The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1878-01-02
COrn-Fed Pork.

Inc 9plnlon ID quite general that corn
fed pork is harder, contains more nutri-
ment, and shrlnks less in the pot and in
the frying pan than pork fed on milk,
Stops, or partly on flesh, as happens where
swine are kept and fed in slaughter yards,
and the food of which is more or less ofal
of slaughtered anim4 lis. Nevertheless
the opinion is almsst wholly an erroneous
one, as we shall try to show. Granted
that under a temperature so low that
lard remain firm and stiff, corn-fed pork
is frmer than pork fed on milk, slops, or
flesh, but this frmness depends on the
relatively larger amount of stearine than
of oleine in the composition of the fatty
matter of corn-fed pork; but it is a firm
ness which is wholly lost at high temper
allure, like that of summer heat, or the
average of tropical weather.
Where pork is made partly on milk,
Stops, flesh, and similar food, the oIeine
of the fat exceeds in quantity the ste%arine,
and while the meat so made may at
ordinary temperatures appear soft and
fabby, it really contains mere nutriment
that is, more albuminous matter-and
will shrink less in cooking than clrn.fed
pork. And here is the explanation In
corn fed pork, the cell tissues which
enyelop the fatsy matter are very thin
and light, aud consequently tender, and
when heat is-applied, either by boiling
or frying, the cells burst. the lard escapes,
and the leshy portion shrink to almost
nothing. And this happens because
corn is very deficient in the substances
which make cell tissue--ehat is, in
albuminous matter. On the contrary,
milk and slop are very rich in albumin
u matter, and flesh is almost wholly
composed of it, and consequently swine
fed and tattened on these substances
have cell tissues largely developed, and
where the lard escapes in cooking, there
is a 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 a thing as
an exclusive corn diet is almest unknown,
cooks make a great account Of Harding"
that is, cutting the fatty part of pork
into long, narrow strips, and sewing them
into certain meats and game birds pre-
yious to cooking for the purpose of in
creasing their favor and juices. With
the ordinary corn-fed pork this cannot be
done, and " larding'' in the United States
is much restricted or gone out of fashion.
In the case Of the foreign pork, its
abundance and strength of cell tissues
make it suitable for the operation in the
other, the delicacy and tenderness of the
same substance render it quite unfit for
that purpose. As further illustration OF
how particular kindsof food affect adipose
and esll tissues, it may be stated that the
meat of hogs fatted on beech-nuts and
{ mast generally, 50 far as the fat is
concerned, Is semi-transparent and a
slaughtered hog, hung by the heels, viii
drip lard-oi from the snout at an ordi.
nary temperature. In candle-burning
days, the farmers and jewellers of the
middle states learned that TIE talloW of
grassfatted beeves would make candles
which would not run in midsummer
but the tallow Of corn-fatted cattle
required to be hardened BY the addition
of alum, resin, or wme ether substance.
-Cor. Country Gentleman.