Pig slaughter
Encyclopedia
Pig slaughter is the work of slaughtering domestic pig
s which is both a common economic
activity as well as a tradition
al feast in some European countries.
Pig slaughter is a necessary activity to obtain pig meat - pork
. It regularly happens as part of traditional and intensive pig farming
.
Pigs are slaughtered at different ages. Generally they can be divided into piglets, which are 1.5 to 3 months old; the fattening pigs, intended for pork and bacon
, which are 4 months to one year old; and finally the older pigs, such as sow
s (female pigs) and boar
s (uncastrated male pigs). The meat obtained from piglets is subdivided into more meaty or more fatty, determined by the thickness of bacon. Male hogs are usually castrated a month before slaughter. Their meat quality is determined on the mass of halves and the thickness of bacon on the back.
Transport of pigs to slaughter and all the other procedures and circumstances leading up to the actual act of stunning and killing the pig are in modern times carefully arranged in order to avoid excessive suffering of animals, which both has a humane rationale as well as helping provide for a higher quality of meat.
Before slaughter, pigs are first rendered unconscious using one of the following means: stunning using electric current
applied with electrode
s, or stunning using captive bolt pistol
, or inhalation of CO2. They are then hoisted on a rail, after which they are exsanguinated, usually via the carotid artery
and the jugular vein
. After the blood
is gone, the carcass
is drenched in hot water in a device called a pig scalder
which helps in the removal of hair, which is subsequently completed by using scissor-like devices and then if necessary with a torch.
The pig is then eviscerated, the head is usually removed, and the body is cut into two halves. The remaining halves are washed to remove any remaining blood, bacteria
or remains of bone, and then cooled down in order to help with the process of cutting and deboning.
In the European Union
, the Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament
and of the Council
No. 852/2004, 853/2004 and 854/2004 cover various aspects of hygiene of foodstuffs that includes pig slaughter.
Pig slaughter is a tradition known in numerous Europe
an countries: Croatia
(see below), Serbia
(see below), Hungary
(disznóvágás), the Czech Republic
(zabijačka), Slovakia
(zabíjačka), Greece
, Italy
(maialata), Moldova
, Romania
(tăiatul porcului, Ignat), Slovenia
(koline), Portugal
(matança), Spain
(matanza), Ukraine and others.
The family hog pens have also existed in the United States
on small family farms up to and including the early 1900s, but in modern times it's practically obsolete.
ing. Yet, because people often do the work in the open, it is preferable that the temperatures aren't too much below freezing during this time, hence the slaughter rarely extends into winter.
Also, slaughter activities typically need to produce results before the Christmas
season, to provide for the festive cuisine.
In the past, this was also the only time of the year when people could afford to eat larger amounts of meat
. In modern times, almost any family in Europe that is so inclined can afford to slaughter, yet there is also an abundance of pre-processed meat in the shops, so the traditional method of slaughtering is becoming more and more of a folk custom rather than a necessity.
The slaughter requires numerous preparations, including troughs, large quantities of boiling water, large wooden barrel
s for storing meat, pots, sharp knives, and in modern times also artificial intestines (hoses for various sausages).
Historically, butcher
ing was a trade passed from father to son. Today the initial slaughter is normally performed by a professional butcher. After that, the meat is butchered by laymen, and the process is accompanied by various local ritual
s.
and showered with boiling
water to remove the hair. The pig is then removed from the trough and any remaining hair is removed with a knife or a razor
, and then it is again washed with boiling water.
Today, the animal is rendered unconscious by electrical or carbon dioxide stunning and then immediately bled by cutting the throat. For quality reasons, mechanical means of stunning such as a captive bolt pistol
are not recommended.
Then, the pig's intestine
s are removed. These days, the pig can also be obtained as a half (Croatian: polovica or polutka), without intestines or blood.
In modern times, because of the danger of Trichinosis
, people are required to have critical parts of the fresh meat tested by a veterinarian
before any further contact with potentially infected meat.
