A few years ago, as I was looking at digitized copies of the Owingsville Outlook, I happened upon this interesting tidbit in which the writer states, “Hog-killing, Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to before the blue days of winter come on.” It struck me that “hog-killing” seemed a celebratory event, one on par with Christmas and Thanksgiving, something to be enjoyed before the gloom of winter set in. I mentioned it to my dad, Joe Karrick, and he started telling me his childhood memories of that event. Of course, this clipping is a lot older than my father, but I would guess the ins and outs of hog killing stayed the same.

“Hog-killing weather” is the phrase my dad remembered. One couldn’t butcher hogs until the weather was cold and was going to stay cold. It needed to be timed well to ensure a good final product. In the clipping below, you’ll note that some in Knob Lick were going to have ruined meat due to the weather warming back up. I would imagine this would have brought terrible hardship for some families. It also makes me wonder how good some would have been at predicting the weather without all of our modern technology. I’m betting there were a few old timers that could “feel it in their bones.”

While it may seem gruesome to our modern minds and sensibilities, hog-killing was often a familial event, with uncles, aunts, and cousins coming to lend a hand and visit. Neighbors and friends, too, would join in on the work if needed, and often it was needed because this work had to be finished in a day. While it seems men did the worst and most physical of the work, women labored as well, cutting up meat, grinding sausage, and often seeing to the huge kettles. Children weren’t shielded from the blood and gore either, as you can tell from my dad’s recollection of the event. My mom worries that what he writes is “too gruesome,” but Dad, in true Dad fashion, says it’s just how it was – no sense in trying to pretty it up.

If you have your own memories of “hog-killing time” please leave a comment, or if you’d like to read more from “Papaw Joe” be sure and let us know.

Hog Killin’ Time by Joe Karrick

I grew up on a family farm just south of Salt Lick in Bath County, Ky. My Dad. Hugh Karrick, raised cattle and hogs, and grew corn, hay, tobacco, and sometimes a patch of watermelons or strawberries. Dad raised hogs to sell but usually butchered three to four for our own use. Almost all country folks back then raised hogs for meat and lard.

Hogs were butchered in the fall when temperatures dropped, thus the old saying, “hog killing weather.” If my memory is correct, Dad would choose three to four in the 250 – 300 pound class. I will try to describe the process.

The hog was shot with a .22 caliber rifle aiming at the brain. Death was instantaneous. Dad always had someone else to do the shooting. I think he dreaded it since he had cared for the animals all year. As soon as the hog was shot, someone would slit its throat, cutting through major veins and arteries, and then the hog would bleed out.

The next step was removing the hair from the carcass. This was done by placing the carcass in a “scalding pan,” a large metal vessel big enough to hold the hog. A wood fire was built under the pan, and the water heated to about 150 degrees, scalding temperature. After being submerged for a bit the hair would “slip” or loosen itself. Then came the job of of scraping all the hair off the hog. This took a while. After the hair was removed, the hog was hung head down from a barn rail. The belly was opened up and all the entrails were removed, the heart and liver were saved.

My grandmother had a very large screened in back porch. The hog carcasses were laid out on the porch floor. The heads were removed and saved to make souse meat. There sat a working tub full of hog heads! The carcass was then cut up into the parts that most folks recognize: hams, ribs, shoulder, sow belly or bacon, jowl, and backbone. The feet were saved for pickled pigs feet. The cuts were trimmed of excess fat and then put on benches in the “smoke house” and salted down. It took several weeks for the salt cure to be completed.

All of the trimmings and leaf fats (around internal organs) were saved and made into lard and soap. Two big black kettles were set up in the back yard and heated up with wood fire. Lard was produced in one kettle by heating the fat until it liquified, then, I think, strained and poured into five gallon cans where it cooled down and became white lard. The second kettle was for soapmaking. Again, fat was placed in the kettle, and such soap production requires lye to convert the fat to soap. After heating and liquifying, the soap resolution was strained and poured into flat pans, and upon cooling was cut into cakes of soap.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, my grandmother and her helpers were busy making sausage. A large meat grinder was clamped to the old kitchen table. Meat suitable for sausage was run through the grinder, mixed with some spices, and made into patties. The patties were cooked and then placed in large mason jars for storage.

The process provided food for the family for the coming year.

A lot of folks today think meat comes from Kroger. Meat comes from animals that have been cared for by a farmer. A good farmer’s goal is that his animals have only one bad day in their lives, and that is the day they are slaughtered.

Thanks, Dad, for sharing your memories of “hog killin’ time.” May we all appreciate where our food comes from and honor those farmers who strive to give the animals in their care a good life.

If you want to read more about hog killin’ time, I recommend the following sites: https://afroculinaria.com/2013/01/24/hog-killing-time-comments-and-commentary-on-a-southern-plantation-tradition/

https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/hog-killin-day/

If you need help cooking a ham, a few years ago, the sister of my friend Julie Grannis Carroll was featured in an NPR article about how her family prepared them. Linda and Julie grew up in Fleming County and “putting the ham to sleep” was a family culinary tradition. Here’s a link to that article. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/04/1139534855/kentucky-ham-country-ham-recipes-food

Thanks for reading!