What do you do with a big fat sow hog? You make BACON!

[johnhoward]

So, I got this huge sow that was fat as any domestic pig. She had fat on her that was up to 2 inches thick in some places. I never seen a hog this fat. I was gonna butcher her out for meat, but she was just too dang fat. Take a look at these pictures.

This her hanging behind my hunting Suburban.

This her after I got her skinned.

I decided to turn her into bacon. Yeah, I know what you are thinking; "Isn't bacon made from just the belly meat?". Well yes, technically that is true. But actually you can make bacon from the hams, the shoulder, the neck, and the loin, if the hog is fat enough. And this one was certainly fat enough. I made about 80lbs of bacon off of her. I have fed to over 20 people and not one of them have spit it out. I thought I would have bacon for a while, but people are fighting over it, so I don't think it will last long. Went through 10lbs the first weekend.

Anyways, just in case you were wanting to know how to make bacon out of a fat wild hog, it just so happens that I videoed the whole process for you. Here is the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7ukxuv8L9I

 

[dahermit]

When I see posts about utilizing wild hogs for meat, I wonder why the hogs are skinned as opposed to the time-honored method of scalding and scraping. It is still being used for commercial pork processing as far as I know, and was used on subsistence farms by nearly all, and for generations. Even if a person did not process enough hogs to justify building a scalding setup, there should at least be a few that would do so. So, why are hog hunters skinning their kills instead of scalding and scraping in the traditional way?

By the way, your pictures did not display...only large minus symbols.

 

[Lucas McCain]

It is a couple things;
1. It is the curing process. Today the cure is injected instead, of soaking. They no longer pack the ham or bacon in salt, after it was cured and smoked. Before you cooked it, you would soak it in water for a day or two to remove some of the salt. The old process was called "hanging a ham". They could hang in a dark cool place for months, wrapped in burlap and not spoil. Refrigeration stopped that process. On a side note, those hung hams, IMHO tasted far better than any of the hams today.

2. The hide was left on to protect the meat. Today in the commercial operation the hide is another source of revenue for them.

 

[dahermit]

duplicate post.

 

[dahermit]

1. It is the curing process. Today the cure is injected instead, of soaking.

2. The hide was left on to protect the meat. Today in the commercial operation the hide is another source of revenue for them.

Thanks for your input, but that is not the reason hunters skin rather than scald and scrape. Commercial processors, as far as I know, are still scalding and scraping. I have seen the "rind" (the skin), on Picnic Hams and full Hams (as well as slabs of bacon with the rind at meat Markets (Nagles at Homer, Mi...Sanders at Custer, MI., etc.)) so they are not skinning the pigs.

The only difference I can see when a pig is processed compared to the pigs hunters deal with, is commercial processors do not gut the pig before scalding and scraping where as a hunter seems to be in hurry to gut his kill.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Bacon is just the belly. You made pork jerky.
"..."hanging a ham"...." Hams and other cuts(the ham being just the hind leg)were hung in the fireplace chimney to cure in the Middle Ages. In a smokehouse, later. Flavour came from the kind of wood used to make the smoke. It's called 'Hickory smoked' for a reason.
"...hogs are skinned..." Pig skin suede. Suede is made from the inside of the hide. Leather from the outside. I think a great deal depends on the kind of pig plus where and when Porky met his end. Probably a lot of 'Who dun it.' too.

 

[johnhoward]

dahermit


I can see the pictures just fine. Not sure why you cannot.

As to your question about skinning vs scalding. The purpose of scalding, is so that the skin can be made into pork skins and cracklings. Generally, you make the skins and cracklins by frying them in the fat rendered off the hog, so you need a lot of fat to make these.

Domestic hogs are ALWAYS fat, so you can always make pork skins and cracklins from them. Wild hogs are seldom fat, and for this reason people usually skin them. Also, few people are familure with the process of how to make pork skins and cracklins, so that may be another reason why.

Traditionally, people were very conservated when it caem to animal processing and desired to make maximum use of every useful part of an animal. All the fat from a pig was rendered down into lard, the skin was turned in to cracklins, the intestines were cleaned and used for sausage, the feet were pickled, the head was turned in to Pork Jowl or Barbacoa, etc, etc, etc. Today people are less so and only want the GOOD STUFF. I cannot tell you how many hogs and deer that have been given to me with just the head and/or back-straps removed.

