212 THE HOG. 



sometimes rolling over the butchers, and sometimes the butchers 

 over the brutes, with a yelling enough to stun one's ears. In the 

 mean time the screams become fainter and fainter, and then all is 

 silence on the death of the last pig. A cart is in attendance; the 

 carcasses are lifted into it, and it proceeds through the street, leaving 

 one or more dead hogs at the different pork-shops. No blood ap- 

 pears outwardly, nor is the internal haemorrhage prejudicial to the 

 meat, for Rome cannot be surpassed in the flavor of her bacon or in 

 the soundness of her hams." Essays on Natural History. 



PREP1RING THE DEAD PIG. 



As soon as the hog is dead, if it is intended for pork let it be laid on 

 a board or table, and scalded with water nearly but not quite on the 

 boil, and well scraped to get off all the hair and bristles. Bacon-hogs 

 may be singed by enveloping the body in straw and setting the straw 

 on fire, and then scraping it all over ; but when this is done care 

 must be taken not to burn or parch the cuticle. The next thing to 

 be done is to take out the entrails and well wash the interior of the 

 body with luke-warm water so as to remove all blood and impuri- 

 ties, and afterwards dry it with a clean cloth ; the carcass should then 

 be hung up in a cool place for eighteen or twenty hours to become 

 set and firm. 



On the following day the feet are first of all cut off, so that they 

 shall not disfigure the hams or hands, and plenty of knuckle shall be 

 left to hang them up by ; the knife is then inserted at the nape of 

 the neck and the carcass divided up the middle of the back bone ; 

 the head is then separated from each side close behind the ears, and 

 the hams and shoulders taken off and trimmed ; some take out the 

 chine and upper part of the ribs in the first place, but almost every 

 locality has its peculiar way of proceeding. 



PICKLING PORK. 



For pickling pork the sides should be rubbed over with sugar and 

 salt, and then laid in a brine-tub, in which a thick layer of salt has 

 already been strewn, and a slighter one of sugar ; the pork must be 

 cut into such pieces as will admit of its lying quite flat in the tub; 

 the rind must be placed downwards, and between each layer of pork 

 a layer of salt and sugar. When the tub is quite full, a layer of salt 

 sufficiently thick to exclude the air must be spread over the whole, 

 and the tub covered closely up and left for a week or ten days ; if 

 by this time the brine has not begun to rise, warm water should 

 be sprinkled over the top layer. 



Pork pickled in this way will be ready for use in about three 

 months, and with proper car* will be as good at the end of two 



