HELP my 1st Pig

[baymule]

We moved to our 8 acres February 14, 2015 which happened to be our 19th anniversary. (we actually closed on September 2014 but I redid the inside before we moved) We got our first pigs in October of 2015 and haven't bought pork from a store since. Homegrown is so much better, there is no comparison.

You have tasted your own home raised pork-there's no going back to the tasteless "other white meat" from the industrial food mass produced crap. You might need another freezer........LOL

 

[sumi]

There really is nothing like your own home-grown meat! I'm glad you got to discover this now with Chopper, even if it came about in a rather unusual way, you got the kick you needed to get you into raising your own hogs and now you can taste for yourself how wonderful it is!

P.S. no comment on the apron

 

[Farmer Connie]

Following!

Berkshire Gilt Steaks on the grille last night. Fed high protein diet. Hardly any flare up because of the low fat content.
Grilled over Pecan wood. Pecan gives Pork a very sweet and mild smokey flavor..

 

[Farmer Connie]

I'll be raising some lil bacon bits up to butcher this spring for sure.

For a Bacon yield, you must process @ 300# or greater to create a belly worth processing. Our last two growers were finished at 250# which is an industry standard. "no salvageable belly" these last two. I needed pen space so we hauled them off early.
Our previous Berks weighed in @ 340#. Belly was plentiful.

 

[CrealCritter]

Following!

Berkshire Gilt Steaks on the grille last night. Fed high protein diet. Hardly any flare up because of the low fat content.
Grilled over Pecan wood. Pecan gives Pork a very sweet and mild smokey flavor..
View attachment 6582

Can I come over for dinner PLEASE

 

[CrealCritter]

For a Bacon yield, you must process @ 300# or greater to create a belly worth processing. Our last two growers were finished at 250# which is an industry standard. "no salvageable belly" these last two. I needed pen space so we hauled them off early.
Our previous Berks weighed in @ 340#. Belly was plentiful.

View attachment 6583 View attachment 6584 View attachment 6586 View attachment 6585 View attachment 6587​

I did that once also brine cure it was ok but I'm sure it could have been a lot better.

 

[Farmer Connie]

I did that once also brine cure it was ok but I'm sure it could have been a lot better.
View attachment 6588

We have tried curing w/o sodium nitrate (pink salt) but it's not the same w/o S.N..
The photo I posted was "Rub Cured". Pink salt rubbed deep. Placed in a bag, sealed tight. Placed in a pan in the fridge and turned over once a day for 7 days. Then was washed off really well and deep rubbed light brown sugar on all sides ans edges. Smoked in a Brinkman water pot smoker for 12-ish hrs. Then rested back in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, everything in the refrigerator smelled like a caramel BBQ.. lol..
Small pig farmers never get rich.. we only get to eat rich tasting pork..
I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I'll be following now.

 

[CrealCritter]

Mine was SN mixed in water cured (wet cure) I think being wet took some of the flavor away. Next time I want to try dry rub cure like you did.

 

[CrealCritter]

The ledgend of Mr. Porkchop lives on... Today while my 3 1/2 year old going on 15 was eating lunch. She just out of the blue said "paw paw did you eat Mr. Porkchop" you know that caught me by surprise. So I thought about my answer and all I could come up with was "Yes hunny i sure did' she then said "did he make you big and strong?". I said yep just look at your paw paw ain't he big and strong? She said "yes you are paw paw'. I said well if you want to be big and strong lile paw paw then eat your ham sandwich . She said "ok paw paw, Mr. Pork chop sure tastes good".

Shes only 3 1/2 years old and already knows what took me a big part of my life to learn.

 

[sumi]

Cute and clever!