Do you butcher your own pigs? How do you store the meat?

[1littlefarmer]

My wife and I will be butchering a pig in a few weeks and I've been researching a LOT on the cuts and storage but I still have a few questions.

Most of the meat will be cut, vacuum packed, and put in the freezer but the ham and bacon have me perplexed. I think I want to salt (dry) cure and probably smoke both but I'm not sure how to store them after that and for how long I can store them. I know cured ham is supposed to be good for a year unless it's cut into but can I cut up the ham and cure it in smaller pieces? I'm also still considering a wet cure so I would be happy with advice in that direction, too.

Thanks for any help!

 

[hydroswiftrob]

Following this thread.
I have similar questions plus a few more.

 

[1littlefarmer]

I definitely have more, too. This is just me getting started.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Hi there,

We butcher & process our own pork on a regular basis & LOVE it! Until this year we have always waited for the weather to cool (flies gone) before processing & hanging in a cool place but this summer we invested in a large commercial refrigerator. What a blessing that has been! Now we can process at any time of the year

We have found that pork is better if left to hang for at least 4-7 days - it will then melt in your mouth. SO what we do is kill, skin, gut & hose off the first day. We also cut the carcass into quarters. This is new for us this year but we have found that quarters are SO much easier to handle than halves. Those halves can be heavy!

After the hanging time we bring the pork in & cut as we want it cut. The roasts etc get wrapped & put in the freezer. The "scrappy" bits get put in a big pot ready for making into sausage. We tried links one time but what a pain. It's a lot of work & really not worth in in our opinion. SO we now grind up the pork, add seasoning, put through the grinder again & then wrap in 2lb packages.

DON'T forget the lard! This is one of the best fats. It is very easy to render if you put it through the grinder first.

Bacons get brined for 5-7 days. We do not do nitrates of any kind so our bacon is just brined in salt water. We take it out of the brine, rinse it off, let it cool & then slice.

Due to us not wanting any nitrates in our meat hams were a challenge & this is a word of caution to all out there. If you are going to keep your hams whole you MUST use nitrates & MUST inject the solution all the way through. If you do not, you will have a problem. We used to cut our hams into smaller pieces & brine them the same way as our bacon but just didn't like the results. We now cut our hams into gammon steaks which is much to our liking

I know nothing about dry curing.

We have smoked the meat in the past - smoker broke so have to build another one - but smoked is GOOD!

Liz

 

[1littlefarmer]

Wow, Liz, Thanks so much! That's really great information.

We used to cut our hams into smaller pieces & brine them the same way as our bacon but just didn't like the results.

What was it that you didn't like about the hams in the brine? We would like to avoid the nitrates, if we can but not at the expense of not liking the ham... I'm actually hoping to be able to slice the ham deli thin if at all possible as that's really the only way my girls will eat it.

 

[Cornish Heritage]

You have to brine the hams a LOT longer to make sure the salt is all the way through so they were very salty. I will admit too that we did it in the days before we hung the meat for 4-7 days so they were a little tough. There is NO way you could have sliced our hams that thin.

Remember that the "ham" you purchase in the grocery store has a certain percentage of water in it so not all meat. That can make a huge difference in the texture & ease of slicing. The best way to learn is by experience. With your first pig, do several different cuts but don't be disappointed if you don't like one. Just make notes & change it the next time. If you are anything like us, once you have eaten one you'll be eager to eat another. We probably got through 3- 4 pigs a year - we eat a lot of meat. We also raise our pigs lean so fat content will also make a difference to your meat cuts.

Most of all have fun & be thankful to the pig for providing you with some wholesome meat.

Are you doing the killing yourself? If so it is very important that you keep stress to the minimum as that does affect the quality of your meat. If you can give the pig food or shoot whilst asleep it will never know what has hit it. We try to kill in their natural environment but in a limited space. Should you miss the first time, don't panic - stay calm and get the second time. If you do miss & cause some stress, hang that meat for a couple more days. Of course none of us want an animal to suffer but there are times when it moves unexpectedly so you have to be prepared.

Liz

 

[enggass]

What does stress do to the meat? I will be taking mine to the butcher when the time comes. They slaughter on site... I hope a ride in the truck isn't too stressful.

 

[fortheloveofgoats]

My wife and I will be butchering a pig in a few weeks and I've been researching a LOT on the cuts and storage but I still have a few questions.

Most of the meat will be cut, vacuum packed, and put in the freezer but the ham and bacon have me perplexed. I think I want to salt (dry) cure and probably smoke both but I'm not sure how to store them after that and for how long I can store them. I know cured ham is supposed to be good for a year unless it's cut into but can I cut up the ham and cure it in smaller pieces? I'm also still considering a wet cure so I would be happy with advice in that direction, too.

Thanks for any help!

My husband is a butcher, I will ask him when he gets home. Sorry I couldn't answer you now. I will ask him as soon as I can though.

 

[1littlefarmer]

What does stress do to the meat? I will be taking mine to the butcher when the time comes. They slaughter on site... I hope a ride in the truck isn't too stressful.

As I understand it (but hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong), stress causes adrenaline and other hormones to rise and they are then left in the muscle at the time of death which makes the meat tough.

 

[CCourson05]

Yep. It causes Rigor Mortis to be more intensified, which causes tough meat, and in rabbits, it will often give you a gamey taste, like wild rabbit.