Wild hog question

[NefariousTrashMan]

So my son was hunting In texas with my father in law for his 16th birthday present and killed a hog on his hunt. We cut the legs off and split the body down the spine. I’m smoking a leg right now and was curious about an IT temp. Do I treat it like a butt and go around 205 IT or will it dry up? When I searched it seemed like most people grind the meat and make sausage with it. I rubbed the meat down with mustard and put a heavy coating of heath riles honey chipotle rub.

This is after a couple hours.

Now it’s sitting in a foil pan and at 6 hours been hovering around 250 using hickory and oak.

 

[indaswamp]

Skin on or off? If off, then yes, it will dry out depending on the external fat left on the ham. Most wild hogs are much leaner than commercial pigs. Will also be tougher. if it is still too tough after cooling, I recommend deboning into chunks and sous vide 185*F for 12 hours. After 12 hours, pull the bag and squeeze the meat. If it is tender, you can smash a hunk with your hands through the bag.....do not open the bag unless it is tender enough to your liking and you will not cook any more.

I highly recommend SoFlaQuer's sauce in the sous vide bag with the meat. The acid from the vinegar will help to tenderize the meat and the sauce will keep it moist...

 

[NefariousTrashMan]

Skin on or off? If off, then yes, it will dry out depending on the external fat left on the ham. Most wild hogs are much leaner than commercial pigs. Will also be tougher. if it is still too tough after cooling, I recommend deboning into chunks and sous vide 185*F for 12 hours. After 12 hours, pull the bag and squeeze the meat. If it is tender, you can smash a hunk with your hands through the bag.....do not open the bag unless it is tender enough to your liking and you will not cook any more.

I highly recommend SoFlaQuer's sauce in the sous vide bag with the meat. The acid from the vinegar will help to tenderize the meat and the sauce will keep it moist...

Awesome thank you for the tip I appreciate the help! The skin was off, I left the fat on the ham I cut a strip off and fried like you have suggested in other post and it smelled good to me so I left it. I will check out the sauce as well thanks for the help.

 

[indaswamp]

The sauce...
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/soflaquers-finishing-sauce-for-pulled-pork.51933/

 

[tallbm]

So my son was hunting In texas with my father in law for his 16th birthday present and killed a hog on his hunt. We cut the legs off and split the body down the spine. I’m smoking a leg right now and was curious about an IT temp. Do I treat it like a butt and go around 205 IT or will it dry up? When I searched it seemed like most people grind the meat and make sausage with it. I rubbed the meat down with mustard and put a heavy coating of heath riles honey chipotle rub.
View attachment 647959
This is after a couple hours.
View attachment 647960
Now it’s sitting in a foil pan and at 6 hours been hovering around 250 using hickory and oak.
View attachment 647961

indaswamp has great advice for ya!

To reiterate, your wild pork will dry up on you since it is skin off (skin off is usually the case).

If you can't Sous Vide it then you can always semi-braise it in the oven once you get the smoke and "bark" level you like. Judging bark may be a little tough as we are talking about the meat drying up vs doing a normal bark thing.

Once you get the levels you want transfer that pan to the oven and put a little water and probably even some BBQ sauce if you like. Think of this as simulating a crock pot.
Seal the pan with foil where it is completely air tight and cook on like 325-350F oven temp for a couple of hours or more, or until you know it is falling off the bone (like a crock pot does). The liquid in the pan will steam up and braise the leg till it gets tender and falls off, all while keeping it from drying out :)

Then you will have pretty much what you are looking for but dealing with a wild pork leg. It should be amazing!

This is just another option you have that uses an oven.
Let me know if this makes sense :)

 

[tbern]

Sure looks delicious!!

 

[NefariousTrashMan]

indaswamp has great advice for ya!

To reiterate, your wild pork will dry up on you since it is skin off (skin off is usually the case).

If you can't Sous Vide it then you can always semi-braise it in the oven once you get the smoke and "bark" level you like. Judging bark may be a little tough as we are talking about the meat drying up vs doing a normal bark thing.

Once you get the levels you want transfer that pan to the oven and put a little water and probably even some BBQ sauce if you like. Think of this as simulating a crock pot.
Seal the pan with foil where it is completely air tight and cook on like 325-350F oven temp for a couple of hours or more, or until you know it is falling off the bone (like a crock pot does). The liquid in the pan will steam up and braise the leg till it gets tender and falls off, all while keeping it from drying out :)

Then you will have pretty much what you are looking for but dealing with a wild pork leg. It should be amazing!

This is just another option you have that uses an oven.
Let me know if this makes sense :)

This makes perfect sense thanks for the tip!

 

[NefariousTrashMan]

Wrapped it in foil and braised it like suggested turned out great.

Slice shot

 

[tbern]

Looks delicious!!

 

[Nefarious]

I'd enjoy a slice or two of that. Awesome.

 

[tallbm]

Wrapped it in foil and braised it like suggested turned out great.
View attachment 647974

Slice shot
View attachment 647975

Man that looks great! I LOVE wild pork.
There is a small chance I might get to go hunt some next weekend but a few things have to fall in place. We'll see :D