Pork

Not until post-Civil War poverty swept the Lowcountry did pork become a mainstay here. True, there were always a few hogs around, but many of them were allowed to run free, then hunted as game. When pigs were slaughtered, most of the meat was smoked, and the hams were cured as for country hams, with families using recipes representing their Bayonne, Northumbrian, and German backgrounds. These hams were saved for the “big house” on the plantation, as was the finest bacon; smaller smoked cuts may have been rationed to slaves, but few studies of slaves’ diets have been undertaken.