Very sharp knives and a cleaver
are required for butchering. The carcass is cut into ham
s, shoulders, bacon
sides, pork belly
s, ham hocks, loins, pork chops, and other cuts of lesser importance.
The buttocks are salted and pressed in order to eventually produce ham
. The ribcage meat is salted and smoked in order to get bacon
. Salt is rubbed thoroughly into each piece of meat and all surfaces are covered. Some formulas also include lots of black pepper.
The bulk of the meat is cut and ground to produce various sausage
s, which are traditionally wrapped into the intestines of various sizes.
The bulk of the fat is cut into small pieces. Some of it is stewed to produce cracklings
.
Lard
is made by rendering - heating fragments of fat in a large iron pot over a fire until it is reduced to simmering grease which congeals when cooled. Lard is then stored in lard tins with tin covers. The typical tins in the US are five gallons.
The intestines are stripped by drawing them through a clenched fist. They are then washed, cut into short pieces, and fried to make chitlins.
The various "leftovers" are put into various forms of headcheese jelly, etc. Most parts of the pig are used in this traditional process, even parts of the skin that would normally be thrown away are preserved to be cooked with beans.
The smoke house is essential for the preservation and long term storage of hams, shoulders, bacon sides, and pork bellies. The meat is hung on racks and hooks in the smokehouse; and later smoked. Fragrant hardwood, such as hickory
, beech
, or cherry
is allowed to smolder slowly in a pit below the hanging meat. This gives added flavor and color to the meat as well as serving to dry cure the pork.
of the United States bought a Canadian plant and now competes with the Canadian industry. Canadian pigs average 235-240 lbs live weight, much lower than the United States average of 255-260. The lower weight incurs higher production costs, forcing pigs to be sent across the border for slaughtering. However the slaughtering industry is expanding in western Canada and could rival the United States in low cost sometime in the future.
as well as the neighboring Serbia
is a widespread practice that involves pig slaughtering, processing, and butchery of pig meat, and is observed by rural families, usually in late autumn. The tradition is variously called kolinje, prašćina, svinjokolj, svinjokolja or svinjokolje or posjek. The names literally mean "pig-slaughtering" (svinja=pig, n., klanje=slaughter, n.). It is a custom specific to the parts of the countries in the Pannonian plain.
After WWII, in Yugoslavia
, a state holiday fell on November 29, with that and next day being non-working, so most slaughters were held on that occasion.
The entire duration of the slaughter can be as long as three days. Because people were traditionally stocking up on supplies before winter, it became customary to slaughter more than one pig, which increased the amount of time necessary for the meat to be processed. Some families visit their relatives (often grandparents) and friends at that time of the year, in order to help. Also, little mechanization
is used, with meat being cut manually. Any grinding is done with relatively small manually operated, mechanical grinding machines.
The traditionally produced ham (šunka), bacon (slanina), the sausages (kobasica) such as blood sausage
(krvavica) and kulen
are well-known as delicacies. Some of them, notably kulen, are classified under the laws of protected designation of origin
. The non-meat products such as cracklings (čvarci) or švargl
and hladetina are also respected as parts of traditional cuisine.
To complement the activities, rakija or wine
is drunk by participants during the butchering.
The pig liver
is customarily roasted the same day of the slaughter.
Men and women were traditionally assigned different jobs during the slaughter. It was commonly the men who were doing the actual slaughter, the larger part of butchering, and the grinding of meat. Because the society is traditionally patriarchal, the women were in charge of a relatively menial tasks, such as waiting and cooking for the whole crew throughout the event, keeping the environment clean (washing and scrubbing), as well as the emptying the pigs' bowels in order to make them suitable for holding sausage meat.
The standard of hygiene long recommended by veterinarians has included various requirements for the people, tools and space used in the process.
