Butcher Pig

It was a long way to Roswell (seventy miles) and trips to the grocery store were infrequent. Meat, milk, butter and eggs were produced at home for our consumption. When a pig was butchered, the hair was removed from the skin, by placing the pig in boiling water so that the hair could be scraped off with a butcher knife. A barrel, half full of water was placed, at an angle, in a hole in the ground. A fire was built at one end of the barrel to heat the water for scalding the pig. Mother made cracklings from the skin, chitins from the pig’s intestines, and lye soap form the lard. The hams were salted and hung in the room at the end of the adobe garage to cure.

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