Cooking hog cracklins at the Womack syrup shed in St. Helena, Louisiana

Hog Crackins
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell

 In the past, traditional practices such as hog killing were communal events that contributed to strengthening family and community bonds. Families would utilize large cast-iron pots, typically employed for washing clothes, to cook hog cracklins. Aside from that, the head of the hog would often be boiled to produce hog head cheese. I watched Robert McClendon cook hog cracklins.

Robert tended to his hog cracklins, the golden pieces sizzling and popping in the pan. He’d sit there, a master of his craft, sharing stories of how they used to butcher hogs and transform them into these savory treats. Upon asking if he killed the hog himself, he said no, I brought back the fat from the slaughterhouse said Robert. He waited patiently until the cracklins were ready for the men to sample. Some of them reminisced about the old days on the farms where they grew up. "For many, those days are long gone, carrying their loved ones who taught them the craft with them. It is at times like this that those memories come surfacing; otherwise, the memories fade with the past."

Robert McClendon
Cookng hog cracklins
Photo Credit: Dr. Antoinette Harrell