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weighed 140 to 180 kilogrammes, a size achieved rapidly through a diet of milk and
maize. After the butchering process had been completed and the meat cleaned and
prepared, ix would be laid out for cutting, the family gathering around a large trestie
table upon which a mountain of meat ~ well over a quarter of a tonne of pork and beef
~ had been heaped. The pork would be cut into small uniform pieces then mixed,
kneaded and tumed. The pork fat (but not the beef) would be cut to squares about one
centimetre thick and distributed evenly throughout the mixture. The tougher parts of
the meat would be put aside as seconds or as soup flavouring,'*
In the big open fireplace measuring four metres across, and constmcted from
large stones from a nearby creek, the cooking of the bullboars would begin in the
Rodoni home,'* A huge pot, in which about nine litres of wine were simmering, would
be suspended by chains over the fire, A bucketful of garlic would be pounded and
cmshed (usually by Marina) then wrapped in a calico bag and hung in the pot. In this
way, the gariic essences would be extracted to mix with the hot wine and distributed
throughout the meat. Not all the wine would go into the pot during the day, some
being dmnk by the busy workers. Great care was taken to mix the ingredients well so
that the finished product was uniform in flavour. The mixture was ready for piping
into the sausage cases once the wdne and all the other ingredients had been added;
while the mixture was cooking, the 'mnners' to hold the sausage meat would be
prepared by being soaked and salted. To pipe the meat into the cases, the family used a
commercially-produced sausage-making machine, the only mechanical device used in
the production process."
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