taking a pig from the barn to the table.

[jedneck]

Had a thought the other night. I may have been in the cup a bit. Any how here it is.
Would anybody be up for a gathering with the main objection being the art of taking a pig from the barn to the table. I'm thinking a good old fashioned butcher day. We could delve into all aspects of butchering and curing a hawg.
If their is enuf interest I'll start its own thread.

Edited to add I'm in central PA.

[Tater]

Just remember waters hot enough to scald a hog when a can drag your fingers in it 3 times but not 4 :thumbup Ill move this to off topics

[ShineonCrazyDiamond]

Had a thought the other night. I may have been in the cup a bit. Any how here it is.
Would anybody be up for a gathering with the main objection being the art of taking a pig from the barn to the table. I'm thinking a good old fashioned butcher day. We could delve into all aspects of butchering and curing a hawg.
If their is enuf interest I'll start its own thread.

Edited to add I'm in central PA.

Jed, I would love to learn to butcher and see it through. Been a chef half my life, always cleaned the cuts up. But always started with the cut laid out. Besides, I want to come out and lend a days work to your shop in the next couple weeks. May help to learn.

[panikry83]

I too would be interested in this. As a hunter, I've often wanted to take my deer from field to table on my own but, for one reason or another ( not wanting to waste my venison or my wife not wanting an animal hanging from our garage to drain ) I've always dropped it off after field dressing to the local butcher. However, as I'm becoming more dedicated to doing whatever I can on my own, I feel this would be an interesting experience.

[rubber duck]

Just remember waters hot enough to scald a hog when a can drag your fingers in it 3 times but not 4 :thumbup Ill move this to off topics

I think we may have gone to the same school.

[Bushman]

I've often thought of roasting a pig for family gatherings. Two years ago while traveling through the Highlands of Scotland I stayed at the oldest hotel and they had a BBQ made for roasting a pig and that is what they were doing for a wedding that night. Took pictures of it and thought man this is really cool.

[Appalachia-Shiner]

Just remember waters hot enough to scald a hog when a can drag your fingers in it 3 times but not 4 :thumbup Ill move this to off topics

I remember Hog Killing time when I was a young kid. The homemade scalding pan, rolling the hog over with ropes, scraping the hair off, Guttin and the Smell that rolled out with the guts.....cutting up fat and rendering out Lard in a black iron kettle. One thing I looked forward to was the men slinging the hog balls and equipment up over a tree limb or electric wire and getting to shoot it with a 22 rifle.
Kinda like that movie Southern Comfort, with the Cajun folks doing a Hawg killing and Dewey Balfa and Mark Savoy playing some Good Cajun music. Jar of Likker being secretly passed around. Those days were great and I didn't know it at the time. No Damn Iphones, people actually talked to each other.

[Tater]

Hoping to in future raise some more pigs a cross with potbelly and another small breed . Has some last time i raised them . 20 lb pig is good eating.And smal lenough to cook easy.full grown 150 lbs

[pfshine]

Not enough people know how their food gets to the table let alone kill and clean it.

[Brutal]

Very interested. That's a long haul for me though. Would love to hear about it though. Great idea Jed!

[jedneck]

Hoping to in future raise some more pigs a cross with potbelly and another small breed . Has some last time i raised them . 20 lb pig is good eating.And smal lenough to cook easy.full grown 150 lbs

If you want a smaller breed look at the american Guinea hog. They are a smaller heritage breed. I raise them and am happy with them.

When dad was still alive he had Yorkshire crosses. When the market was shitty for feeder pigs we butchered them at 30-50#. DAMN FINE EATEN.

It will be a late spring or early next fall till I have a hawg that will be big enuf.

[jedneck]

Not enough people know how their food gets to the table let alone kill and clean it.

If more people knew how 99% of the mass produced preservative laden junk was produced, they would grow more of their own.

[pfshine]

True. If they could. I recently had to downsize and man I miss having a yard, and man I miss my garden. The info is there they just have to learn it.

[jedneck]

My old man said" a rich man has animals and a garden, he'll never starve".

[Hank Reardon]

I've never done hogs. I can't say why, other than Mrs Reardon likes poultry and beef more. I've done both of those most of my life, and am thankful to my folks for passing along a lifestyle.

I'd love to watch through the HD lens, as PA is a bit far from my centralish Oregon world. It will be a hoot to spectate.

[Wooday]

That would be a hell of a party.

