Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-01-10

TRY diet This trough stuff" as the
pork packers call it, is also sold to
Keepers of cheap restaurants AND
lakes up the bulk Of a five or ten-cent
meal, Even the pigs tails are bought
Tor stews. There are longshoremen.
stevedores and street cleaners, as well
as Italians in whatever occupation, who
1--we almost altogether on these tails
and trimmings at three cents pound.
Pigs kidneys also seem to be a rel
ished food. and the fresh pigs head.
These costas a rule less than five cents
q pound
Indeed, the cheap forms of pork go
to the poor people in quantity beyond
that of all other meats combined. At
every large packing house there are
crowds of people each day with mar
let baskets and pals to get their sup
ply of trimmings and fiat ribs at three
cents a pound One comparatively
small packing house in an eastern city
has 1900 weekly customers from the
neighboring tenements, and when we
consider that in every city there are
many of these packing houses we can
form some idea of the great number Of
people who depend upon pork trim
nings for their principal meat food.
When a pig is carved up there are
some scraps that cannot be sold even
for stew meat. These go to make lard.
There are twa grades of this useful
product The one is kettle rendered"
and is made from leaf lard just as II
grows in the pig; the other, steam
rendered" is produced by boiling down
adj scraps in great iron cauldrons that
are several stories high. In paclSiI &
house there are ehutes leading from
every floor to these boilers. and scraps
as they accumulate are shoveled into
the chute. Steam passes into the
cauldrons and makes the scraps render
up their fat. The steam does not enter
the big open kettles in which the bet
ter grade of lard is made. but these are
heated from without and the lard IS
stirred about by big paddles operated
by steam.
Down in the lard room on the first
floor are numt rous faucets that look
like the vents Of mOiasSrs barrel.
Each Of these is connected with lard
boiler and at the turning of a cock the
warm lard pours out TO be- caught in
the various tins in which il appears on
the kitchen table
A great economy in the f'eatment Of
meat has been brought abou, by The
perfection Of the ice machine. II is an
indispensable part of the machinery of
every packing house. The great snow.
covered pipes filed with condensed am
moria pass everywhere through tic
building and keep at the necessary low
the cold rooms where tons
of pork is curing, During its journey
the ammonia acquires a great quantity
of heat and il finally passes to the roof,
where water is always dropping on the
pipes so that the ammonia is cooled
and is ready 10 be compressed and
used over again.
Should we be thankful for the great
of the pig or should we rath-
err complain because the fight for eX-
istence forces fellow creatures to seek
for the cheapest kind of meat? 1t Is
said that pork as o heavy food is most
suitable for men who perform hard
manual labor aitd surely our iongshors-
men appear to be none the worse for
living on it But are the cheeks Of the
mothers and daughters of the tene-
meats as rosy as they might be if a
pound Of porierhouse steak cost but
three cent?