How to Gut up a Hog.

Manawatu Herald, Issue III, 10 March 1891, Page 3

How to Gut up a Hog.

« Here is the American way of cutling up a hog : — ; .Witty a, sharp axe and a sharp butcher's knife at hand, lay the hog on the chopping bench, side down. With the knife make a cut near the ear clear across the neck and down to the bone. With a dexterous stroke of the axe sever the head from the body. Lay the carcass on the back, a boy holding it upright and keeping the forelegs well apart. "With the axe proceed to take out clime or backbone. If it is desired to put as much oi.the hog into neat meat as possible, trim to the chine ' very close, taking out none of the akin or outside fat with it. Otherwise the cutter need not be particular how much meat comes away with } the bone. What does not go with the neat meat will be in the offal or ' sausage, and nothing will be lost. Lay the chine aside, and with the knvfe finish separating the two divisions of the hog. Next strip off with the hands the leaves or flakes ( of fat from the middle of the hams. < Seize the hock of the ham with the ' left hand, and with the knife in the * other proceed to round out the ham, l giving it a neat oval shape. Be *, very particular in shaping the ham. If it is spoiled in the first cutting, c no subsequent trimming will put it . into a form to suit exactly the fas- . tidious public eye. Trim off the surplus lean and fat and projecting ■ pieces of bone. Cut off the foot just above the hock joint. The piece, when finished, should have nearly J the form of a regular oval, with its projecting handle or hock. With the axe cut the shoulder from the middling, making the cut straight across near the elbow joint. Take off the end ribs or " spare bone" from the shoulder, trim the piece, and out off the foot. For home use, trim the shoulder as well as the other pieces, very closely, taking off all of both lean and fat that can be spared. If care was taken to cut away the head near the ear, the shoulder will beat first about' -as wide as long, € having a good deal of the neck attached. If the meat is intended for *: sale, and the largest quantity of c bacon is ; the primary object* let the piece remain so/ But if it is preferred to have plenty of lard and sausage, cut a smart strip .from off the neck. side "of the shoulder, and ] make the piece assume the form of a parallelogram, with the hock attached to one end. Trim a slice of fat from the back of. the middling, take oft the " short ribs," and, if preferred, ] remove the lpng ribs from, the • jwljota ( piece. The- latter, however, is not ] often done by the farmers. Put ; the middling in nice shape by trimming it whenever needed, when finished, will be very- much like a square in form, perhaps a little longer than broad, with a small ciiv cular piece cut out from the end next the ham. The six pieces of neat meat are now ready for the salter. The head is next cut open longitudinally, from side to side, separating the jowl from the top or " head," so-called. The jawbone of fchft jowl is cut at the angle or tip, and the "swallow," wMfeh is the larynx or upper part of the* windpipe, is taken out. The head piece is next cut open vertically and the lobe of the brain is taken out, and the ears and nose are removed* .Theboneof the chine is cut at several places for the convenience ot the cook, and the task of the cutter is finished. Besides the six pieces of neat meat, there are the chine, souse jowl, head, fat, sausage, two spare and two short ribs, and various other small bits derived from each hog. A good cutter, with an assist-

aut to carry away the pieces and help otherwise, can cut out from fifty or sixty hogs in a d&p