© 2012 Paul Forte

A 6 minute film showing everything but the squeal in the traditional slaughtering of a pig in 1965

Pig Slaughtering

Ettore Forte captured this moment in the mid 1960s.  As in many villages, it was traditional to slaughter a pig at certain times of year and it really was a village "occasion".  The villagers were animal lovers, but animals were food.   It was done humanely but inevitably there would be much rejoicing and, as in times past, every bit of the animal woud be used.  They woud render the fat down to make lard, grill some of the tender meat and boil the tougher meat.  Delicious sausages were made to traditiona recipes and the shouder and underbelly were used for pancetta and bacon.  Some meat was smoked and the front legs and haunches were cured  for prosciutto.  Even the blood was used to make the sanguinaccio insaccato, a sort of black pudding sausage. 

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