Granny Johnson told me about making stew at hog killing time. She said the women would all pitch in to make a meal for all the men. They had a huge black iron pot over a fire in the yard. The pot was big enough to bath in. First they would fill the pot with water from the well. Then while the water came to a boil the women would kill a few chickens, hang them on the cloths line, place straw under the line and let the blood drain from the chickens. When the water began to boil in the pot, the women would put the chickens in the pot by there feet and then pluck the feathers off the chickens. I ask her did it stink and she said that was never a question in her mind because she always killed the chickens with her Mother and they just accepted the fact that this was normal if you wanted chicken for your meal. After they had plucked all the chickens the women would pour out that water and wash down the pot with water and start all over again and fill the pot and bring the water back to boil. The men would bring the women the hog heads. The women would wash the heads and the chickens and put all the chickens and hog heads in the pot to cook. All kind of seasoning was added to the pot and smelled so good while the meat cooked. After the meat was done and falling off the bones they would removed the heads and chickens from the broth. All the women would scraped the meat from the hog heads and picked the meat off the chicken bones nibble at some bones, talk, laugh and tell old stories. Next the meat was ground in a metal hand cranked grinder and added back to the broth with corn, tomatoes onions, garlic, and any thing left from the harvest. They would put potatoes in iron pots at the edge of the fire. Corn bread and biscuits Were cooked the same way. of course each pan had to be turned as it cooked. They all brought jams, jellies, fresh churned butter, milk and butter milk. Coffee was at every meal. This was several days work. The men cut up the hogs and put some in smoke houses and salted down the rest. At the end of several days of hard work everyone was tired and thankful for there blessings. I will share my stew with you soon.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Aug 2013 02:46:18 +0000
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