[AT] Cracklings

[George Willer]

Subject: [AT] Cracklings


> Dean:
>     As I remember when dad used to butcher hogs,
> there was about a 1" layer of fat out next to the
> skin.  They would trim this fat away from the lean
> meat and cut it in about 1" squares.  Then they
> would put it all into a big kettle over the
> fire and cook it until the liquid would cook out
> of the squares.  I still have the paddles they used
> to stir the fat with.  Then they would dip it out
> into a lard press and squeeze the liquid out.  They
> always used a white feed sack down in the press
> to keep the cracklings in.  After the squeeze they
> would dump them out, and that is when we would
> start eating them.  I may have left something out.
>
> Larry Voris

Larry,

You left out the salt!  They're better salted, but must be salted after the
lard and calories are pressed out.  :-)

While the lard is being rendered, the women are cleaning the casings and the
men are grinding the sausage with the model A.  One wheel is jacked up and
the grinder is set up beside it.  A twine ties the crank handle to a wheel
spoke.  Then the press is cleaned up and used to fill the sausage.

I have many memories of butchering, but the most vivid are of the things
that went wrong.  That would be another story.

George Willer