“Pa skinned it for them carefully, and into the long end he thrust a sharpened stick. Ma opened the front of the cookstove and raked the hot coals out into the iron hearth.
Then Laura and Mary took turns holding the pig’s tail over the coals. It sizzled and fried and drops of fat dripped and blazed on the coals. Ma sprinkled it with salt…At last it was done, it was nicely browned all over, and how good it smelled! They carried it into the yard to cool it, and even before it was cool enough they began tasting it and burned their tongues. They ate ever little bit of meat off the bones, and then they gave the bones to Jack.
And that was the end of the pig’s tail. There would not be another one till next year.”
– Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Deep End o' the Pool 