Thank you! Rose was born in 1900, and was in the middle of the 5 sisters. There was also 3 brothers. Malinda was the youngest, born in 1911. Rose lived to be 95, so I remember her well. I don't think I ever met any of her siblings.@Hoot Crawford your grandmother and her sisters were a beautiful bunch of ladies
What is "hashlet"?October brings memories of hog killin' time to me.
My brother has a friend who is an artist. He asked him to paint a picture of hog killin' time from his verbal description. This is the picture.
View attachment 6346
It is not tonally accurate, but it is close. I remember Mama's big ol' white coffee cup. Daddy had a vat dug in the ground with fire under it for scalding the hogs, not one on a stand. I remember the crisp cold air with the smell of wood smoke drifting in it.
My job when I was 8 or 9 years old was pouring boiling water through the chittlins. The women would cut one end of the chittlins and squeeze the contents out. They would open the top end, and I would pour the water into it. Repeat until they were clean. That smell was not as pleasant as the wood smoke.
Later, when I was older, my job was cooking. We would have collards, baked sweet potatoes, some kind of dry beans, fresh tenderloin, liver. hashlet, and cornbread. It was a feast fit for a king or hard-working people.
October brings memories of hog killin' time to me.
My brother has a friend who is an artist. He asked him to paint a picture of hog killin' time from his verbal description. This is the picture.
View attachment 6346
It is not tonally accurate, but it is close. I remember Mama's big ol' white coffee cup. Daddy had a vat dug in the ground with fire under it for scalding the hogs, not one on a stand. I remember the crisp cold air with the smell of wood smoke drifting in it.
My job when I was 8 or 9 years old was pouring boiling water through the chittlins. The women would cut one end of the chittlins and squeeze the contents out. They would open the top end, and I would pour the water into it. Repeat until they were clean. That smell was not as pleasant as the wood smoke.
Later, when I was older, my job was cooking. We would have collards, baked sweet potatoes, some kind of dry beans, fresh tenderloin, liver. hashlet, and cornbread. It was a feast fit for a king or hard-working people.
My father liked pickled pigs feet. I've known folks who like chicken feet. I will never understand.
Often an option at dim sum.
It's been years since I've had dim sum. Always during Chinese New Year. It's good stuff.
Yeh, pigs feet are kept in brine. You could go into any American Legion Hall and there would be a gallon jar of them on the bar, probably dating back to the Civil War.
OMG, I did! How could I ever forget them? Must be old age forgetfulness.
When the men had the first hog dressed, they would send a big pan in with the hashlet in it. It included the liver, the "Lights" which was what we called the lungs (Sounds a lot better, doesn't it?) , and, I think, the kidneys. They were cut into small pieces, put into a pot with some lean meat, sage, salt, black pepper, and a little red pepper. Then simmered for hours. It was called hog hash. I never liked it. If I ate any of it, I would pick out the lean meat.
Have you had been tongue? I think it's usually boiled. I made sandwiches out of it when I was a kid. I always figured it was a British or German thing (from parents), until I ate at a Bolivian buffet one day. The server was educating me on all the stuff they had--including beef tongue--and was shocked when I told her I used to eat it as a kid. Maybe she assumed it was just a Bolivian thing.Oh! I know what souse is. I just never heard it called head cheese. I don't like that, either. I've never been hungry enough to eat hog tongue. I know it's all lean meat but, still..................................
I have eaten many a hog brain. When I was little, I thought eating brains would make me smarter. ... Worked, too.
Pigs' feet have a lot of gristle and connective tissue. I seem to recall a kind of gel stuff on them but I was never a fan so I really couldn't say.My hubby liked pigs' feet cooked until they fell off the bone with navy beans. The pigs' feet made the juice sort of thicken. It was sort of slimy. I didn't really care for them. But I cooked them for him at least once every fall. Now, wasn't I a good wife?