All people involved in the slaughter and butchering must be healthy, dressed with a hat, apron and boots, and clean hands. The tools (knives, axes, saws etc.) are sharpened, cleaned and disinfected before use, and they should be kept in a clean place throughout the process, preferably in a clean toolbox around the butcher's belt. The location of the killing needs to be a clean concrete surface with a sewer canal, meaning that the space can be easily cleaned. The trough used should have a zinced surface which is easy to clean and disinfect; the wooden troughs absorb water and microorganisms which makes them unsuitable.
The Croatian Ministry of Agriculture has published rules on sanitation requirements for animal slaughter since 1992, animal waste disposal rules since 2003, while regulations from 2005 also cover animal welfare in relation to slaughter. These rules track the relevant European Union regulation.
Croatian animal rights
supporters regard the traditional slaughtering process as cruel and one which causes unnecessary suffering. The most vocal Croatian animal rights NGO "Prijatelji životinja" advocates banning the entire practice.
In the process of Croatia's entry into the EU
, there were widespread fears that new legislation would make svinjokolja as such illegal, forcing all pig slaughter to be conducted in controlled, inspected facilities. The fears were unwarranted because new regulation focused on stopping distribution of unhealthy meat products on the open market, rather than the traditional process where meat is consumed within the same household.
usually took place during the winter months, when low temperatures made it easier to store fresh meat and meat products. Preparations for the event extended over a number of days and involved a variety of ceremonies. The event itself was accompanied by the making of traditional dishes such as jitrnice
, tlačenka
and škvarky
. After the slaughter, the young men of the village would visit neighbours and relatives bringing gifts of meat and fresh soup. The pig slaughter ended with what was called a karmina, a special celebration held in the household where the slaughter had taken place. Invited guests, sometimes dressed in masks, would join in the feasting and drinking. In the past, the traditional pig slaughters usually ended on Ash Wednesday
.
Traditional pig slaughters (Zabíjačka) still (2011) take place in public at Mardi Gras
celebrations in many Czech towns and villages.
However the domestic pig slaughter is a disappearing tradition. During the communist era it was cheaper and people preferred to raise and slaughter pigs at home. Many Czech and Moravian villagers worked in JZD (collective farms) and it was easier for them to obtain the foodstuffs needed to fatten a pig. Since then pig raising and slaughtering has become less common in Czech villages and towns. It is also subject to regulation by the European Union
. In 2009, the Czech politician and Member of the European Parliament
Jan Březina
commented that: "The discovery that in Romania
the animals are not paralyzed before slaughter provoked a hysterical reaction on the part of the European institutions. The older member states have begun calling for more stringent European regulation. The result is a textbook example of pointless EU legislation destroying yet another aspect of national tradition."
The traditional domestic pig slaughter was a favourite theme of the renowned Czech painter Josef Lada
. In the play Prase (The Pig, 1987), Václav Havel
tries to buy a pig for a zabíjačka by local villagers, with difficulty because as a dissident
he is considered politically suspect. In 1968, Jiří Šebánek, a founder of the Jára Cimrman
Theatre, wrote the play The Pig Slaughter at Home. Toilet Horror.
, the pig slaughter (zabíjačka, zakáľačka, bravčovina, svinský kar, karmina) was an essential part of the winter traditions from early medieval times. The pig slaughter was considered an important event in village society and an opportunity for families to get together. According to Katarína Nádaská of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Comenius University
in Bratislava
, the traditional period for pig slaughters usually started on 21 December, the feast day of St. Thomas
. There was a special magical importance attached to the date and farmers believed that the meat of a pig slaughtered on St. Thomas Day would last longer. A second traditional pig slaughtering period began around Mardi Gras
.
In the past there were a number of traditional customs associated with the pig slaughter. After the slaughter, the girls of the household would collect the bones and scatter them around the yard for love magic
purposes. They believed that when a dog snatched the first bone, the girl who had thrown the bone would be the first one to marry.
, India, pigs are sacrificed to Kandhen Budhi once every three years, and in Bali, Indonesia holy men sacrifice pigs during the Melasti
festival. In Hittite Anatolia
, pigs were sacrificed to insure the well being of the community,. Many Greek religious festivals involved sacrificing pigs to different gods in different ways.
