Curing Pork Butts for Pulled Ham

[garyinmd]

Woodcutter, I totally suck at tying meat back up like you did, is it necessary to get the bone out?

 

[woodcutter]

I'm not very good at it either. I read Pop's butcher knot thread. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/69790/tying-a-butchers-knot

You can leave the bone in if you want. I noticed a different flavor around the bone so I take it out. I normally like things cooked with the bone in except this.

 

[foamheart]

I have scraped my share!! Its what the new guys get to do. I saw a video somewhere where they took a butane weed burner and singed off all the hair then washed the skin off. I asked about the taste and was told me, you couldn't tell the difference for what it was usually used for.  They didn't blister the skin, just singed the hair off.

I am not saying it will not taste singed since I have not personally tried it. But I believe, had I hog for butcher, I would have to experiment! Scraping sooooooo suxor!

Boiling hot gunny sacks..... Course since ya do it when its cold, its not so bad. Well you are either getting burnt or freezing from the cooled water. Better eat those Wheaties!

 

[woodcutter]

I was thinking of heating a 55 gal barrel of water with my turkey cooker or weed burner and dunking it with the tractor loader. Actually I'm leaning more and more to just skinning it.

 

[foamheart]

I don't remember us ever cleaning one that would fit in a 55 gal drum. We used the drum to boil the water, and then there was those hot steaming gunny sacks. IF you were one of the more experienced you'd use pliers to grab the sacks and put 'em on the hogs, but you held off as long as possible letting the new guys see the pliers....LOL

Pop finially just started taking 'em to the butcher, its odd, he started doing that just abiout the same time I went off to school....LOL He just started raising an extra pig each year for the butcher. He hates spending cash, but he'll swap meat or produce.....LOL

 

[one eyed jack]

 
I was thinking of heating a 55 gal barrel of water with my turkey cooker or weed burner and dunking it with the tractor loader. Actually I'm leaning more and more to just skinning it.

The friend I used to help scald and scrape hogs with had an old cast iron bathtub in his lot.  We would build a fire under it and lower the hog into it, let it heat a bit, and pull it out to scrape some.  Continue till cleaned up.  When he was happy with the scraping he would take a small torch to the stubble. 

Good memories.  They were wild caught hogs in Florida, penned and grained for a while before butchering.  Good eat's.

 

[disco]

Sorry to be late to this but glad I looked at it. I need more pulled ham!

Great post.

Disco