I desperately wanted to scaled this sow and make cracklins out of the skin and render the fat down for lard. Unfortunately, I had a trip to Mexico planned for early the next morning and I only had time to skin and quarter her and throw the meat in the fridge. I really did not have the time to even do that, but I was not about to pass up a nice fat sow that the shooter was going to let rot.

 

[johnhoward]

T. O'Heir

And the grammer Nazi appears again! Why don't you come over to my house and I will cook some and you can decided then if you think it's jerky or bacon. So far over 20 people have and they all call it bacon.

You can call it anything you want, just make sure you call it, DELICIOUS!

 

[Rangerrich99]

can't see the pics either.

 

[jersurf101]

Looks good man. I know a few old timers that scald the skin and scrape. I'm not sure how many non farmers have the space or energy for the set ups. There are two types of hams. One is wet brined, deli sliced ham or Canadian bacon is an example. These are as described above and injected or marinated in the brine.

Dry cured hams like prosciutto, Virginia ham or Serrano are,still made by the truck load.they are just more time consuming and therefore more expensive. Dry cured hams lose water weight while wet brined hams ADD weight from the water.

 

[johnhoward]

jersurf101

Thanks. I did a dry cure. Man it is good. Hard to stop eating it.

Would you know why I can see my pictures and no one else can?

 

[johnhoward]

I tried many ways to insert pictures on here, but none of the m worked. not sure what the problem is. I uploaded them as attachments. hopefully that will work.

 

[dahermit]

Back in the sixties I requested a pamphlet from Morton Salt on how to process pork. What they sent, was identical except for the women in the graphic having sixties style dress and hair styles, as the pamphlet my grandmother had in her possession from back in the twenties. As per both pamphlets, the scalding of hogs was for the purpose of releasing the hair which was then scraped off with "bell scrapers". As far as I know the commercial meat processors still scrape hogs as opposed to skinning as evidenced by certain cuts of pork (as I posted earlier), still have the skin on them when purchased.

I suspect, but cannot prove inasmuch as I have never processed a hog myself, that one of the reasons that hunters may opt to skin rather than scald and scrape, is that 55 gallon steeldrums are relatively scarce (and when available usually have chemical contamination), and one would need an elevated platform by which to lower the hog into the boiling water. In all, I suspect that hunters just find skinning easier overall. But that is why I asked...I was not sure why they were doing it that way when the old way was universal to farm families every Fall.
It seems that skinning would result in the loss of usable meat...pork hocks, Head Cheese, etc.

Note: I can see your pictures in post #12, now.

 

[dahermit]

I know a few old timers that scald the skin and scrape. I'm not sure how many non farmers have the space or energy for the set ups.

That may have more to do with it than anything else. That, and the loss of the knowledge of how things were done in the "old days"...like using a sausage stuffer made from two cow horns or how to "run" the intestines to process them into sausage skins. Some of the younger generation seem not to be able to find their own butts even if they use both hands.

 

[johnhoward]

True about the lack of steel drums these days. But you can still scald them without one. You just cover the hog with a towel or burlap and pour boiling water of them. I grew up in Mexico where scalding hogs was a common thing. It was always a celebration. But the best part was had to wait for because it took hours of rendering the fat down and cooking those delicious cracklins.


A FEMA study showes that Americans are so out of touch with where food comes from that if a catastrophic failure of the power grid where to occur, 90% of the American population would be dead within a month. I am not joking.

I is just really sad. I took a 23 year guy fishing last week. He did not even know how to hold or reel a fishing pole. I worry for the young generation, especially my grandchildren. That is why I decided to start making videos. At six years old, I could go fishing, find natural bait, catch fish, clean them, build a fire and cook and them eat them all by myself. I hope to pass some of this rugged individualist spirit on to the next generation.

 

[Rangerrich99]

I suspect, but cannot prove inasmuch as I have never processed a hog myself, that one of the reasons that hunters may opt to skin rather than scald and scrape, is that 55 gallon steeldrums are relatively scarce (and when available usually have chemical contamination), and one would need an elevated platform by which to lower the hog into the boiling water.

What? Are you saying that you can't just pick up a 200 lb. pig with your bare hands and drop it into a 55-gal. drum full of boiling water?

Wuss . . .

 

[dahermit]

What? Are you saying that you can't just pick up a 200 lb. pig with your bare hands and drop it into a 55-gal. drum full of boiling water?
Wuss . . .

Back in the old days, they had an elevated platform, put the 55 gallon drum at an angle to it, and two guys lowered the hog in.