Domestic pig
The domestic pig is a domesticated animal that traces its ancestry to the wild boar, and is considered a subspecies of the wild boar or a distinct species in its own right. It is likely the wild boar was domesticated as early as 13,000 BC in the Tigris River basin...
s which is both a common economic
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
activity as well as a tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
al feast in some European countries.
Agriculture
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
. It regularly happens as part of traditional and intensive pig farming
Intensive pig farming
Intensive piggeries are a type of factory farm ' specialized in the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight...
.
Pigs are slaughtered at different ages. Generally they can be divided into piglets, which are 1.5 to 3 months old; the fattening pigs, intended for pork and bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
, which are 4 months to one year old; and finally the older pigs, such as sow
Sow
Sow may refer to:* Sowing seed* Female animals: badger, bear, pig family* Shape in which metal is cast* Type of siege engine* River Sow, England* "Sow", a poem by Sylvia Plath* Sow , the band/spoken word project comprising Anna Wildsmith-People:...
s (female pigs) and boar
Boar
Wild boar, also wild pig, is a species of the pig genus Sus, part of the biological family Suidae. The species includes many subspecies. It is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig, an animal with which it freely hybridises...
s (uncastrated male pigs). The meat obtained from piglets is subdivided into more meaty or more fatty, determined by the thickness of bacon. Male hogs are usually castrated a month before slaughter. Their meat quality is determined on the mass of halves and the thickness of bacon on the back.
Transport of pigs to slaughter and all the other procedures and circumstances leading up to the actual act of stunning and killing the pig are in modern times carefully arranged in order to avoid excessive suffering of animals, which both has a humane rationale as well as helping provide for a higher quality of meat.
Before slaughter, pigs are first rendered unconscious using one of the following means: stunning using electric current
Electric current
Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
applied with electrode
Electrode
An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit...
s, or stunning using captive bolt pistol
Captive bolt pistol
A captive bolt pistol is a device used for stunning animals prior to slaughter....
, or inhalation of CO2. They are then hoisted on a rail, after which they are exsanguinated, usually via the carotid artery
Carotid artery
Carotid artery can refer to:* Common carotid artery* External carotid artery* Internal carotid artery...
and the jugular vein
Jugular vein
The jugular veins are veins that bring deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava.-Internal and external:There are two sets of jugular veins: external and internal....
. After the blood
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
is gone, the carcass
Carcass
Carcass may refer to:*Cadaver of a human, or carrion of an animal.*Carcass , a death metal/grindcore band*Carcass , a type of incendiary ammunition designed to be fired from a cannon, three ships of the Royal Navy...
is drenched in hot water in a device called a pig scalder
Pig scalder
A Pig scalder is a tool that was used to soften the skin of a pig after it had been killed to remove the hair from its skin. Because people rarely slaughter and process their own pigs anymore, pig scalders are seldom used for domestic use....
which helps in the removal of hair, which is subsequently completed by using scissor-like devices and then if necessary with a torch.
The pig is then eviscerated, the head is usually removed, and the body is cut into two halves. The remaining halves are washed to remove any remaining blood, bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
or remains of bone, and then cooled down in order to help with the process of cutting and deboning.
In the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, the Regulation (EC) of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
and of the Council
European Council
The European Council is an institution of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the EU member states, along with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, currently Herman Van Rompuy...
No. 852/2004, 853/2004 and 854/2004 cover various aspects of hygiene of foodstuffs that includes pig slaughter.
European tradition
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an countries: Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(see below), Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
(see below), Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
(disznóvágás), the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
(zabijačka), Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
(zabíjačka), Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
(maialata), Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(tăiatul porcului, Ignat), Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
(koline), Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
(matança), Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
(matanza), Ukraine and others.
The family hog pens have also existed in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on small family farms up to and including the early 1900s, but in modern times it's practically obsolete.
