Beef Heart And Other Odds and Ends

[Craig-TX]

Question other than Dun(I know he has been to one) how many of ya'll have been to a real Hog killin where the meat was prepared and put in a smokehouse.

I have, lots of fun and camaraderie. But I've never done it like in my dad's day before electricity. We skinned instead of scraping. Dad says that back in the day it was the hardest workday on the farm all year. They would start way before can and work till way after can't. Usually a couple of neighbors would come over to help and then you would go help them on their day. The men would be mostly outside keeping the water hot and killing, dipping, scraping and cutting. The women would be mostly inside grinding and casing and cooking for the crowd. The oldtimers would salt away the hams and big cuts. Salt in the box, layer of meat, cover with more salt, more meat, and so on. Campground, your slinging remark made me think of another old saying I've heard Dad repeat countless times. I've killed hogs in warmer weather! He would say that when it was really cold. For those that might not know, hog killings were not done until after the first killing frost so the days would be cold, or at least in the south/southwest anyway. It gets back to no electricity.

Craig-TX

 

[Craig-TX]

the roasts go slower and we get sick of them toward the end when we are havin roast every third meal to clean it out... Sorry, but I prefer pork for ribs! If I knew how heart or tongue was to be cooked, we'd try it.

I'm with you. That's why we keep the best roasts but have the rest ground. I love roast as much as anybody and my wife knows how to fix it right but after so much of it you're just hurting for a change. Same with the ribs. The best calf can't touch the worst hog when it comes to ribs. IMO they're not worth the trouble so we have them boned and ground also. On the heart and tongue, best I can remember my mom would boil them? I remember mainly eating them cold, sliced on sandwiches. Nowadays we just get them ground into the hamburger too. Wife isn't too keen on them.

Craig-TX

 

[sidney411]

For all of you that say you don't like heart - have you ever tried it chicken fried? Or smoked? One of my favorite parts of venison is the heart (well, backstrap and tenders are my favorite, actually) but anyway, this is how you do it. Cut it very thin, about a 1/4 inch thick inch slices about an inch wide. dip in a mixture of 1/2 egg 1/2 milk then roll in a mixture of flour, salt, pepper, and I like to use fajita seasoning. Then fry untill golden brown. YUMMY!!!! I also like it wet smoked about 6 hours sprinkled with fajita seasoning. You should really try it next time!

 

[Rustler9]

I was raised on a farm and we always butchered hogs when it got good and cold-salt and sugar cured some hams and shoulders. Made our own sausage. I don't eat organ meats and never will-just don't like it. My mom's family (Cherokee ancestry) ate everything in the hog but the squeal. I tried to eat liver but as soon as it gets in my mouth I gag-just can't do it.
I've watched my mom eat what they called hash-hearts, livers etc. chopped up and fried with onions and diced potatoes. My grand mother loved chitterlings-my dad always told her to please let him know when she was cooking them. He thought they smelled like some body's out house had blown away. She also loved tongue but I couldn't handle that either.
Now I do love souse-I'm not sure if that's the correct spelling. My family would boil the hog heads until the meat came off the bone. Then they would take the bits of meat and arrange it in a shallow pan with lots of cayenne peppers and pour the liquid over this and let it gel. It's great. Any body else out there like this?
One more thing-I was at my vet's office on Saturday and he had just castrated some colts-he told me that the owners had him save the testicals for mountain oysters. Now we had these alot growing up but they were from calves or pigs. It's the first time I've ever heard of anyone having horse mountain oysters but I guess there's not much difference?

 

[Ryder]

Haven't been to a hog killin since I was a kid remember Grandma and Aunts slinging the be nice out of the hog guts washing in clorox water and stuffing with sausage.

I don't think I'll be eating anything that has to be washed with "clorox water" to be fit for consumption! Bleh!

Apparently you would rather have you hog intestines unwashed before stuffing with sausage. You city folk keep turnin your nose up at real sausage smoked in a real smokehouse oh so good. For you city folk sausage was stuffed in hog intestines rolled and tied, where do you think the colloquialism came from you look like a gut with the s... slung out of it.
Question other than Dun(I know he has been to one) how many of ya'll have been to a real Hog killin where the meat was prepared and put in a smokehouse.

Yep. Been there, done that. Actually I was too little to be of any real help. Mostly just got in the way. That fire sure felt good on those cold mornings.
I wish kids today could experience a hog killin'. Helps to understand reality a lot better. I don't think I suffered any great trauma from it. Neighbors shared. Wish all kids could learn that part as well.

 

[jt]

Tried tongue once. It was chopped up and in a kind of a stew. It was licking me while I tried to chew it, never tried it a second time.

