Butchering and curing meats in ChinaLevine, Carl Oscar
Science
Butchering and curing meats in China
Levine, Carl Oscar
Meat -- Preservation; Slaughtering and slaughter-houses -- China
An soon as the hog is dead, it must be scalded and the hair and scurf
quickly removed. The animal is then placed on the top of the _t’ong
chue ts’o_. The head and shoulders are scalded first. They should be
immersed in the water, which should be from 185 to 190 degrees
Fahrenheit. If the water is hotter, the hair will set. Care should be
taken to keep the carcass constantly moving by turning it from side to
side, in other to get a uniform scald and not to allow the carcass to
stay in contact with the bottom of the bowl in which the water is
being heated. Occasionally it should be removed from the water and the
hair “tried”. As soon as the hair and scurf slip easily, the scalding
is complete. The hind quarters are scalded in the same manner. The
head and feet should be scraped first, as the hair sets on those parts
first. Two or three pounds of wood ashes put in the water will help
loosen the scurf. Proper scalding and scraping require fast work. If
the carcass gets cold before the hair has been removed, the hair will
set and have to be removed by shaving with a sharp knife. For
scraping, the candle-stick or bell-shaped scraper is best. What cannot
be removed with it, can be removed with a sharp, curved knife.
In America when only from one to three hogs are butchered
at a time the custom is to heat the water in a large kettle over a stove
or out-door fire. The hot water is poured into a barrel which is
tipped at an angle with the top of the table, the top of the table being
level with the lower side of the top of the barrel. The hog is
slid into the barrel, first the head end, and then the rear end. The
body is kept in motion by pulling it up and down until it is scalded,
and the hair and scurf slip well. This is a quick method of scalding
as much of the hog can be immersed in the water at one time,
but it requires more labor than does the method of scalding with the
_t’ong chue ts’o_.
In large packing houses, the hogs are automatically scalded and
scraped, by being drawn through a tube filled with water of the proper
temperature. Stiff brushes on the inside of the tube remove the hair
and scurf as the hog passes through.
§ 16. Gutting
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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