Skinned hog

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superflymd

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Original poster
Oct 24, 2009
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I was planning on smoking a whole feral hog I shot this weekend. The guide was pretty insistent on skinning it, so I deferred to his judgment.

Now I can only find instructions on pigs with skin still on. Should I go ahead and smoke it like any other meat? Put bacon on it, maybe a weave? Scrap the plan and just make sausage?

Thanks for any help you can give.
 
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Hang it and skin it before cooking. Work from the top down, sharp flexible knife. Leave some of the fat on it to protect the meat and keep from drying out. Ideally, sandwich the hog between layers of chicken wire if it’s a pit so you can flip it without it falling apart.

We will need some pics of this cook please?!
 
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Good call by your guide.
I skin all wild hogs, scalding/burning and scraping hogs is a big job unless you're set up for it, and it very laborious and messy.
Not to mention all the parasites on a hog, lice, ticks, fleas and more.

Once skinned prep like any other pork, but cook all meat to a minimum 160° to kill any trichinosis.

Here is some nice feral piggie.
 
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Nope, they smoke ok, but not over direct fire. If you’re in that situation, 250 degrees and 18 hrs or so, with skin, 275 over direct heat for 12hrs will do the trick for a 200lb dressed hog.
 
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USDA minimum safe internal temp is 160°.
Which is a 20° safety buffer against any under temp meat cooked to 140° IT, which kills Trichinosis too.

Wild hog smokes just fine even though it usually has less fat.
That is easily addressed by using a water pan and other methods e.g. injection, mopping or spritzing, bacon wraps, crutching in paper or foil with or without added liquids and by braising after a few hours of smoke.

If not doing whole hog I highly recommend brining with or without curing, really helps keep it from drying out and helps tenderize the meat.

Grilling is great for some primal/subprimal and finished cuts.
As are any other cooking methods.

Then again, sausage is great stuff (pun).
Grinding some or all up and making different sausages could be a great plan.
 
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I’ve done a bunch of babies/unborns on a great big California kamado (Mississippi hogs which were reallly good). I’ve also done a bunched big southern bastards over a charcoal 10 rpm 280 gal direct heat smoker that my dad built in 1978. Everything still seems to work...
 
I was planning on smoking a whole feral hog I shot this weekend. The guide was pretty insistent on skinning it, so I deferred to his judgment.

Now I can only find instructions on pigs with skin still on. Should I go ahead and smoke it like any other meat? Put bacon on it, maybe a weave? Scrap the plan and just make sausage?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Hi there and welcome!

As mentioned skinning is the way to go unless are really well setup to scald and scrape or to flame and scrape. As also said I dont think u want to fight any fleas, lice, ticks, etc. that hogs carry so skinning solves a lot of that quickly.

I would honestly say to break it down into shanks, front legs, back legs (hams), ribs, backstrap, and tenderloins (inside of rib cage).

You can smoke any of this and with it broken down you can foil wrap some, not wrap others, etc. You can pull various pieces at different times so you dont overcook one part and undercook another part.

Personally I would save the shanks for braised dishes.

I would grind the backstrap and tenderloins BECAUSE you have to cook these feral hogs to 160F internal temp (IT) or a little higher which means you are easily overcooking pork loin and tenderloin so it will never come out as good as farm raised. So may as well grind it.... OR you can cure those cuts and smoke to 160F+ IT and have a canadian bacon type dish. If you grind u can grind all other scraps with these pieces and get a decent amount of super lean ground pork for.

Feel free to smoke the front legs (minus shanks) and then put in foil, douse with a liquid, and wrap to finish.
You can smoke the back legs/hams as well or cure (inject the cure too) and make smoked hams.

You have lots of options but only if you break down the animal. If you try and leave whole don't expect great things out of parts like loins and shanks and ribs which will likely overcook.

I hope this info helps :)
 
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Good call by your guide.
I skin all wild hogs, scalding/burning and scraping hogs is a big job unless you're set up for it, and it very laborious and messy.
Not to mention all the parasites on a hog, lice, ticks, fleas and more.

Once skinned prep like any other pork, but cook all meat to a minimum 160° to kill any trichinosis.

Here is some nice feral piggie.
My latest on a week ago,, pig2020.jpg
 
I have put a whole 30# feral hog on the smoker...skinned....
I'll not do it again. Make sausage I say....it does make damn fine sausages. I make some wild hog links every year... we usually have 2-3 for our annual processing day in late February. Along with 12-15 deer.
 
Hmmmm may see if i can make arrangements to go whack some hogs this weekend. If not then maybe the following weekend. If i can get about 350lbs of hog that should net me about 100lbs meat for grinding and making hams and such. would like to get it in like 2-3 hogs so less cleaning.
We'll see :D
 
Unless you really need the wow factor of doing a whole hog I totally agree with breaking it down and smoking the pieces and parts. Parts of that thing finish at different temps and if you cook it all to pulling temps then parts of it are going to be way over done and if you stop at the lower temps then the other parts won't be done.
 
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