Kidneys may be ok if you boil the pee out of them.

dun

dun, you have a way with words lol

jt

 

[Wewild]

Question other than Dun(I know he has been to one) how many of ya'll have been to a real Hog killin where the meat was prepared and put in a smokehouse.

Been along time.

They piled the meat ground with a hand grinder on the kitchen table and mixed in the pepper, sage and what ever seasoning. Cooked some to taste and adjusted ingredients from there.

Used the heads to make press meat.

They cleaned and ate the intestines, called them chitlins, saved all the organs, and ate brains and eggs.

They had salted and green hams.

They also rendered lard.

I raised three 17 years ago and took them to a processor. Granddad made sure I brought back the heads. We took the sausage meat over to a locale wholesale meat processor and ground it up and in a big mixer and mixed in the seasoning. Sold over 200 pounds of sausage at $1.00/lb. It almost paid for the processing.

 

[PATB]

slice the heart into thing slices and cook just like liver. We nused to boil the tongue and let it cool and then peal the skin off. It make some decent sandwiches better than most of the the boughten spreads.

 

[CKC1586]

Okay here is a recipe for pickled heart and tongue: I have not tried it, just can't bring myself to taste it... But B&L farms swear this stuff is great.
1/2 cup sugar
3 parts vinegar
1 part water
3 T pickling spice
Heart
Tongue
Simmer heart (s) for 3 hours or until tender. Simmer tongue (s) for 1 hour or until tender; peel off skin. In a gallon glass jar, place prepared heart and tongue. Add sugar, 3 parts vinegar, and 1 part water, to cover the meat. Using a 6-inch square of cheesecloth, amke a small bag for pickling spice and add it to the jar. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 weeks.
My sister in law does tongue in the crock pot till tender, skins and slices for sandwiches, she loves it....

 

[Dee]

My family would boil the hog heads until the meat came off the bone. Then they would take the bits of meat and arrange it in a shallow pan with lots of cayenne peppers and pour the liquid over this and let it gel. It's great. Any body else out there like this?

Is this also called head cheese?

 

[TLCfromARK]

Question other than Dun(I know he has been to one) how many of ya'll have been to a real Hog killin where the meat was prepared and put in a smokehouse.[/quote]

I was just a small kid, maybe 8 years old or so, but I remember my grandparents killing hogs after the first cold spell in the fall. " Hog killing weather" was the local term a cold snap. The thing that I remember most was the huge vat of boiling water they used. My job was to keep the fire stoked up. Everyone worked hard, even the kids, but the groceries were good that day. Sampling the sausage, chittlings, etc.

;-)

 

[R.T.]

I have done that many times. We used everything
but the squeal.

 

[El_Putzo]

Question other than Dun(I know he has been to one) how many of ya'll have been to a real Hog killin where the meat was prepared and put in a smokehouse.

Me, Me. Just did it this weekend. Between my wife and I, and my in-laws we butchered 3. Scalded their 2 and skinned mine. Cooked up the heads, hearts, ears and spleans to make blood and liver sausage. Didn't clean our own guts this year, bought casings from the meat locker, it's easier that way.

On the beef issue: We just butchered one in december and we toss all the internals to the dogs except the heart. We put the heart in with the hamburger, make an extra couple of pounds and you can't even tell it's in there, pure muscle ya know.

 

[El_Putzo]

Forgot to mention, we also make panis (mixture of ground up head meat, broth, flour and cornmeal. All cooked up in big black kettle over and open flame.

We also render lard in the big pots.

Side note: To cook up a pot of head meat or render a pot of lard, it takes exactly 6 beers of your choice + 1 pint of whiskey. For better quality include one family member or friend to help you cook (with his own beer of course)

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

There are few things I like better than hoghead sausage on a cold winter morning, along with fried eggs, toast and honey. :lol:

Ate a lot of pork cracklins right out of the kettle, as well as calf brains & eggs when I was younger; also beef heart, liver, sweetbreads, etc. But now I try to avoid all organ meats due to the excessive cholestorol.

 

[Rustler9]

My mom's family all used to get together and butcher several hogs at a time-made great sausage, always fried up a bunch of tenderloin, sampled the sausage, pans of biscuits, pots of coffee and dozens of eggs. My favorite was cooking out the lard and eating the cracklins-man that cracklin cornbread will make you slap your pappy.

 

[docgraybull]

Apparently you would rather have you hog intestines unwashed before stuffing with sausage.

I'm just thinking that I won't be eating any hog intestines, whether they're washed, unwashed, stuffed, with a goat, on a boat.....etc.

 

[J Baxter]

I prefer my chitlins fried, but they are good boiled too. I just hate it when you get a fish scale or piece of corn hung in your teeth. ;-)