AN OLD-FASHIONED HOG SLAUGHTER

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When the bung gut has been worked down toward the entrails, the entire mass of the innards should be gently tugged out and downward . . . allowing as much fat as possible to remain along the backbone. Take a firm hold on the viscera (leaving the kidneys and leaf fat alone), and roll the mass forward, exposing the diaphragm, which separates the chest and abdominal cavities. The gullet (which runs through the center of the muscular partition) should be severed here, permitting the organs and entrails to fall free into the catch tub. If the small intestines are to be used for sausage casings or chitterlings, have someone turn them inside out, wash them, scrape them with a blunt stick, and then soak them in a weak solution of lime water for 12 hours or so. (This cleaning should be done immediately, while the guts are still warm.)

Should you want to keep the pig's liver, simply cut it off and trim out the gallbladder, washing the organ in cold water and then chilling it. (Some folks like to drain the liver by splitting the thin end and hanging the organ thick end up.)

The hog's heart and lungs can be removed from the chest cavity by cutting through the diaphragm at the point where the red muscular portion joins the white connective tissue. This incision will expose the vital organs, which can then be pulled down and severed from the backbone. Discard the major veins and arteries from the heart and split it open, washing it — as you did the liver — and chilling it immediately.

Most professional butchers like to split the backbone at this point. To do so, wash out the inside of the carcass, then saw down the middle of the spine, as close to the center as possible. Use long, even strokes, and cut from the belly side . . . moving around to the back side only if the cut begins to veer off center. It's best to leave about 15 inches of uncut skin at the shoulders. Doing so will hold the body together, make it easier to handle, and prevent it from slipping off the gambrel if the sides happen to be unevenly matched in weight.

Now, remove the kidneys and "fist out" the leaf fat. This is accomplished by holding the end of the mass of adipose tissue with one hand, making a fist of the other, and pushing it upward between the leaf lard and the cavity wall to separate the fatty mass from the membrane that holds it in place.

Finally, use your knife to take the outer layer of fat and skin off the inside of the hams, leaving only the thin fibrous membrane that you'll find underneath. This process is called "facing", and it should be done at this point (rather than during the cutting and trimming procedures that follow hanging the carcass to cool) because the material is easier to remove while it's warm, and because doing so will aid the chilling process.

When the evisceration is complete, wash the carcass thoroughly one final time. And do be sure to dispose of the hog's viscera in a sanitary fashion. Simply throwing the innards on a compost heap is a very bad idea, because they're sure to attract dogs and other predators, as well as insects. Instead, bury the waste several feet deep to contain the odor of decomposition and to discourage animals from unearthing it.

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