The Spanish have a different attitude to killing pigs. We don't show a pig the knife before we kill it because we don't want to stress it out. This is not some humanitarian thing it is just that the adrenaline toughens the meat. I will always remember the SAS lad who showed us how to kill animals stroking the sheep to calm it before cutting it's throat from ear to ear. As it's last breaths rattled out of the hole he said wistfully "You know sentries make exactly the same noise as that" nobody thought he was joking. The Spanish system is to burn the adrenaline out of the animal by dragging it about with a hook until exhausted. Then it is stuck and the first dish of Fried Blood will be being eaten before the carcass is still. The 2 pigs in the photos have been dead for a while. The white one has been fully bled, singed, shaved and scraped with a piece of granite. The other is being singed with a blowtorch to help remove the hair. These pigs will be used for a whole year starting with Christmas. Some bits will be air dried, some smoked and I imagine nowadays frozen as well. The whole family is involved in the task and it has quite a festive atmosphere. Just like most Spanish families they have relatives learning English or working in Ireland and were happy to talk while they worked and have their pictures taken.
Sent from my iPod, only 2 steps ahead of the cops!