Traditional autumn activity
The slaughter traditionally takes place in the autumn and early winter, and the timing has several practical considerations. It can start as soon as it gets cold, as the cold is required as a natural method of preserving the relatively large quantities of meat during the butcherButcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
ing. Yet, because people often do the work in the open, it is preferable that the temperatures aren't too much below freezing during this time, hence the slaughter rarely extends into winter.
Also, slaughter activities typically need to produce results before the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season, to provide for the festive cuisine.
In the past, this was also the only time of the year when people could afford to eat larger amounts of meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
. In modern times, almost any family in Europe that is so inclined can afford to slaughter, yet there is also an abundance of pre-processed meat in the shops, so the traditional method of slaughtering is becoming more and more of a folk custom rather than a necessity.
The slaughter requires numerous preparations, including troughs, large quantities of boiling water, large wooden barrel
Barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container, traditionally made of vertical wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. Traditionally, the barrel was a standard size of measure referring to a set capacity or weight of a given commodity. A small barrel is called a keg.For example, a...
s for storing meat, pots, sharp knives, and in modern times also artificial intestines (hoses for various sausages).
Historically, butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
ing was a trade passed from father to son. Today the initial slaughter is normally performed by a professional butcher. After that, the meat is butchered by laymen, and the process is accompanied by various local ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
s.
Act of slaughter and the butchering of carcass
Traditionally, the pig is slaughtered with a knife and then put in a wooden or a metal troughTrough
Trough may refer to:* Trough , the lowest turning point of a business cycle* Trough or manger, a container for animal feed* Watering trough, a receptacle of drinking water for domestic and non-domestic livestock...
and showered with boiling
Boiling
Boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid, which occurs when a liquid is heated to its boiling point, the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding environmental pressure. While below the boiling point a liquid...
water to remove the hair. The pig is then removed from the trough and any remaining hair is removed with a knife or a razor
Razor
A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....
, and then it is again washed with boiling water.
Today, the animal is rendered unconscious by electrical or carbon dioxide stunning and then immediately bled by cutting the throat. For quality reasons, mechanical means of stunning such as a captive bolt pistol
Captive bolt pistol
A captive bolt pistol is a device used for stunning animals prior to slaughter....
are not recommended.
Then, the pig's intestine
Intestine
In human anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the alimentary canal extending from the pyloric sphincter of the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine...
s are removed. These days, the pig can also be obtained as a half (Croatian: polovica or polutka), without intestines or blood.
In modern times, because of the danger of Trichinosis
Trichinosis
Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork or wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. There are eight Trichinella species; five are...
, people are required to have critical parts of the fresh meat tested by a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
before any further contact with potentially infected meat.
Very sharp knives and a cleaver
Cleaver (knife)
A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is used mostly for hacking through bones as a kitchen knife or butcher knife, and can also be used for crushing via its broad side, typically garlic....
are required for butchering. The carcass is cut into ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
s, shoulders, bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
sides, pork belly
Pork belly
Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat derived from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is popular in Asian cuisine, and forms a part of many traditional European dishes such as the Alsatian Choucroute garnie, the Swiss Berner Platte, and the German Schlachtplatte...
s, ham hocks, loins, pork chops, and other cuts of lesser importance.
Processing of animal parts
After it's cut into pieces, the meat from the animal is then processed further into edible products.The buttocks are salted and pressed in order to eventually produce ham
Ham
Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
. The ribcage meat is salted and smoked in order to get bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
. Salt is rubbed thoroughly into each piece of meat and all surfaces are covered. Some formulas also include lots of black pepper.
The bulk of the meat is cut and ground to produce various sausage
Sausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
s, which are traditionally wrapped into the intestines of various sizes.
The bulk of the fat is cut into small pieces. Some of it is stewed to produce cracklings
Cracklings
Cracklings or crackling is a crisp, deep fried food that may be made from various animals. Pork rind cracklings are popular in the American south. The skin of all kinds of poultry are used to make cracklings, including duck, chicken, goose and game birds...
