feedback on: PIGS & PORK

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After skinning, I rinse off the pig's carcass.

Step 6: Now I insert my knife carefully right below the crotch taking care not to cut the intestines. Slitting down, with the blade . the knife toward me and the other hand pushing guts away from what I'm doing, I cut the crotch open to the bone. If the hog is young, I can split the pelvis by sticking the tip of the blade in it and whapping the butt of the knife with my hand.

I got a kick out of the picture in MOTHER of the guy cutting out the bung one-handed, standing three feet away. I have to use both hands and wish I had three . . . and my nose is no further than two inches from the body while I poke and peer, trying to do the job right. Anyway, once I've cut around the anus (to free it from the flesh) and tied it with a string, I pull the whole batch of intestines down into a big washtub sitting underneath. Since the ribs aren't open yet, the guts just hang there.

It's time to dig in with my arms and rip the innards loose where they're attached down in the cavity . . . then plop the whole business into the tub. At this point I get a second tub full of water, into which I can toss organs as I come to them. I take out the liver, making sure I remove the greenish gall bladder without spilling any of the contents . . . that juice is bitter! The heart has to be freed and trimmed, and the flat, purplish pancreas also can be saved for eating.

When I'm this far, my wife gets busy with her cutting and wrapping. Some of the meat will slice lots better if partially frozen (liver, bacon, hams, shoulders), but most can be packaged and frozen immediately.

Step 7: Now to split the hog in half, leaving only a piece attached at the back of the neck. Although I've used an axe and a big handsaw for this job, a hacksaw works best. After hauling out a big scarred kitchen table and setting it beneath the carcass, I slowly back up the truck to release the rope's tension and lower the pig while my wife guides the carcass to the table and steadies it. This would be a fine time for it to slide off and land in the grass!

Step 8: To cut up the meat I pretend I'm making a jigsaw puzzle. I usually end up with a whole gob of soup bones, but it shouldn't be hard to find a book describing cuts if you want to be neat about the job. I don't attempt making pork chops (formed from the tenderloin on either side of the backbone) because of the hewmongous amount of sawing involved. Instead, I peel out these two long, thick strips of flesh from front to back, slice the meat and mash the pieces flat with a hammer for melt-in-your-mouth tenderloin, breaded and fried. As for the rest of the pork, I just hack away in meal-sized chunks and the result isn't aesthetic . . but I don't know how else to do it. Perhaps you'll be fortunate enough to have a semiprofessional butcher as a neighbor who'll give you a guiding hand.

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