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Pulling a ham out of the ash.

I wash, trim and skin the ham... which is this beautiful pink and white beneath all the gore and ash - GORE to the M'F'in MAY! (gormet, bitches) The sliced meat is then soaked in water to take the salt out - if left overnight and rinsed, virtually all of the salt is removed.

A simple wooden box, which previously held the hams, bacon and jowls while they were coated in a sea-salt/curing-salt mixture. After a few days, the meat was hung to drip-dry as the salt made it's way in and water was forced out. Now the meat is back in the box, buried in wood ash, which keeps the bugs and the air off it.

A couple of other preserved pork products, both "canned" - the quotes are there for city people... home canning is done with glass jars and lids which seal. On the left is breakfast sausage, complete with a thick layer of seasoned lard, and on the right is pure lard, rendered on the wood-stove from fat trimmed during butchering. Y'all who think that lard is gross have inherited the legacy of an unhealthy conspiracy committed against previous generations by the oilseed PR machine. Nothing fries like lard - nothing! In the middle, the child is also a pork product so to speak, exceedingly well preserved as you can see.