.
Lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
is made by rendering - heating fragments of fat in a large iron pot over a fire until it is reduced to simmering grease which congeals when cooled. Lard is then stored in lard tins with tin covers. The typical tins in the US are five gallons.
The intestines are stripped by drawing them through a clenched fist. They are then washed, cut into short pieces, and fried to make chitlins.
The various "leftovers" are put into various forms of headcheese jelly, etc. Most parts of the pig are used in this traditional process, even parts of the skin that would normally be thrown away are preserved to be cooked with beans.
The smoke house is essential for the preservation and long term storage of hams, shoulders, bacon sides, and pork bellies. The meat is hung on racks and hooks in the smokehouse; and later smoked. Fragrant hardwood, such as hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
, beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
, or cherry
Cherry
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
is allowed to smolder slowly in a pit below the hanging meat. This gives added flavor and color to the meat as well as serving to dry cure the pork.
Country-specific statistics and customs
Canada
In 2000 Canada slaughtered fewer pigs than the United States with an average of 800 per hour compared to the United States at 1,200. The Canadian pork processing industry suffers a cost disadvantage and many pigs are sent to the United States for slaughtering and processing. In 1998, 16.7 million pigs were slaughtered in Canada with 15% of this number slaughtered in the United States. SmithfieldSmithfield
Smithfield is the name of several places:In Australia:* Smithfield, New South Wales* Smithfield, Queensland, near Cairns* Smithfield, South Australia, a northern suburb of Adelaide**Smithfield railway station, Adelaide...
of the United States bought a Canadian plant and now competes with the Canadian industry. Canadian pigs average 235-240 lbs live weight, much lower than the United States average of 255-260. The lower weight incurs higher production costs, forcing pigs to be sent across the border for slaughtering. However the slaughtering industry is expanding in western Canada and could rival the United States in low cost sometime in the future.
Croatia and Serbia
The traditional pig slaughter in CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
as well as the neighboring Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
is a widespread practice that involves pig slaughtering, processing, and butchery of pig meat, and is observed by rural families, usually in late autumn. The tradition is variously called kolinje, prašćina, svinjokolj, svinjokolja or svinjokolje or posjek. The names literally mean "pig-slaughtering" (svinja=pig, n., klanje=slaughter, n.). It is a custom specific to the parts of the countries in the Pannonian plain.
After WWII, in Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, a state holiday fell on November 29, with that and next day being non-working, so most slaughters were held on that occasion.
The entire duration of the slaughter can be as long as three days. Because people were traditionally stocking up on supplies before winter, it became customary to slaughter more than one pig, which increased the amount of time necessary for the meat to be processed. Some families visit their relatives (often grandparents) and friends at that time of the year, in order to help. Also, little mechanization
Mechanization
Mechanization or mechanisation is providing human operators with machinery that assists them with the muscular requirements of work or displaces muscular work. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools...
is used, with meat being cut manually. Any grinding is done with relatively small manually operated, mechanical grinding machines.
The traditionally produced ham (šunka), bacon (slanina), the sausages (kobasica) such as blood sausage
Blood sausage
Black pudding, blood pudding or blood sausage is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. The dish exists in various cultures from Asia to Europe...
(krvavica) and kulen
Kulen
Kulen is a type of flavored sausage made of minced pork that is traditionally produced in Croatia and Serbia , and its designation of origin has been protected. In parts of Slavonia, kulen is called kulin due to Ikavian speech.The meat is low-fat, rather brittle and dense, and the flavor is spicy...
are well-known as delicacies. Some of them, notably kulen, are classified under the laws of protected designation of origin
Protected designation of origin
Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...
. The non-meat products such as cracklings (čvarci) or švargl
Švargl
- Recipe :Chop the meat from a pig's head, skin, ear, tongue and heart, add salt, pepper, paprika and garlic . Then fill the pig's stomach with the mixture and add bay leaves, pepper, marjoram and thyme. Press the cooked sausage under a board for 2 days...
and hladetina are also respected as parts of traditional cuisine.
