Huntsville gazette., 1883-03-17
Luscious Pigs Heads.

between Mr.. William Geoghegan and
Mr.. Daniel O'Brien, has excited much
| discussion as to the value and impor-
tance of pigs head as an article Of food.
| According to the statistics of the Produce
Exchange, more than 100000 hogs
are annually sold in this market. Nearly
everybody except Hebrews and Moham-
medans eat more or less roast pork,
which has been favorite and succulent
diet ever since its discovery By Charles
Lambs Chinaman, who, trying bit of
ply which had been roasted in the
accidental burning of his house, became
so enamored of the flavor that he fire.
quently thereafter burned down his
house with pig or two in it in order to
crafty his appetite. Smoked hams and
| bacon are so important as articles of
food, both in Europe and America, that
| they have given rise to much legislation
| in the German Reichstag and the French
Chamber, as well as in the Ameri-
can Congress. Pigs feet-particularl
picked pigs feet--are very. popular
among the Irish, who. style Them
'cruibeens," and among Americans,
English, Scotch and Germans. But TO
many people the problem: Where do
the heads of the million Of hogs eaten
in this city every year 60 topt is almost
as much mystery as the ultimate des-
tination of the pins. In Shakspeare's
time the great wild boar's head was the
/ principal dish at royal and baronial
banauets in England, and to this day in
some parts of Germany and in Southern
| Europe and Italy no hunting feast is
complete without the head or the wild
boar. Smoked pigs jowl and cabbage
| is dish much appreciated at English
| country inns, and ''beied jowl and
turnips'' is a familiar dish in Virginia
country houses. Although more than a
/ million pigs heads are sold every year
in this city, who remembers ever seeing
"pig's head" on the bill of fare of anY
restaurant. On what boarding house
table is the eternal round of boiled,
roast and hashed varied by pigs head
cooked in any style? In making known
the gastronomic possibilities Of pigs
head the Pigs Head Club is, therefore,
| doing the public a service and throwing
| light upon an interesting economic sub
| ject. A, reporter Of the World, in in
vestigating this matter yesterday, con.
versed with a number of gentlemen on
the east side who are members of the
club and enthusiastic admirers of the
dish to which their club owes its name.
| Mr.. Fred Millet, well-known MEM
ber of the Produce Exchange, who has
an extensive packing house on Bronze
street, was asked how the pigs heads
supplied by him to the club were rre-
pared.
81 will show you it all,n he said.
"John to an assistant], bring me big
cleaver." Lifting the ceaver, which
had heavy blade about three feet long
and six inches wide, Mr.. Miller brought
it down on the neck of porker and the
head fell into q basket, severed bv the
single blow. Picking up the head by
the ear, Mr.. Miller said: "We first split
it and carefully take out the brains and
tongue in this way" suiting the action
to the word. "Then the head is put in
briny pickle in the cellar and allowed
to soak about two weeks. 1t is then
taken out and soaked in cold freshwater
for several hours, after which it is
smoked. To smoke a pigs head prop
erly takes about three days and nights.
The lreads lose about twenty per cent.
in weight during this process. The
fresh ones are sold at retail for five
cents pound, the corned heads at the
same price, and smoked heads atseven
cents. The tongues and the brains are
sold separately, the usual price being
ten cents pound for the former and
eight cents for the latter. Ever eat
pigs brains? All! you have missed
something. A nice pigs brain rolled in
cracker-dust and fried like an oyster Is
q delicacy far superior to calves brains.
Take look at my smoke houses. AS
you see, they run from cellar to roof,
and are about ten feet by six,
inclosed in brick and with close
shutting iron doors at the openings
of each floor. A slow f.e of hickory
wood mixed with sawdust is built under
CRATE at the bottom, and about eight
hundred hams, heads and shoulders
are smoked at one time. | sell about
forty heads day at retail in the imme
diate neighborhood, but people don't
know what good eating pigs heads
are, and, although make about ton
of head cheese day, have frequently
had to sell a thousand heads to Mr..
Charles Sabin, who buys daily an enor-
nous number for three cents a pound.
He puts them in barrels with brine, and
ships them to the West Indies, where
they form the staple food of the negroes
on the sugar and tobacco plantations.
Fresh heads are used only for making
bologna-sausages. The corned heads
are bought principally by the Irish.
Many Irish families have pigs heads
three or four times week; others less
fortunate come here on Saturday night
from distant parts of the city to buy one
for Sundays dinner. You may not
know that pigs head is often called the
Irishman's turkey. Although pigs
head is not. at its best until it is smoked,
few people are aware of the fact, and /
sell fewer smoked than corned heads.
The taste for smoked heads was i'm
parted to the east-siders by one or two
Austrians. In Vienna smoked head is
nearly always eaten at ten O'Clock
lunch. Grated horse-radish and sour
krout generally accompany it, Here
Mr.. Miller smacked his lips, and over
come bv the rem niscence. tears started