Go time next saturday! I pulled out all the meat from the 4 deer and the 80# of boston butt I deboned and cubed so that it can start thawing out in time for the weekend...
Deer and Wild Hog Processing Day 2020
- Thread starter indaswamp
- Start date
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Oh, it's all done the same day. We have 12 deer and 3 wild hogs. I do not have wild hog meat in my freezer, it's all at my buddies house. All the meat has been deboned, chunked, bagged and frozen. This will be where we make sausages, chili meat, and ground meat with them and package for everyone that harvested this year. We left the hog fat on, but removed the deer fat. Lots of pics. to come....
smokininthegarden
Smoking Fanatic
Just out of curiosity how does wild hog meat compare to what comes from the grocery store? I live in Montana,
probably a different part of the state than you were in, I live in the mountains, anyways we don’t see many wild hogs
around here:) I’ve always thought it would be really cool to be able to go out and shoot a hog and make some
sausage or whatever with it. Good luck with processing day.
Cal
The wild hog meat tastes close to what a farm pig would if it is allowed to forage like the old days. It's a bit tougher though. The fat is hit or miss...usually it's good around here. I like getting winter/spring hogs if I can because they have been fattening up on mostly mast like acorns and new green shoots.
The fat on these hogs is good, so we are using it. To test it, simply cut a thin slice off and put it in a skillet to fry. Smell the fat, you will know whether or not to use it. If a pig has consumed dead animals (which wild pigs will do) you will know it when you fry the fat.
The lush green swamps of lousiana offer a lot of food for pigs. I rarely run across one that has bad fat from eating carrion.....
The fat on these hogs is good, so we are using it. To test it, simply cut a thin slice off and put it in a skillet to fry. Smell the fat, you will know whether or not to use it. If a pig has consumed dead animals (which wild pigs will do) you will know it when you fry the fat.
The lush green swamps of lousiana offer a lot of food for pigs. I rarely run across one that has bad fat from eating carrion.....
We normally make all sausage from the wild hogs. It makes an excellent smoke sausage. The older large hogs we usually add in domestic pork 50/50....
You absolutely must remove ALL the glands though.
You absolutely must remove ALL the glands though.
We have a front moving through S. Louisiana today. The low will be 33* Saturday morning. Perfect! We will open the doors and let the north wind cool the kitchen down.
smokininthegarden
Smoking Fanatic
I live in Missoula, in west central Montana, 50 miles or so from the Idaho border. The big thing around here
Is big elk and big whitetail, we have them both, just finding them is the tricky part:) never been to Rapelje,
but have been all through that area. I used to live in Helena not far away, good area for hunting antelope too.
Cal
Oh man what a nice thread, I love seeing all the hunting and wild animal harvesting pictures!
I'm glad to see that all the deboning and meat cleaning has been done... that is always the most difficult and time consuming work in my operation.
I find that wild hog meat taste better/richer than the farm raised hog meat. I always tell people its like farm raised pork is to white meat chicken and wild pork is to dark meat chicken.
You are going to have one heck of a processing day and man you will have a load of great food!
I'm getting prepped to do some venison and I think this thread has maybe pushed me to start my 6.5 Creedmoor handload development process. I need to buy powder and check and see what other components I need to start the handloading process. I just got the rifle during the holiday sales last year and I expect it to be a tack driver come deer season this year !!! :D
I'm glad to see that all the deboning and meat cleaning has been done... that is always the most difficult and time consuming work in my operation.
I find that wild hog meat taste better/richer than the farm raised hog meat. I always tell people its like farm raised pork is to white meat chicken and wild pork is to dark meat chicken.
You are going to have one heck of a processing day and man you will have a load of great food!
I'm getting prepped to do some venison and I think this thread has maybe pushed me to start my 6.5 Creedmoor handload development process. I need to buy powder and check and see what other components I need to start the handloading process. I just got the rifle during the holiday sales last year and I expect it to be a tack driver come deer season this year !!! :D
Thanks tallbm. I trimmed the beef roast tonight and saved the fat for grinding with the mule deer grind. I put the rest of the scraps on a cookie sheet with the onion, celery, carrot and garlic. Popped them into a 425* oven for 45 minutes to roast. Then I put that in a crockpot with 2 qts. of water, deglazed the pan with a little red wine and added that in. I have that simmering all night for the stock to make the gravy. It's those tendons that make the stock so good! I make sure and lay those on the bottom of the pan so they will get good and browned.
I really love whole untrimmed cuts for this reason. Making your own stock is so much more flavorful than buying it in a carton.
Roast is seasoned with SPOG and in the frig.; will hit the smokehouse tomorrow, then in the sous vide bath....
