Hi Dave, We would like to add a comment to your Hang the Hog story. Marianne and Alice Harriet.
Except for the gore of it.....We liked your story "Hang the Hog" which we think is the same as a Matanza. After reading your story on NOW2 we decided to send you some pictures to remind you what it was like. Pretty Gross - Right? These pictures were taken in January 1984, the last Matanza our father had. As a child we only remember the end results of the Matanzas at the ranch. We as children were not allowed to be right in the middle to watch the hog killed, scalded and cleaned and with a sharp knife. We probably would not have eaten any of the meat. Our mother would collect and stir the blood to make blood sausage. It was called Morcia (More c ya). I don't know if that is a Spanish word or a Basque word. Again, it was a good thing we didn't know it was blood. We never would have eaten it either. It was very good. And very little of it, so we only got a small piece to taste. They also made very good sausage using the tripe as casings. It had to be cleaned and boiled and cleaned again before it was stuffed with a mixture of the meat onions, chili and spices. Our father took the Matanza as a very serious event. Needless to say he did not appreciate all of us fooling around at the 1984 event. They used purchased casings instead of tripe and some of the casing burst. Our father was not happy at all. The good thing was that we don't think any of us ate the sausage or Morcia so that gave him enough for them.
The people in the pictures were mostly family: Son, Sons in law, grandsons, nephews, cousins and a good Basque friend and one other friend helping and the rest of us watching and taking pictures. Kind of like the story of the "Little Red Hen" no work, just eat. We all enjoyed a big meal of pork and all the trimmings - but not the sausage or morcia.
Matanzas are a tradition here and maybe in all of NM, I don't know. It is a big celebration with friends and relatives with food, drink and music. It usually goes on from the night before through the following day. Probably until all the pig has been eaten. We don't think much makes it to the freezers. Everyone brings food to go with the meal. Marianne and I both agree that the event was fun. Seeing family and friends but no part of the actual Matanza No thank you! It was hard enough to take the pictures but I am glad we did just for the event for our children. They think it is gross! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS IS SUPPORTING INFORMATION TO 'HANG THE HOG' IN HOW TO ACQUIRE AN INSATIABLE DESIRE FOR MEXICAN FOOD.
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Hi Dave, We would like to add a comment to your Hang the Hog story. Marianne and Alice Harriet.
Except for the gore of it.....We liked your story "Hang the Hog" which we think is the same as a Matanza. After reading your story on NOW2 we decided to send you some pictures to remind you what it was like. Pretty Gross - Right? These pictures were taken in January 1984, the last Matanza our father had.
As a child we only remember the end results of the Matanzas at the ranch. We as children were not allowed to be right in the middle to watch the hog killed, scalded and cleaned and with a sharp knife. We probably would not have eaten any of the meat. Our mother would collect and stir the blood to make blood sausage. It was called Morcia (More c ya). I don't know if that is a Spanish word or a Basque word. Again, it was a good thing we didn't know it was blood. We never would have eaten it either. It was very good. And very little of it, so we only got a small piece to taste. They also made very good sausage using the tripe as casings. It had to be cleaned and boiled and cleaned again before it was stuffed with a mixture of the meat onions, chili and spices.
Our father took the Matanza as a very serious event. Needless to say he did not appreciate all of us fooling around at the 1984 event.
They used purchased casings instead of tripe and some of the casing burst. Our father was not happy at all. The good thing was that we don't think any of us ate the sausage or Morcia so that gave him enough for them.
The people in the pictures were mostly family: Son, Sons in law, grandsons, nephews, cousins and a good Basque friend and one other friend helping and the rest of us watching and taking pictures. Kind of like the story of the "Little Red Hen" no work, just eat. We all enjoyed a big meal of pork and all the trimmings - but not the sausage or morcia.
Matanzas are a tradition here and maybe in all of NM, I don't know. It is a big celebration with friends and relatives with food, drink and music. It usually goes on from the night before through the following day. Probably until all the pig has been eaten. We don't think much makes it to the freezers. Everyone brings food to go with the meal.
Marianne and I both agree that the event was fun. Seeing family and friends but no part of the actual Matanza
No thank you! It was hard enough to take the pictures but I am glad we did just for the event for our children. They think it is gross!
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