getting a hog at the fair

[veener88]

This weekend I am hitting the county fair that has more hogs this year then in past years so they might go cheep near the end. What I am wondering is when we have it buchered out is there any cuts that I should make sure they do and not have it ground up. I am just not sure if there are any cuts out there that you would need a full hog for or that you just do not see in stores.

We are looking to get about a 250lb hog. I just do not have the smoker to do the full hog.

Thanks for any idea or tips.

 

[cajunsmoker]

Now that sounds like a good question for our esteemed moderator/official greeter/Meat Cutter GURU, Dutch :D .

 

[Dutch]

Guy's don't ya know-the whole thing can be smoked.
From the front end you got your whole picnics or cut 'em in half and you have picnics and butts.

Use the pork loin for fresh meat (Chops, Steaks or Roasts) or bone it and leave it whole and do my Smoked Sausage Stuffed Pork Loin or my Mahogany Glazed Pork Loin and you'll have the bones for baby back ribs. Or you can cure and smoke the loin for Canadian Bacon.

You can use the belly for salt pork or cure and smoke it and use it for bacon. Use the rib bones for Spare Ribs.

From the hind quarter you can use the hams fresh or have them cured and smoked for smoked hams. About the only thing you'll have to grind are the hocks and any trimmings.

One thing to take in to consideration is the slaughter process. Do they skin the hogs or scald them and scrape the hair off? If they skin, they'll take some of the fat with the hide, if I can remember right you should have about 130-140 pounds of hanging weight. If scalded, the hanging weight should be around 170-180 pounds.

 

[cajunsmoker]

Dutch,

Best I remember, scalded and scraped was better than skinned. Is that right?

 

[Dutch]

Not when you're the one having to cut 'em up. :D

I've had them both ways and I could really tell any difference.

 

[veener88]

Thanks,

I would love to try and smoke the full thing with my hunting gear I could save the cash and kill it clean it and smoke it but I just do not have the smoker to do it. I am still trying to figure out a way to make a custom one. I do auto restoration so with body hammers, drill press, welder I think I can have some fun.

Well anyways thanks for the heads up for the cuts and how they skin it. I will have to ask. This butcher is the one that I order the meet a week a head and they age it and cut it the day I am coming in to pick it up. So they work a lot with me in cutting meat just for smoking.

Thanks again

 

[Dutch]

Hey veener88, Pork doesn't need to be aged, it's held under refrigeration for a couple of days so that the fat firms up. My Dad and I would kill hogs on Saturday and Monday or Tuesday, we would start cutting them up.

 

[veener88]

For the ageing I should have said that do that for me when I order beef. I get my briskets and clods there.

 

[cajunsmoker]

Hey Dutch,

My memory is from childhood.

We lived kind of communally in the deep south at that time. We had neighbors and kin folks who went together and raised and slaughtered pigs and grew gardens and such.

When we butchered hogs, we boiled and scraped them, and then the old ladies would cut a lot of the fat off and render it out into fat and "craklins" in big cast iron wash tubs. What happened to the rest of the hogs was up to the men. They handled that with their smokehouses.

I know this sounds like I'm a 100 years old. But this was pretty common in the farming communities of the mississippi delta in the 50's and 60's.

 

[Dutch]

Rodger, I know what your talking about. Nothing like hot cracklin's fresh out of the lard. A lot of our pork and beef processing was for family groups.

 

[veener88]

Well we have a hog on the way. We got a 251lb hog. Nice and strong on front and rear and lean in the middle. Was a outside open pen hog so it has not just sat in a small pen all of it life. Found out one thing at a fair though your out of pocket is a bit much at first. We got a cheaper hog at $3.00 a lbs. Before you think I am nuts I get to tax deduct what ever price I pay over market price. Our luck is that over the last 2 weeks the price has fallen about .20 cents we when we get done with the IRS we will pay .45 cents a lb and about $120 to have to all butchered out. So we think in done weight we should be paying around $1.70 a lb for all meat so not to bad. So I willl get getting about $640 back in a refund that I will put at getting one next year.

I will have to get with the butcher shop in the monday to let them know how we want it cut. Since we do have dogs I want to see if I can get the ears, snout, feet, and skin for them. For how much they charge for rawhides I would like to try to make some.

Well thanks for your help so far now I have to figure out how to cure and smoke bacon and hams.