PORK 249 



Trimming the cuts. — The method of trimming of the 

 sex'cral cuts depends a great deal upon custom. The best 

 way is to split the head in quarters, removing the jowl 

 for salting. The shoulder is trimmed by cutting out the 

 ril)s and neck bone, trimming down to the top of the 

 shoulder blade, trimming off all loose bloody meat and 

 remo\-ing the foot above the knee joint. The middles 

 may be trimmed in several ways. The backbone is gen- 

 erally used for fresh pork, the loin removed, the ribs cut 

 out as close as possiljle, and the side stripped lengthwise 

 into two or three pieces, depending on the size of the 

 hog and the use to be made of it. The hams are trimmed 

 by removing the feet about 2 inches above the hock 

 joint and by rounding off the corners and edges. All 

 lean trimmings are used for the making of sausage and 

 the fat for lard. The feet, ears and snout may be pickled. 

 The several cuts may be used for either fresh pork or 

 for curing, as may be desired. 



Value of the cuts. — The cuts coming from the several 

 parts of the hog are of different values because some are 

 in greater demand than others. These values are based 

 upon convenience in cooking, tenderness, flavor and 

 general appearance, and not so much upon their nutritive 

 . values. The comparative values fixed by the public for 

 the different parts of the carcass are shown in the fol- 

 lowing figures and tables. A side of pork is shown with 

 the cuts most commonly made and the location of these 

 cuts on the live hog is shown by the diagram. The tables 

 give the name, value per pound, average value in per- 

 centage of the whole carcass and average value in weight 

 of the whole carcass. The value of the cuts depends to 

 a large extent upon the method of cutting. The two 



