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by Jim Allen This is a tale of a country shenanigan and may not

Summary: by Jim Allen This is a tale of a country shenanigan and may not be something you would want to read during breakfast or any other meal for that matter It had been hog killin weather for a couple of months and most folks had their smokehouses or freezers filled with all the pork they d need for the upcoming year Country folks will tell you that the only thing left after efficiently butchering a hog is some bristle and a squeal That s not far from the truth At the end of a day of herding the hog s then all the lifting hanging scraping cutting chopping and sawing that goes along with the job a person will be blessed with the fruits of the day s labor hams shoulders chops loin ribs bacon meat for sausage hocks and jowls But that s barely half the critter and doesn t touch on other organs and appendages that some people consider most delectable For instance at breakfast it s hard to beat brains and eggs To me this chewy treat tastes like scrambled eggs with a hint of mild sausage Ketchup is the condiment of choice for such a breakfast Some folks insist that eating brains will make you smarter You need to meet several people who eat brains on a regular basis before making that determination You can make gelatin from their hooves that can be used along with meat that s boiled from the skull and a little spice and vinegar to make souse head cheese This manna from heaven with its occasional course snout hair is a perfect spring or summer shade tree lunch when complimented with saltines and a cold RC cola Souse should not be allowed to warm to room temperature I remember on a couple of occasions the electricity going out a Bard s Grocery early in the evening after closing and things warming up in the meat cooler Most everything could be salvaged the next day except for the souse This precast rubber like block that had been shaken from its mold for display on a refrigerated rack would become an animated chunky goo that crawled into every crevice of the meat box The store s cat wouldn t even touch it If not used in souse ears snouts tails and bones can be used in soup or to flavor a pot of beans Stomachs maws can hold blood sausage or be used as a container for other meat and vegetable baked dishes Skin can be used to make crackling for a snack food crackling cornbread or deep fried to make puffy pork rinds Then there are the ever popular pickled pig s feet To eat a pickled pig s foot properly getting to all the little pieces of meat and cartilage that clings to the two dozen or more bones can take the better part of an hour Pig lips snouts and tails can also be pickled Most animal intestines are considered to be a type of offal some might say awful that should be buried or otherwise disposed of But swine intestines can be used to make sausage casings or cooked as an ingredient in some other dishes There is even a special group of pork aficionados who insist that this part of a swine s digestive system should be offered straight up as an entree either boiled fried or sometime grilled accompanied with only a little nerve and some hot sauce Chitlins as they are called are not for the faint of palate or smell It is said that when cooking chitlins in a kitchen even the houseflies try to escape You can turn the things inside out and scrub and soak for as long as you and several of your best and strongest friends can and you can t reform a chitlin They are what they are This is a chitlin story There are few country people who don t have at least one It was after the War in the late 40s and there was a boon in agriculture With the era came better machines new varieties of crops and livestock better fertilizer new pest control and better irrigation techniques Along with these innovations came something that was alien to most people who made their living off the land more leisure time by Jim Allen This is a tale of a country shenanigan and may not be something you would want to read during breakfast or any other meal for that matter It had been hog killin weather for a couple of months and most folks had their smokehouses or freezers filled with all the pork they d need for the upcoming year Country folks will tell you that the only thing left after efficiently butchering a hog is some bristle and a squeal That s not far from the truth At the end of a day of herding the hog s then all the lifting hanging scraping cutting chopping and sawing that goes along with the job a person will be blessed with the fruits of the day s labor hams shoulders chops loin ribs bacon meat for sausage hocks and jowls But that s barely half the critter and doesn t touch on other organs and appendages that some people consider most delectable For instance at breakfast it s hard to beat brains and eggs To me this chewy treat tastes like scrambled eggs with a hint of mild sausage Ketchup is the condiment of choice for such a breakfast Some folks insist that eating brains will make you smarter You need to meet several people who eat brains on a regular basis before making that determination You can make gelatin from their hooves that can be used along with meat that s boiled from the skull and a little spice and vinegar to make souse head cheese This manna from heaven with its occasional course snout hair is a perfect spring or summer shade tree lunch when complimented with saltines and a cold RC cola Souse should not be allowed to warm to room temperature I remember on a couple of occasions the electricity going out a Bard s Grocery early in the evening after closing and things warming up in the meat cooler Most everything could be salvaged the next day except for the souse This precast rubber like block that had been shaken from its mold for display on a refrigerated rack would become an animated chunky goo that crawled into every crevice of the meat box The store s cat wouldn t even touch it If not used in souse ears snouts tails and bones can be used in soup or to flavor a pot of beans Stomachs maws can hold blood sausage or be used as a container for other meat and vegetable baked dishes Skin can be used to make crackling for a snack food crackling cornbread or deep fried to make puffy pork rinds Then there are the ever popular pickled pig s feet To eat a pickled pig s foot properly getting to all the little pieces of meat and cartilage that clings to the two dozen or more bones can take the better part of an hour Pig lips snouts and tails can also be pickled Most animal intestines are considered to be a type of offal some might say awful that should be buried or otherwise disposed of But swine intestines can be used to make sausage casings or cooked as an ingredient in some other dishes There is even a special group of pork aficionados who insist that this part of a swine s digestive system should be offered straight up as an entree either boiled fried or sometime grilled accompanied with only a little nerve and some hot sauce Chitlins as they are called are not for the faint of palate or smell It is said that when cooking chitlins in a kitchen even the houseflies try to escape You can turn the things inside out and scrub and soak for as long as you and several of your best and strongest friends can and you can t reform a chitlin They are what they are This is a chitlin story There are few country people who don t have at least one It was after the War in the late 40s and there was a boon in agriculture With the era came better machines new varieties of crops and livestock better fertilizer new pest control and better irrigation techniques Along with these innovations came something that was alien to most people who made their living off the land more leisure time

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