Pig and a bit

We got our pig over the weekend. And a bit more.

We have been waiting for our slot in the schedule to get a pig from the farm we buy from. The farmer called to say that the pigs are not the usual 150 lbs dressed that they have been in the past and did we want to wait for the next batch to go to slaughter. We had already delayed once on the weight issue and I didn't want to be the fly in the ointment (oinkment??). I also wanted a pig, we are out of bacon, chops, ground meat and down to our last roast from the last pig. The farmer offered to help us get a little more meat by selling us some pig bits from his accumulated oddments that are waiting for retail sale. That was fine with me. It meant extra ground meat, ribs and back fat.

We met in a dark parking lot and transferred boxes of cryovacced meat like a clandestine raw milk sale. Just kidding, we met for dinner and we took home a pig in the back of our jetta. I noticed from the volume of the boxes we were loading that it was more than past pigs. The farmer's wife laughed knowingly and said it pays to be on good terms with the farmer.

When we got home we had to load the meat into the freezers. We have two chest freezers, a small 5 CU foot and a larger 10 cubic foot. We chose to go with the two unequal sized freezers because our freezer space needs change dramatically throughout the year. As we eat the contents going into spring, we'll empty the little one and shut it down. As summer keeps going we'll eat through enough of the big one and empty that into the little one again. When late summer harvests come in we'll start filling up again. And we need enough room that we can swallow a pig in one gulp as needed. It works out nice that we defrost the freezers at least once a year and go through the contents completely. It's amazing the things that can get lost in there if attention is not paid.

Now that we are flush with pig parts we have to find a use for all that. We got extra back fat with this one. We wanted to start rendering lard, and the extra back fat has given us a jump start on that. We spent a couple of hours this evening cutting up back fat and cooking it down. I am glad we had the glenwood to do it on. It was a long slow cook. Now we have bags of "cracklings" and quarts of lard. The cracklings we'll trade with a friend who wants them or give them to the dog. He likes them more than me and my waist line doesn't need them. The lard we will have for cooking. We'll freeze most of it to make sure it keeps.

They dog gets some of the other bits as well. He gets the organs. He'll get the feet and the ears. There will be bones after the soup. And when we were going through the freezer, rearranging things, we found some things we had forgotten. The dog also has some Guinea feet coming from last falls slaughter. A tasty treat. He says so anyway. With all the best intentions, things go into the freezer. The trick is to make sure they all come out again in a timely fashion. Not too long ago, we came across some crab legs that were left in the freezer way too long. I think a tenant forgot them when she left, we thought maybe we would use them, but we never did. They were un-appatizing when I got rid of them last fall.

Pig in a bucket

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the pig we bought. A pig in parts, so to speak. We've cooked some of the chops but this is the first ham from this pig.



















This is the way it started. The butcher did a nice job cryopacking it. It's vacum packed in heavy plastic. Very nice.























We do a brine cure. Basically its a solution of sugar and salt with spices. I have used maple syrup and other sugars. This one is molasses. I like cloves, black pepper and whatever else I decide on at the time. I am still working on our own personal recipe.

The bucket is a food grade bucket. I give it a good cleaning with hot soap and water first then sterilize with bleach. It's important to do a good cleaning because the meat is going to be in there a while. I generally brine for 6 or 7 days.
























This is my brine cooler. This time of year we could probably do it without the cooler. We have a room between the house and the barn that stays right around 36 this time of year. It's our walk-in. But the cooler helps with keeping the temperature stable. And in the summer, the cooler is necessary. I put a couple of ice blocks in top of the bucket. Inside the cooler it does a good job of chilling. I keep a refrigerator thermometer in there to make sure I am below 42. But too cold slows down the bringing.



















Going into the oven....



















Sliced on the table

A pig in small parts

Believe it or not, that is the better part of a pig. 105 lbs of cut meat. Not a huge pig, but not a small pig either. I didn't count anything, but there is a large pile of pork chops, two slabs of bacon, at least ten packages of ground pork and eight or ten roasts including loin end roasts. Somewhere in there is even the heart, liver and tongue. I haven't tried those before, I'll have to let you know.

We have gotten into the habit of buying a whole pig at a time. We buy it from a farmer, have it butchered and eat it out of the freezer for about six months. It is not the only meat we eat, but nearly all we buy uncooked. By buying it this way, we are able to get fresh, local meat that has been raised in a way we can live with. It was raised on pasture, no hormones or antibiotics, not chemical growth enhancers in humane conditions. We don't save any money, it was $300 for the pig and $125 for the butchering for 104 lbs, you do the math. The chain supermarket has pork loins for 1.99/lb on sale (at least they used to, we go to the store a lot less now). But, like I said, we can live with it.

Personally, I am not a raging localvore type. I think that's a fad like any of a number over the years. I still eat chocolate, drink coffee, etc. There are delicacies I enjoy that come from away. I am concerned about the imprint industrial agriculture is having on the planet and us as a species, though. So, when I have a choice, I try to stick close to home.

Along with local, I think also about the tasty bits. A long time ago, I came to realize that in our culture we are taught to only want the tasty bits. It comes out in a lot of ways, wanting only that sweet cookie, white rice, the choice cuts of meat. It becomes reflected in our bodies as we have to be forced into eating bran to prevent cancer and our environment as we have to find places to put the tailings left over from our habits. Buying a whole pig helps keep things in balance. We can't just always eat chops or pork loin as we end up with a freezer full of the other bits. It's more like building a stone wall. You have a pile of stone and you have to make the best of each piece. You can't go using all the best pieces right off, you need to spread them through the whole wall and make those other ones do in the meantime.