We had planned ahead for today. My dad had inquired around and found four pigs for the low, low price of free. After the kids in 4H show their pigs and the season is over, there are usually a lot of extra pigs that both the kids and the breeders have left over. You can usually get them cheap, but this is the cheapest I've seen. :) I think the guy (a breeder) was just tired of feeding. Also, these were some of the best looking pigs I've ever seen. Also, for my more fair-hearted readers (I'm thinking of you, kymber), there are pictures here that you might not want to see. However, I should also say that if you're serious about preparation and independence, you should school yourself on the art of butchering an animal. Every year after deer season, we have all of the trimmings that we have saved and we make at least 200 rings of sausage. This year, instead of buying all the pork in the store that is necessary to make good venison sausage, we got some pigs on the hoof. So, down one went.
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| Pre-bacon |
We washed and skinned it and...
Time to start the real work.
I was very interested in trying to make my own bacon with the belly from this one and That Guy had mentioned a dish of smoked jowls, so I pulled one of those off as well. I ended up with a couple of beautiful slabs of belly for bacon.
The downside of pulling off the pork belly for bacon is that you take off the majority of the meat from the lower part of the ribs. However, that isn't going to stop me from trying...
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| Rib Slab |
I don't usually cut the ribs up into the individual sections. I just smoke the whole rack. So now I'm off to research some cure recipes for the bacon.
Try High Mountain Seasonings. Good products.
ReplyDeleteThanks, dakota. I was thinking of trying to make a salt/sugar/curing salt mix from scratch for this attempt. However, I'm also thinking of making a bunch of small test batches of sausage and I'll have to check them out. We've been doing regular smoked and dry ring for so many years, I want to see if we can try something new.
Delete45er buddy - thank you for thinking of me! but i was raised by a dad who hunted and all of the kids helped (well, mostly helped) when my dad brought home rabbit, venison or moose...oh and fish! being a city girl this past 20 yrs i can't say i have "helped" butcher anything lately...but i have stayed on top of some tried and true blogs - Phelan at ahomesteadingneophyte.blogspot.com is a great one! jambaloney will be out hunting this coming season - my only rule - not on our land. but when he gets whatever he gets - i will have to get in there and help. it won't hurt as i know it is food and i will be giving proper respect and thanks when i help.
ReplyDeleteyour Dad got an amazing deal - but i feel sad for the guy who is giving them away for free! good luck with your searches - and make sure to do an update post when you find one! i love re-learning stuff like this! thanks again for thinking of me - that is so sweet!
your friend,
kymber
(who reads every post, buddy - just sometimes don't have anything to add!)
Well, that makes me happy to know, kymber. Tell jambaloney good luck this season and also tell him I think he should be able to hunt on the place :). Don't worry about the guy we got the pigs from. My dad is the best person that he could have given them to. We are planning to give him some smoke and dry ring in exchange for the generous gift of swine. Thanks for always stopping by. I do the same with yours. I always try my best to keep up.
DeleteLet us know how your bacon turns out. We raised 4-H pigs for 8 years and always sold any that didn't make weight.
ReplyDeleteRose, I will definitely post on how it turns out and what process I used. I definitely plan on putting some smoke on it. I know it isn't necessary, but why wouldn't you smoke bacon?
DeleteOh my gosh I love bacon fresh from a hog. My family used to do a hog every summer at our lake house....yummy!
ReplyDeleteAs many as we've gotten, this will be the first time I've tried homemade bacon. I will definitely post on the results.
DeletePepper smoked ham is EXCELLENT... Just sayin... :-)
ReplyDeleteThis one went almost entirely into sausage except for the choice cuts. We have two more, though, and we may need to get inventive so I may be trying to do a whole ham and BBQ pulled pork shoulder.
DeleteMidwest Chick and Mr. B. and I are going to split a 4H cow this year. Even with the occassional guest I don't have the freezer space for a whole one. The meat doesn't get much better. The pig sounds like a great idea. mmmm Pepper smoked ham.
ReplyDeleteBrigid, my parents have been raising cattle for about 20 years now. Not a lot, just enough to keep my dad busy. You're right, you can't compare those huge and great steaks to anything from the store. It does take a lot of freezer space.
DeleteI have been researching the heck out of homemade bacon. I have some recipes saved if you want to take a look.
ReplyDeleteI fully expect a BLT and some grilled 'Dragon's Nuts' next time I come down! :)
Yes, definitely I want some recipes. I've found a few and was thinking brown sugar, salt and curing salt for the cure, then smoke. These guys didn't have huge layers of fat on them and the belly wasn't extremely thick but it will make some dandy BLT and I totally forgot about making the Dragon Nuts. We'll have to do those and make a post about them.
DeleteI've been off-line for the past week or two...and just saw your "Meat Miscellany" post so now I've scrolled back so I can start at the beginning of this process. We did our first try at smoking bacon a couple months ago and it was great. Like you, we are always open to new ideas and recipes. I can't wait to see what you do with this pig!
ReplyDeleteThanks for swinging by. I understand the off and on thing. I have been here and gone and the catch-up can be daunting. So far I'm very happy with everything we've tried.
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