Away back in the dark ages, even before the Christian era, a Chinese
husbandman, so we are told, made a wonderful discovery--that pork was
good to eat. No one had ever considered the possibility of eating pork,
for in those days pigs were pets, and just as every family today has its
dog “Rover,” so then, every family had its pig “Scraps.”
One day the house of Char-Lee was burned to the ground. The cause of the
fire is unknown. Char-Lee was filled with remorse and, as he walked
about among the ruins of his home, he felt that the gods of Good Luck
had indeed turned their backs on him. As he was thus bewailing his
misfortunes, he stumbled over a charred timber and fell flat on the
ground. In lifting himself to his feet, he burned the fingers of his
right hand, and, as does a child, he immediately proceeded to suck those
fingers.
Imagine his amazement to find clinging to his fingers a substance most
luscious to the taste, and most gratifying to the palate! He looked to
see what it could be, and--behold, he saw that it was the remains of
“Scraps,” who had been lost in the burning house and roasted as perhaps
never has a pig been roasted since.
Eager to further enjoy this new delicacy, Char-Lee proceeded to feast
himself, and it was then he found that pork not only pleases and
gratifies--but satisfies. Desiring to share his new delights with his
friends and neighbors, he called them together and they had a wonderful
feast. From that day to this we have eaten roasted pork.
It was many, many years later that a Roman farmer, living on a beautiful
little farm at the mouth of the Tiber, formed the habit of putting fresh
pork in a covered pan and burying the whole deep in the cool sands by
the water’s edge. But one day he put the pan too near the edge and at
high tide the salt water from the ocean came up, filled the pan, and so
smoothed the surface of the sands that he was unable to find the place
where he had buried the container.
After several fortnights he accidentally found his meat again. He
examined it carefully and was surprised to find that it had seemingly
kept in perfect condition, the only trouble being that the water had
gotten into his pan and his meat was all wet. So he carried it to his
house, and, putting a long skewer through the piece, he hung it high
above the fire in his open hearth, to dry it off before he should wish
to roast it.
Later in the day he set out with two companions for a two-days’ hunting
expedition in the woods. As the party returned, laden with the spoils of
the hunt, his cook was preparing a meal for them. As he walked into the
house, he thought of his piece of pork. You can readily imagine his
astonishment when he found that the smoke from the smouldering embers,
while he was away, had turned the meat a deep cherry hue, and that the
fire, built up to prepare the home-coming feast, had broiled the piece
to a nicety. It savored of an aroma so rare that it was given preference
over even the choice pheasants which had been prepared.
This was the first time a cured and smoked piece of pork had ever been
eaten, but could you have seen how delighted these men were with the
result of this accidental preparation, you would have known from their
enthusiasm that cured, smoked pork would one day have a very great
popularity.
Later, a farmer and his family decided that they would like to eat meat
even during the summer months when the activity of haying season made it
impossible to prepare it in the usual way, and so, in March, or during
some other convenient cool period, he would kill the pig which had been
fattening all winter, and dissect the carcass into hams, shoulders,
bacon sides and mess pork.
These parts were cured by different methods; one very popular way was to
put the hams and shoulders on about an inch of salt in the bottom of a
barrel, keeping these parts around the edge so as to leave room for the
mess pork and bacon sides in the center. Each part would be carefully
rubbed with salt before it was packed away, and slits were cut from the
surface of the hams to the bone, so that one might force salt in them,
thus keeping the meat from turning sour. The top of the meat was
sprinkled with sugar and saltpetre. A small barrel head was laid on the
top of the meat and a heavy stone placed on the head so as to hold the
meat firmly in place. At the end of a week just enough water was added
to cover the barrel head.
[Illustration: CHESTER WHITE SOWS[21]