I really love whole untrimmed cuts for this reason. Making your own stock is so much more flavorful than buying it in a carton.
Roast is seasoned with SPOG and in the frig.; will hit the smokehouse tomorrow, then in the sous vide bath....
What a long day...So glad to be sitting down right now.....I'll post the pics. tomorrow some time while I'm smoking more venison pastrami.
Got an early start 6 6AM this morning and it was 31* when I got to the kitchen. Perfect! Opened up the doors and let the kitchen cool off. Stayed in the 40's for about 6 hours this morning.
We ended up with a little over 450# of finished product, and I still have pork leftover to make some bratwurst and domestic pork smoke sausages.
Here is the tally...
75# 50/50 venison/wild hog cajun smoke sausage
50# 50/50 wild hog/ domestic pork Cajun smoke sausage
42# mule deer hamburger grind 50/50 venison/pork (with 4# beef fat added in)
162#50/50 whitetail deer/ domestic pork hamburger grind
12# all deer chili meat
5# 50/50 beef/venison hamburger grind with 20% pork fat added
40# 50/50 venison/pork Cajun breakfast sausage
75# 60/40 venison/pork Cajun fresh sausage............
..........and I still have about 100# all pork brats and Cajun smoke sausage to do this week..
Got an early start 6 6AM this morning and it was 31* when I got to the kitchen. Perfect! Opened up the doors and let the kitchen cool off. Stayed in the 40's for about 6 hours this morning.
We ended up with a little over 450# of finished product, and I still have pork leftover to make some bratwurst and domestic pork smoke sausages.
Here is the tally...
75# 50/50 venison/wild hog cajun smoke sausage
50# 50/50 wild hog/ domestic pork Cajun smoke sausage
42# mule deer hamburger grind 50/50 venison/pork (with 4# beef fat added in)
162#50/50 whitetail deer/ domestic pork hamburger grind
12# all deer chili meat
5# 50/50 beef/venison hamburger grind with 20% pork fat added
40# 50/50 venison/pork Cajun breakfast sausage
75# 60/40 venison/pork Cajun fresh sausage............
..........and I still have about 100# all pork brats and Cajun smoke sausage to do this week..
75# venison/ pork Cajun fresh sausage first grind, mixing seasoning, cure and phosphates.
1st grind on the above:
second grind:
Labeling 1# meat bags for ground meat:
Packaging 1# ground meat bags.
casing fresh sausage....
1st grind on the above:
second grind:
Labeling 1# meat bags for ground meat:
Packaging 1# ground meat bags.
casing fresh sausage....
The roast with green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy...
T'was very good...tender like butter after 20+ hours in the sous vide bath!
T'was very good...tender like butter after 20+ hours in the sous vide bath!
Great photos.
Appears you have a dedicated crew and possibly a dedicated kitchen for processing.
Appears you have a dedicated crew and possibly a dedicated kitchen for processing.
Correct on both. All close friends and family. We all hunt together. 12 deer and 3 wild hogs was the tally this season for processing day. My cousin is a District Captain at the local fire dept. and we have use of the Public Safety Center next door to the firehouse through him. It's a nice set up...lots of countertop space, big Ice machine, large double door commercial refrigerator (can crank it down to 33* to chill the fat and meat) and a 3 compartment commercial sink. We all pitch in $20~40 bucks for supplies and everyone tries to show up for the big day unless it's an emergency.
Will smoke sausages tomorrow, then I'll make Brats on tuesday....
Finished the smoked sausages today...
The little white bag is from a link that had busted in the black trash bag while in the refrigerator, it was on the bottom of the pile. I wrapped the mince with a little cheese cloth and hung in the smokehouse for a taster. Then tied knots in the link to close up the hole...
The water on the links is from showering them with water to cool them off. Will package tomorrow afternoon, and processing will be finished for the 2019-2020 season.
The new LEM 30# motorized sausage stuffer really sped up the day. Glad I got it!
The little white bag is from a link that had busted in the black trash bag while in the refrigerator, it was on the bottom of the pile. I wrapped the mince with a little cheese cloth and hung in the smokehouse for a taster. Then tied knots in the link to close up the hole...
The water on the links is from showering them with water to cool them off. Will package tomorrow afternoon, and processing will be finished for the 2019-2020 season.
The new LEM 30# motorized sausage stuffer really sped up the day. Glad I got it!
Cross cut and bloom pics. of the smoked sausages..
Here's the 50/50 wild hog and domestic pork:
and the 50/50 venison and wild hog...
Cross cut:
And bloom pic. after cut up ready to vac. pack..
Here's the 50/50 wild hog and domestic pork:
and the 50/50 venison and wild hog...
Cross cut:
And bloom pic. after cut up ready to vac. pack..
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