lloyd
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Butchering a pigWe recently butchered our pig with Debbie, ten months after adopting him.
This involved sitting around the kitchen table first deciding on cuts, and how to process the meat afterwards, then a trip into the village to the local butchers to start the process.
The shop was closed to the public in order that Chris the butcher could spend a couple of hours helping to guide me through the process.
Chris butchered the first half, sorting out the cuts, joints, chops etc that I fancied and then it was my turn!
A sixty two kilo pig takes quite a lot of butchering and physical effort!!
Once finished, we boxed him up and returned to Debbie's. Fortified with mead and local cider, we set to work, making sausages, chorizo, mincing meat, smoking sausages in Debbie's Bradley smoker etc. After quite a long and tiring day, we finally finished at around nine in the evening. Debs helped us load all the meat into insulated boxes with ice packs to keep it all fresh until we got home. Since then we have made various cured bacons, a 16 pound brined ham, pressed pork pies, salami's etc.
This has been a fantastic Christmas present, looked forward to for ten months, and which will last at least another year unless the freezer breaks down. We've had many weekend breaks to monitor the pigs development, and it culminated in a really enjoyable weekend. Nice one, Debs! (and CP for buying him!)
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Pilsbury
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Fantastic post and pics, that is certainly something I would love to do andf the fact you had a proffesinal butcher to help guide you through the first time is great.
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Bovey Belle
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We have a whole deer to collect on 1st November. It's in two halves, so that's something. We shall then discover how much different they are to butchering hogget . . . Perhaps I should go and chat up our friendly butcher . . . Best way to learn.
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fish
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if you mean hogget as in a lamb over 1 yearold then yes the butchery is pretty much the same!
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lloyd
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Here's today's progress: One brined ham ready for smoking, two slabs of bacon now dry cured and ready for slicing:
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Bovey Belle
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Yes I do fish - they be big b*ggers!
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lloyd
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The ham hs now been brined for tendays, and smoked overnight. What do I do next?...Should I cold press it now, or simply hang it in the loft for a year? 
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Pilsbury
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let me know how that loft thing works cos that the only place i can think to hang mine when i get round to it but i think it might get to hot in the summer.
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nanny
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| lloyd wrote: | | The ham hs now been brined for tendays, and smoked overnight. What do I do next?...Should I cold press it now, or simply hang it in the loft for a year? |
you can hang it in the loft this time of year but it will get too hot for it in the summer months
we bought a couple of net bags for carrying whole deer in (mr nanny got them off e-bay i think from the states.....the meat hung in the top of a friend's open fronted garage to air dry and the bag kept the nasties at bay
you end up with prosciutto after several months - very nice
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lloyd
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The ham still really seems very wet though....You sure its ok to hang it now?
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nanny
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| lloyd wrote: | | The ham still really seems very wet though....You sure its ok to hang it now? |
oh god, can't remember now
i think we dry brined it.....then it got hung
i can't rmember if it is in my HFW river cottage cook book....i shall nip up stairs and have a rekkie
might pay you to order the pig in a day dvd from river cottage, that is what we used
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nanny
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it is done with dry curing according to the book.....you pack the meat in salt, weight it down in a box and it should be left no fewer than 3 days per kilo of meat and no longer than 4 days but that would make it a bit too salty...i am sure that is what we did not that i think about it...........
now to quote re the hanging:
"when you have left the ham for the allotted time, remove it from the box and wash thoroughly with fresh cold water to remove excess salt. rub the whole joint with white wine vinegar and wrap completely in a double layer of muslin, tied tightly with string. hang in a cool well ventilated place for 4-6 months to wind dry. ventilation is essential and the more wind the faster and better the cure. a draughty barn or garage would be a suitable location.
a squeeze with the fingertips will tell you when you have is ready, it should be firm but not quite rock hard, still giving just a little."
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lloyd
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Brilliant, thanks!
I boned it out at the start so will sew the joint back up again in a mo then rub with the wine vinegar etc. Going in the loft which is cool and draughty. Thanks Nanster! 
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nanny
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| lloyd wrote: | Brilliant, thanks!
I boned it out at the start so will sew the joint back up again in a mo then rub with the wine vinegar etc. Going in the loft which is cool and draughty. Thanks Nanster! |
dim problem
should be ready by maybe easter next year, maybe earlier.....
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lloyd
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Diolch Cariad! 
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nanny
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| lloyd wrote: | | Diolch Cariad! |
been a long time since anybody called me cariad sweetie
i blush like a schoolgirl.... 
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lloyd
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Have another sip ofArddbeg Naster, it will soon pass! 
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Leonie2
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Can you air dry a wet cured ham? I thought it was only for dry cured hams.
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lloyd
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That's what I'm wonderring, Leonie. What would you do now if you were me?????????
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Leonie2
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I don't know, did you follow a recipe? I did brine a joint as well as doing the air dried ham, but it was cooked within a week I think. I'll have to get out my HFW book and read what it says.
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Leonie2
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According to HFW meat book you can air dry a brine cured ham
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nanny
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i think once it is cured and you dry it off, you can do more or less what you want
ours was dry cured
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