To complement the activities, rakija or wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
is drunk by participants during the butchering.
The pig liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
is customarily roasted the same day of the slaughter.
Men and women were traditionally assigned different jobs during the slaughter. It was commonly the men who were doing the actual slaughter, the larger part of butchering, and the grinding of meat. Because the society is traditionally patriarchal, the women were in charge of a relatively menial tasks, such as waiting and cooking for the whole crew throughout the event, keeping the environment clean (washing and scrubbing), as well as the emptying the pigs' bowels in order to make them suitable for holding sausage meat.
The standard of hygiene long recommended by veterinarians has included various requirements for the people, tools and space used in the process.
All people involved in the slaughter and butchering must be healthy, dressed with a hat, apron and boots, and clean hands. The tools (knives, axes, saws etc.) are sharpened, cleaned and disinfected before use, and they should be kept in a clean place throughout the process, preferably in a clean toolbox around the butcher's belt. The location of the killing needs to be a clean concrete surface with a sewer canal, meaning that the space can be easily cleaned. The trough used should have a zinced surface which is easy to clean and disinfect; the wooden troughs absorb water and microorganisms which makes them unsuitable.
The Croatian Ministry of Agriculture has published rules on sanitation requirements for animal slaughter since 1992, animal waste disposal rules since 2003, while regulations from 2005 also cover animal welfare in relation to slaughter. These rules track the relevant European Union regulation.
Croatian animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
supporters regard the traditional slaughtering process as cruel and one which causes unnecessary suffering. The most vocal Croatian animal rights NGO "Prijatelji životinja" advocates banning the entire practice.
In the process of Croatia's entry into the EU
Accession of Croatia to the European Union
Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council in mid-2004...
, there were widespread fears that new legislation would make svinjokolja as such illegal, forcing all pig slaughter to be conducted in controlled, inspected facilities. The fears were unwarranted because new regulation focused on stopping distribution of unhealthy meat products on the open market, rather than the traditional process where meat is consumed within the same household.
Czech Republic
In some countries traditional pig slaughter is a special event. In the past pig slaughter in the Czech RepublicCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
usually took place during the winter months, when low temperatures made it easier to store fresh meat and meat products. Preparations for the event extended over a number of days and involved a variety of ceremonies. The event itself was accompanied by the making of traditional dishes such as jitrnice
Liverwurst
The German , that translates literally as "liver sausage," is the typical sausage served in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Romania . Liverwurst normally contains pigs' livers, rather than calves' livers and also contains veal...
, tlačenka
Tlacenka
Tlačenka is the Slovak and Czech variety of head cheese similar to Polish salceson....
and škvarky
Pork rind
Pork rind , is the fried or roasted skin of a pig. Frying melts most of the fat from the pork rind...
. After the slaughter, the young men of the village would visit neighbours and relatives bringing gifts of meat and fresh soup. The pig slaughter ended with what was called a karmina, a special celebration held in the household where the slaughter had taken place. Invited guests, sometimes dressed in masks, would join in the feasting and drinking. In the past, the traditional pig slaughters usually ended on Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
.
Traditional pig slaughters (Zabíjačka) still (2011) take place in public at Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
celebrations in many Czech towns and villages.
However the domestic pig slaughter is a disappearing tradition. During the communist era it was cheaper and people preferred to raise and slaughter pigs at home. Many Czech and Moravian villagers worked in JZD (collective farms) and it was easier for them to obtain the foodstuffs needed to fatten a pig. Since then pig raising and slaughtering has become less common in Czech villages and towns. It is also subject to regulation by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. In 2009, the Czech politician and Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Jan Březina
Jan Brezina
Jan Březina is a Czech politician andMember of the European Parliamentwith the Christian Democratic Union - Czechoslovak People's Party,part of the European People's Party and sits on...
commented that: "The discovery that in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
the animals are not paralyzed before slaughter provoked a hysterical reaction on the part of the European institutions. The older member states have begun calling for more stringent European regulation. The result is a textbook example of pointless EU legislation destroying yet another aspect of national tradition."
