The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-01-23
Corn Fed t'OrE.
rCountry Gentleman.

The opinion is quite general that corn-fed
pork is harder, contains more nutriment,
and shrinks less in the pot and frying pan,
than pork fed on milk, slops, or partly on
flesh, as happens where swine are kept and
fed in slaughter yards and the food OF which
is more or less the offal of slaughtered ami
mails. Nevertheless. the opinion is almost
wholly an erroneous one, as we shall try 10
show. Granted that under q temperature so
low that lard remains firm and stiff corn fed
pork is firmer than pork fed on milk, slops,
or flesh, but its firmness depends on the rel
atively larger amount of stearine than OF ole
inc in the com position of corn-fed pork; bat
it is firmness which Is wholly lost at high
temperature, like that of summer heat or
the average of tropical weather.
Where pork is made partly on milk, siOps
or flesh and similar food, the oleine o. the
fat exceeds in quantity the steaine, and
while the meat SO made may at ordinary
temperature appear soft and ha5by, IL really
contains more nutriment-that is, more
albuminous matter-and will shrink less in
cooking than corn fed pork. And here is
the explanation: In corn-fed pork the cell
tissues which envelope the fatty matter are
very thin and light, and consequently tend
er, and when wheat is applied, either by
boiling or frying. the cells burst, the lard
escapes and the h5shy portions shrink 10 al
most nothing. And this happens because
u
make cell tissues-that is IN aIbuminous mat
ter. On the contrary, milk and slops are
very rich in albuminous matter, and flesh
Is almost wholly composed OF it, and cOnse-
Quentiy swine fed and fattened on these
substances have cell tissues largely developed,
and where the lard escapes In cooking there
is much larger portion Of solid meat left.
In the old country, where swine are
raised and fattened on peas and barley and
the like, and where such thing as an ex-
elusive corn diet is almost unknown, cooks
make great account of "lsrding"-lh IL,
cutting the fatty part of pork into long, mar
row strips and sewing them into certain
meas and game birds previous TO cooking
them, for the purpose of increasing their
favor and Juices. With tue ordinary corn
red pork this can not be done, AID Harding"
In the United States Is much restricted or
gone out of fashion. In the case of foreign
pork its abundance and strength of cell it's
sues make it suitable Tor the operation; in
the other. delicacy and tenderness OF the
same substance render il quite unfit for the
purpose. As further illustration of how
particular kinds of food affect sdiposo and
cell tissues, il may be stated that meat of
hogs fatted on beech nuts and mast gem
orally, so far as the fat is concerned, is semi
transparent; and slaughtered hog, hung
by the heels, viii drip lard oil from the
snout at an ordinary temperature. In can.
die burning Gays the farmers and jewellers
of the middle states learned that the tallow
of grass fatted beeves would make candles
which would not run in mid summer; but
the taliow of corn-fatted cattle required to
be hardened by the addition of alum, resin,
or some other substance.