Prep'd the porky

[Timmy59]

Full day today, another rough on the fingers cold day too.. Some neighbor was shooting but not me today.. Got it done though, put up 25lbs of Italian and almost 12 lbs of breakfast sausage.. Since he was a potbelly of sorts he went into sausage and bacon only.. The bacon is still curing, maybe by Tuesday it'll slice.. I fried up an Italian link and found I should have put in more fat in it , quite lean but it was tasty and I know where it came from.. Very glad we bought the foot pedal with the grinder , the wife told me WHOA so many times I thought I was a horse.. Without the foot pedal it would have been a real chore but we both enjoyed it and we'll look forward to many a tasty Italian subs and spaghetti of course..

 

[dennishoddy]

The foot pedal is a life saver. Good looking sausage!

 

[Timmy59]

The foot pedal is a life saver. Good looking sausage!

Thanks, many different sizes, but with practice we'll get better.

 

[MacFromOK]

"Prep'd the porky"

Hey!

Oh... ok. Yeah. Good looking sausage.

 

[DRC458]

Looks wonderful!

 

[zghorner]

I have a few small pigs I am going to butcher this winter, could you offer up any tips? I have never messed with pigs at all. They are adolescent Kune Kune mix neutered males. My plan is to shoot, hang up and cut their throat and let them bleed for a while, skin like you would a deer, quarter them up and smoke them. Ive asked other people and they recommended scalding in hot water to remove the skin and then burn the rest of it off with a torch but that seems like a major PITA.

 

[Timmy59]

I have a few small pigs I am going to butcher this winter, could you offer up any tips? I have never messed with pigs at all. They are adolescent Kune Kune mix neutered males. My plan is to shoot, hang up and cut their throat and let them bleed for a while, skin like you would a deer, quarter them up and smoke them. Ive asked other people and they recommended scalding in hot water to remove the skin and then burn the rest of it off with a torch but that seems like a major PITA.

Shoot, cut throat then hang, skin like a deer.. Unless you have kracklins in mind, skip the scalding, it would be a PITA.. It was my first so I'd have to refer you to you tube and I watched a MANY before hand.. Good info but it didn't make it easy or me a pro.. LOL.. Being kune kune like we have you'll have PLENTY of fat for lard if you want to render it.. If you decide to cure bacon go easy on the salt, ours is more salt pork and it'll be used for beans.. We ate some and it was bacon, but the salt was too much.. It's a live and learn experience..

 

[MacFromOK]

From what I understand, fat hogs don't bleed out so well when you cut their throat (too much fat in that area, I think?).

My Dad used to talk about "sticking" hogs they'd butcher, meaning you stick a knife directly into the heart (which lies lower than you might think).

I'm sure these hog hunters know more about it than I do. Google might also return some tips.

Luck.

 

[Timmy59]

From what I understand, fat hogs don't bleed out so well when you cut their throat (too much fat in that area, I think?).

My Dad used to talk about "sticking" hogs they'd butcher, meaning you stick a knife directly into the heart (which lies lower than you might think).

I'm sure these hog hunters know more about it than I do. Google might also return some tips.

Luck.

From my 1st time butcher I didn't have much or any blood content so my shoot and slice did turn out better than the bacon..

 

[dennishoddy]

From my 1st time butcher I didn't have much or any blood content so my shoot and slice did turn out better than the bacon..

I'm still looking for a good bacon recipe. I've bought several bellies from Costco, and the commercial recipes are so salty that it makes salt pork mild. Keep throwing them out.