The traditional domestic pig slaughter was a favourite theme of the renowned Czech painter Josef Lada
Josef Lada
Josef Lada was a Czech painter and writer.He is best known as the illustrator of Jaroslav Hašek's World War One novel The Good Soldier Švejk...
. In the play Prase (The Pig, 1987), Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
tries to buy a pig for a zabíjačka by local villagers, with difficulty because as a dissident
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
he is considered politically suspect. In 1968, Jiří Šebánek, a founder of the Jára Cimrman
Jára Cimrman
Jára Cimrman or Jára da Cimrman is a Czech fictional character created by Jiří Šebánek, Ladislav Smoljak and Zdeněk Svěrák. He is presented as one of the greatest Czech playwrights, poets, composers, teachers, travellers, philosophers, inventors, detectives, mathematicians and sportsmen of the...
Theatre, wrote the play The Pig Slaughter at Home. Toilet Horror.
Slovakia
In SlovakiaSlovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, the pig slaughter (zabíjačka, zakáľačka, bravčovina, svinský kar, karmina) was an essential part of the winter traditions from early medieval times. The pig slaughter was considered an important event in village society and an opportunity for families to get together. According to Katarína Nádaská of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Comenius University
Comenius University in Bratislava
Comenius University in Bratislava is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th century Czech teacher and philosopher.In 2006, Comenius...
in Bratislava
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, the traditional period for pig slaughters usually started on 21 December, the feast day of St. Thomas
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for questioning Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
. There was a special magical importance attached to the date and farmers believed that the meat of a pig slaughtered on St. Thomas Day would last longer. A second traditional pig slaughtering period began around Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
.
In the past there were a number of traditional customs associated with the pig slaughter. After the slaughter, the girls of the household would collect the bones and scatter them around the yard for love magic
Love magic
Love magic is the attempt to bind the passions of another, or to capture them as a sex object through magical means rather than through direct activity. It can be implemented in a variety of ways, such as written spells, dolls, charms, amulets, love potions, or different rituals.Love magic has...
purposes. They believed that when a dog snatched the first bone, the girl who had thrown the bone would be the first one to marry.
Sacrifice
Like doves, bulls, goats, and other animals, pigs have been sacrificed around the world. In the Durga Puja festival in OrissaDurga Puja in Orissa
Durga Puja is an Indian festival. This article describes its celebration in the state of Orissa.The cult of Shakti worship in Orissa is very prevalent, both in the Tantric and non-Tantric forms, as can be realized from the festivals Vasanti Durga Puja or Chaitra Durga Puja in the Oriya month of...
, India, pigs are sacrificed to Kandhen Budhi once every three years, and in Bali, Indonesia holy men sacrifice pigs during the Melasti
Nyepi
Nyepi is a Balinese "Day of Silence" that is commemorated every Isakawarsa according to Bali's calendar . It is a day of silence, fasting, and meditation. The day following Nyepi is also celebrated as New year.Observed from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m...
festival. In Hittite Anatolia
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
, pigs were sacrificed to insure the well being of the community,. Many Greek religious festivals involved sacrificing pigs to different gods in different ways.
See also
- Animal slaughterAnimal slaughterSlaughter is the term used to describe the killing and butchering of animals, usually for food. Commonly it refers to killing and butchering of domestic livestock ....
- Humane Slaughter ActHumane Slaughter ActThe Humane Slaughter Act, or the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act, is a United States federal law designed to protect livestock during slaughter. It was passed in 1958...
- Traditional diet
- Cutting It ShortCutting It ShortCutting It Short is a 1980 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel. It is based on the novel Postřižiny by Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal. The story is set in a brewery in a Czech small town.Theodor Pištěk designed the costumes for the film.-Cast:...
, a Czech film that includes depictions of traditional pig slaughter (zabijačka)