Does anyone do there own butchering?

[frustratedearthmother]

Woukd you say it a cultural thing to skin a hog?

Sorry, I musta missed this question. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing, or a geographical thing, or just a personal choice. I might try to do the boiling water/towel thing on one just because I'd like to have the experience - and I'd like to be able to make an informed choice on what method I like better in the future. I have to say that it bothered me a bit to toss that skin, but it wasn't totally wasted. My dog drug it around and chewed on it forever it seems, lol. But, I'd like to try my hand at making cracklings.

Anybody made head cheese from one? I had a fellow helping with the butchering who took control of that for us. We put the head in a pressure cooker and cooked it down. Peeled off every speck of the meat (but sorry - I couldn't do eyeballs!) We did use the tongue and the ears though... put lots of spices, onions, garlic, peppers, carrots. Rough chopped all of it and packed it into loaf pans where it sets up because of all the gelatin in the head (I guess). I was definitely a little leery of it, but man-oh-man, some of that on a cracker with a little bit of tabasco is good eating!

 

[NH homesteader]

Yeah.. I'm all set on that head cheese thing!

What exactly do you do with the skin, those of you who scald? I don't eat chicken skin either. I guess I figure skin is there to protect the meat from the outside world!

 

[micah wotring]

Yeah, we thought about making pig-head cheese but we were busy.

Yeah.. I'm all set on that head cheese thing!

What exactly do you do with the skin, those of you who scald? I don't eat chicken skin either. I guess I figure skin is there to protect the meat from the outside world!

Pork rinds I think.

 

[NH homesteader]

Rinds. Yeah... That freaks me out. I don't know why but the skin and head are off limits to me.

 

[Alexz7272]

Scraping is the norm here in Poland, a 50l pot of boiling water and a sharp knife (even a cut throat razor will do). Pour the water on a small area and scrape, the whole process takes about 30 minutes. Lets face it you can't beat a bit of crackling on your roast Also I can't imagine a bacon without the skin holding it together.
As for the original question, on your own if would be a hell of a job, two people at least required, if only to hoist it up to gut.

Polska! Hello from your neighbor Lietuva! I knew it had to be a Eastern European thing

 

[MiroslavZivic]

I would honestly advise against doing it all on your own. Surely, it can be done, however, whenever we do it, I have seven other people working with me and it still takes us about five whole hours of nonstop work to butcher two pigs, and all these men are very expeirenced.

 

[Baymule]

@Eddy Winko welcome to the forum from Texas! So glad to have you here!

 

[farmerjan]

The whole thing behind scalding and scaping was to be able to keep the bacons and the hams from drying out when they were being cured. You use the scalded scraped skin to protect the meat, tuck any salt for curing into any crannies of the ham where the skin is as well as sometimes injecting the cure into it with a long needle especially around the bone. They are often put in to be smoked after the cure and the skin keeps the bacon and hams in shape and offers a bit of protection from bugs too, once it gets cured(hard). Most put them in old pillowcases after they are cured to hang and store in a smokehouse or attic. Since they were often killed in late fall, Thanksgiving was a popular time in the south, scalding and scraping would make the animal more ready for hanging for a bit, before cutting up. If you skin the hog as most butchers do today, the animal also is put into a cooler/locker so the bug situation is not as much of a factor. The meat takes the cures quicker so you have to be careful to not over cure. The old style salt cure hams of the deep south was done that way so that they would be able to keep the meat through the winter. You had to soak it to get some of the salt out or it was practically inedible.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Sorry i have been busy.

For commercial practices skinning/scalding is the most common in the US. Yes both, let me explain. They scald the pig and then drop it in a drum scraper it scrapes all the hair and everything off in about 15-45seconds depending on settings. The next machine is the skinner, this machine takes the skin off of the barrel of the pig only along with 1/4" of fat underneath and take approx 3-6seconds. The scalded and scrapped skin is left on the hind end for hams, on the head because it is "waste", and on the feet/hocks for making smoked pigs feet or even pickled pigs feet.

For home slaughter i would say scald and scrap is the most common method i have seen used and is traditional in the US.

Most butchers around us will scald and scrap. When we butchers the potbelly pig DH skinned the pig only because it was the wrong time of year to be butchering for us and we were in a hurry to get her in the freezer and not prepared for scalding.

We have two different "local" butchers one is a standard butcher and the other is a USDA butcher both will kill, scald and scrap, as well as gut and then give you the pig back wrapped in plastic. The standard butcher will kill, scald, scrap, gut, and split if we wish any pig for us for $30. The USDA butcher will kill, scald, and scrap any pig for us for $95 and that pig comes with a USDA inspection stamp on its hide. Often if they are not busy and have cooler room they will even hang the pig for you for up to 30 days at no extra charge.

DH used to work for the largest meat packer in the US before he moved out of Iowa so he is fast at butchering but even so it takes us several hours just to cut down the carcass even if we pay the butcher to do the initial work. I would not recommend butchering a pig to one person unless you have a few days to devote to it and a place to chill it down every few hours, as the warmer the carcass gets the harder it is to cut it nicely. Professional butchers can dismantle a pig into cuts ready to cook/cure/smoke in approx 30-45mins after it has been gutted, scaled and scrapped etc....with equipment specifically meant to do the job and many years of experience breaking down whole and half carcasses.

To sum my ramblings up....

Traditional in the US is scald and scrap, many still do this and prefer it.

No i would definitely not recommend one person butchering a whole hog.

Call around to butchers near you and see what they charge to kill,scald,scrap,and gut. Honestly for $30 to save the hassle it is so worth it for us and our butcher threw in splitting the large hog for free. If your going to go this route ask them to split it for you makes your job much easier.

Yes i have made head cheese(no eyeballs lol) i do not like headcheese....the jelly nature of it grosses me out. We do however use the jowls/cheeks and the tongue in charcuterie applications....waiting for the world outside to cool off so we can make Guanciale!

 

[Bruce]

I have watched a few pig butchering videos and while *I* have no personal experience, yep, it sure looks like a LOT of work even for a group of very experienced people. I'm with @misfitmorgan. $30 to kill, scald, scrape, gut and split? No thought necessary unless you have no way to get the pig to the butcher.