discussion has brought back many memories.

Hog killing:  One of the few memories I have of my maternal grandfather, he
died when I was 5, was his being the boss at hog killing.  He was the town
Blacksmith in Lindale Texas, but like most others of that time kept 2 milk
cows, some hogs and raised several acres of vegetables and corn with his
pair of dappled mules.  His health was bad by the time I came along (my
mother was the youngest of 9 and was 28 years younger than her oldest
brother) so he did none of the work at killing time, but sure was the boss.
His scalding tank was an old oval riveted steam boiler with the top 1/3 cut
off.  It was set on a sandstone foundation and a roaring fire was built
under it long before and of us kids got up in the  morning.   He also had a
couple of 20 gallon  cast iron wash pots going to add hot water or pour over
the carcass.  They usually killed two for themselves and several for the
neighbors who came to help.  The memories do not include the rest of the
process, but I made up for that in my later life.  I don't remember if it
was Grandpa Whatley or not, but the saying I hold on to was " we use
everything on the hog, except the squeal".

Two years after my marriage to my bride of 36 years, we were farrowing 50 to
60 sows.  We started killing our own hogs then to help make the ends meet
the middle.  My oldest uncle, an old bachelor was home for the winter from
the logging woods and he helped me kill and butcher.  I drove a one ton with
wooden bed at the time and we killed with a hammer and scalded by laying the
hog on the truck bed and pouring hot water out of cast iron wash pots.  I
used the scraping spoons built by my grandfather Whatley.  I later took to
skinning, rather than scalding because it was easier.  We used everything
but the tail and feet and the heads are another story
Bear

  David,

  Our ponhaas (scrapple) was made with a LOT more corn meal.  Much like
50/50
  horse meat/rabbit meat mix is... 50 horses and 50 rabbits.

_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at<http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at>
_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at