Last time I butchered hogs it was a mess.
Hoist broke, sleeting and raining, mud everywhere, and the only sharp knife was my Kershaw folder. We did two sows and a boar.

[pfshine]

Sounds like a party.

[jedneck]

Sounds like a party.

I figure a bunch of theoretical shinners could eat a hog in one week end.

[Truckinbutch]

Sounds like a party.

I figure a bunch of theoretical shinners could eat a hog in one week end.

I hope they can if they come here . Otherwise , we gonna have a lot of leftovers to eat .

[jedneck]

Here is one of the possible candidates for the freezer. It is a 4 1/2 week old american Guinea hog.

[wtfdskin]

Im in your neck of the woods jed. We do three every year, week before thanksgiving. I can roll a hog in the scaldin trough with the best of them. Strong back weak mind. Sure love me some cracklins too.

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[jedneck]

Cracklings and kettle meat keep a heart surgeon employed. If I have time I will try to have a gathering this fall (early November). If not this fall then in the spring. What don't get ate goes to the chickens and they give eggs to go with the bacon.

[contrahead]

Not to say that this it is dear to my heart but I‘ve been studying this topic for a while now, for a couple of reasons. 1st, I have built myself a meat smoker but don’t use it that often because of the cost of meat. In this state however there is an open season on feral pigs, no hunting license required and plentiful pig sign just a few miles south of where I live. Second, for a few years now I’ve been fabricating a book of basic skills and practical knowledge that may be of great use to the youth of future generations, given the artificial, precarious and probably unsustainable society that we live in today. I’ve butchered geese, grouse, ducks and chickens, a few steers, deer and elk - but no pigs. I need to be confidently knowledgeable about pork preservation before I can write about it. I’m talking long term, “hard cure” preservation (without refrigeration) using cold smoke and either dry salt or wet brine solution.
From New Guinea to Hawaii the Polynesians cook pork in a pit; and so done that the bones pull away from the meat. They eat the whole pig in one setting and don’t fret about preservation, or butchering. So in pursuit of “jedneck’s” topic: I offer these two videos, from many available on the Internet. Whereas I’m familiar with the practice of hauling a carcass up into a tree, with rear legs spread and hooked on a “single tree”: this first video shows the carcass being efficiently butchered on a table. The second video just shows how bacon is separated.

WHOLE PIG BUTCHERED
https://www.facebook.com/diysustainable ... 530866883/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Expert butcher Tom Mylan takes apart a pig side, right down to the belly (used to make slab bacon).
https://vimeo.com/36558736" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[jedneck]

Contrahead here is a link to get you started. http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp ... _cure.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[moered]

I've dispatched and butchered a few lambs in my day. Although I used to raise pigs, i've only watched a pig being done. Would love to get back into next year for myself.

[wtfdskin]

Roasting a pig for a friends son's wedding in july, had a request from the grandmother to roast a goat also. Never done one, could get interesting.

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[jedneck]

I will be doing at least one pig this fall. It won't be as big as I want but damn it im gonna need bacon and ham. When I do I will try to do a pic heavy step by step on my method of madness of hoof to table.

[goose eye]

Any of y'all only had contract hogs don't no what you missin. Use to be you could tell a good pit man by scares. Use to take 12 18 sometimes 24 hours to cook a hog good. Wont often but on occasions you'd have a hog blocked up on one side and a kettle on the other.
Tendin em both about the same.
You cook a hog to fast you gonna mess it up same with likker. Movin the coals all along with a shovel
readin the fire. All this is mostly a thang of the past.

So I'm tole

[jedneck]

Any of y'all only had contract hogs don't no what you missin. Use to be you could tell a good pit man by scares. Use to take 12 18 sometimes 24 hours to cook a hog good. Wont often but on occasions you'd have a hog blocked up on one side and a kettle on the other.
Tendin em both about the same.
You cook a hog to fast you gonna mess it up same with likker. Movin the coals all along with a shovel
readin the fire. All this is mostly a thang of the past.

So I'm tole

Good food like good likker take time.

[rager]

Any of y'all only had contract hogs don't no what you missin. Use to be you could tell a good pit man by scares. Use to take 12 18 sometimes 24 hours to cook a hog good. Wont often but on occasions you'd have a hog blocked up on one side and a kettle on the other.
Tendin em both about the same.
You cook a hog to fast you gonna mess it up same with likker. Movin the coals all along with a shovel
readin the fire. All this is mostly a thang of the past.

So I'm tole

great way to look at it