Pigs are an important part of American culture. Idioms abound with references to pigs that make us smile- “Happy as a pig in muck;” feel greedy- “Eat like a pig;” describe events- “Sweat like a pig;” and even teach us lessons- “When pigs fly.” While maybe not a true idiom, one of my favorite sayings is, “everything is better with bacon on it!” One may even say it is “pig lickin’ good!”
One of our recent endeavors of raising, butchering, and seasoning our pigs for storage was a huge amount of work, but the effort will be offset while enjoying the flavorful pork for months to come and we can really “pig out!”
Last June, we procured two mule foot pigs from our neighbor across the way. The cute little piglets were a hit amongst our young ones as they enjoyed feeding them kitchen scraps, acorns, gleaned corn, and feed. They quickly learned why people use the phrase “make a pig of oneself,” as the pigs push and shove, slopping around trying to get the best morsel.
Last June, we procured two mule foot pigs from our neighbor across the way. The cute little piglets were a hit amongst our young ones as they enjoyed feeding them kitchen scraps, acorns, gleaned corn, and feed. They quickly learned why people use the phrase “make a pig of oneself,” as the pigs push and shove, slopping around trying to get the best morsel.
The two, not “three little pigs” grew and grew and another saying comes true, “pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.”
The big day came and the hogs were shot, hoisted by the bucket of the tractor, skinned and halved before being brought inside to be butchered. With the skill we were learning, everyone felt like “guinea pigs,” yet excited to experience something new.
In the kitchen, the hogs then turned into pork as they were cut into loins, hams, shoulders, and sides. The hams and bacon were cured and then smoked in our new smokehouse. The loins were packaged, and the rest turned into sausage, and the saying “looked like a pig on ice,” took on a new meaning as the freezer began to fill.
Now with all of the hog in the freezer, the proper name for the meat became pork- “Porky Pig.” With the money we saved, we will have more for our “piggy bank,” and also a deeper understanding of where our meat really comes from, along with the work it takes to process such an endeavor. While I did not even touch on idioms such as “pig in a blanket,” “pigheaded,” “squeal like a stuck pig,” or “pig Latin,” I do hope to “piggy back” this article with one about our new smokehouse sometime in the future.
Until then, “Ba-dee, ba-dee, ba dee, that’s all folks!”
The big day came and the hogs were shot, hoisted by the bucket of the tractor, skinned and halved before being brought inside to be butchered. With the skill we were learning, everyone felt like “guinea pigs,” yet excited to experience something new.
In the kitchen, the hogs then turned into pork as they were cut into loins, hams, shoulders, and sides. The hams and bacon were cured and then smoked in our new smokehouse. The loins were packaged, and the rest turned into sausage, and the saying “looked like a pig on ice,” took on a new meaning as the freezer began to fill.
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| Ham after curing and before smoking |
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| Ham after smoking |
Now with all of the hog in the freezer, the proper name for the meat became pork- “Porky Pig.” With the money we saved, we will have more for our “piggy bank,” and also a deeper understanding of where our meat really comes from, along with the work it takes to process such an endeavor. While I did not even touch on idioms such as “pig in a blanket,” “pigheaded,” “squeal like a stuck pig,” or “pig Latin,” I do hope to “piggy back” this article with one about our new smokehouse sometime in the future.
Until then, “Ba-dee, ba-dee, ba dee, that’s all folks!”
~Mark
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