I am at the age (73) where I do not hunt anymore because I am not sure I could handle skinning a deer anymore, even with my rope fall and steel gambrel spreader...just too much work and it would take me longer than one year to eat a deer all by myself (my wife would not eat it, although she grew-up on it).

 

[Rangerrich99]

Just pulling your leg a little, buddy.

I've actually never seen anyone use the 55-gal drum thing in person (just on TV), but as kid one of my friend's dad's used an old steel claw-foot bathtub he apparently found at the junkyard. Same idea, used cinder blocks to raise it up, and set several gas burners under it.

 

[Lucas McCain]

If you go into a meat market and request "cottage bacon" you will get a bacon that is made out of the front shoulder or upper neck area. It is not pork jerky, it bacon. The gen x and millennial generation like this because it comes in larger pieces, not strips and they want it for their BLT sandwiches. It is a very good tasting bacon, less fat, and most importantly it don't fall out of the sandwich as easy. Kids can handle it better. I know this because my granddaughters told me so
I grew up in the NW Minnesota. It was 12 in1955 before we got electricity. When we butchered hogs, they were shot. and hooked up to a block & tackle and hung up immediately. The throat was cut and Mom and Grandma were there with a big dish pan to catch all the blood, mix it with flour and other stuff and blood sausage was made. There was a big cast iron kettle, it held about 20 gal water, that was hanging over a fire boiling the water. A large wooden barrel was placed under the hanging hog.The boiling water was poured into the wooden barrel, into which the hog was lowered with the block and tackle to scald it. Most pigs were to large to completely immerse them in it , so you dunked them a couple of times until the hair could be pulled out. then you picked them up, by the other end and dunked the other end of the hog to get the hair loose on the other half. You then laid them on the hay rack wagon and scraped them, maybe dumping some more hot water on them to help lssen up any hair that was still tight
Butchering hogs was a family affair, it was a lot of work, required everyone to pitch in and help, and t took all day, It required at least a couple men to handle the hog and block and tackle, and they also scraped the hog. My big sister drove the tractor when the hay wagon was moved back and forth. She helped mom clean the intestines and stuff for sausage makings. My sister and I were the youngest, our job was tending the fire and carrying water.
We never ate tripe (the stomach), but the head was saved and head cheese was made from it. The feet were pickled, the hocks were either pickled or smoked, depending on the size of the hog. The heart, liver and tongue were saved, the german neighbors ate the brains and kidneys (sweetbreads), when the lard was rendered, cracklings that came from rendering lard made great sandwiches, on home made buns and BBQ sauce. If the pork chops were going to be kept into the warm weather (remember no electric) they were packed in a crock jar in lard and kept in the ice house. Ice that we cut in the winter, packed it in saw dust is what we used in the icebox to keep foods cool.
We weren't the the only ones that did this, all of our neighbors did it also. We owned the big cast iron kettle, I still have it. The neighbors would borrow the kettle and on occasion help us butcher to return the favor. The kettle traveled alot. As I described this process to you, as you can see it was not done in he most sanitary conditions. Oh yes, we tried to keep things as clean as possible, but it was done outside, under the butcher tree. Hay racks and fairly clean tarps if there is such a thing, to lay the meat on. No stainless steel tables or tubs, no meat inspectors, we used the intestines, bladders and cleaned them out by flushing the in the water tank where the 10 gal milk cans cooled before the cream truck came to pick them up. As look back to those days, at all the people handling their meat very similarly, a few probably worse. I remember of not seeing or hearing of one person getting sick from contaminated meat. Not a single one! So why today do people get sick from lettuce, tomatoes, muskmelons, and meat that is recalled and destroyed by the hundreds of tons. With all the regulations and inspections in place our food safety should be guaranteed. I get that it's the assembly line process, I get that they process huge quantities of meat in an hour. But in my opinion the big difference is we gave a damn, and worried about the meat. In these packing plants, starting at the top man and coming down to the bottom grunt, they are worried only about the money left on bottom line, and don't give a damn about the meat.
I must apologize, I meant to tell you about butchering in the old days, but it ended up in a rant, I'm sorry, i could have deleted it, but truthfully, I didn't want to.



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[johnhoward]

Right on! Preach it brother!

Those were the days when people still appreciated things and knew how to take care of themselves. I still do these things this way. I have a smartphone, but that does not mean I have to become a mind numbed tech zombie who does not know how to boil water.

I am not a preper. This is the way I have always lived. I live this way because I enjoy feeling self sufficient. Most prepers don't even know how to do this stuff. They just store up food in 5 gal buckets and hope it hold out. LOL!