Taxidermy.Net Forum - Butcher, Processing Own pig?

I don't know about the hyperlinks but the information you got here is going to leave you with some "gamey" tasting meat. You need to have the hog ALONE in a confined pen. If you have another pig near, someone is going to get hurt. Pigs go crazy at the smell of blood.

When you shoot the pig, I'd recommend a .22Mag instead of a .22 Long Rifle. Some pigs heads are as thick as budding taxidermists.

AS SOON AS THE PIG HITS THE GROUND, cut it's throat. You MUST do this. The heart of an animal has it's own nervous system and the heart will continue to beat for a few minutes. Cutting the jugular will insure that there's no residual blood to taint the meat. A hog shot in the wild doesn't need this as it dies of massive internal injuries that bleed out naturally.

Now the hog has to be scalded. We always burried a 55 gallon drum half way in a "reclining position" and then put skids in front of the opening so the hog could be slid in and out of the barrel. We had water boiling in a pot off to the side. We poured the water into the barrel and then slid the pig in (a big pig has to be done in two stages obviously. The pig was sloshed with the boiling water for a couple minutes and then drug out on to the skid where people waited with "G I Brushes". The hog was cleaned and brushed down. If the hair didn't come off easily, we would take jar lids and scrape it off. This was done until the hog was squeaky clean.

NOW comes the butchering. We used a single-tree in the old days but they sell gambrels today. The Achilles tendon in the back legs was exposed (CAREFUL HERE, the last thing you want is to cut that tendon.) String the hog up, head down.

With a meat saw, split the pelvis and then make a ventral cut down to the rib cage. Carefully remove the bladder and bowel duct.. We always had a washtub to catch the guts as we used them for casings for sausage and a southern delicacy- puddin'. For pigs we were barbecuing, we also made "hash" so we saved the liver, the heart, the kidneys and the head. IF you plan on being Dark Ages and leave the head on, then you may as well toss the organ meats unless you have a recipe for them separately. I won't go into hash making unless you're removing the head and plan it.

Once the organs are removed, carefully cut the diaphragm away from the body cavity. Remove the lungs and heart. Remove the eyeballs from the sockets. Pull the trachea and esophagus out. Hose the inside body cavity out well.

Since you said you're planning on digging a hole and not turning it on a spit, the next step is going to take a talented hand. Someone with a SHARP hatchet has to split the backbone from inside the body cavity. Special care is taken to get past the tenderloins that lie under the spine, but the backbone has to be split so that you can open the legs and lay your hog out flat over the pit.

Now the pit. Dig the pit a bit wider than the hogs outstretched legs, but about 2 feet longer than the pig. Dig it only about 8-10 inches deep and line both sides with concrete blocks. These blocks will reflect the side heat from the pit and concentrate it on your hog. You will need pipes to support the pig (one for every 10 -12 inches of hog body and long enough to reach across the blocks) as well as TWO SHEETS of 2x4 hogwire the size of the pit.

We always used a 55 gallon "burn" barrel with a square hole cut along the side at the bottom. The barrel was filled with oak or hickory logs of various sizes stood on end. The fire was started an hour or two before we put the hog on. As the logs burned, the embers would fall to the bottom. When we were about ready to start, a shovel was used to pull out burned embers and line the bed of the pit about an inch or two deep.

To the side, the hog wire was laid on a table and the hog arranged on top of it. The second piece of wire was used to cover the hog. Then pipes were weaved through the edge to lock the wire together. One pipe would go under the hog and the alternating one above the pig. This locks the wire together, supports the pig, and gives you the means to flip the pig over when the time comes.

This is the time to salt your pig down well. You should also paint it down with your barbecue sauce. In South Carolina we use a sweet mustard sauce for barbecuing, but a lot of people think it ain't barbecued unless it's saturated with damned catsup. The pig is carried to the pit and laid, BACKSIDE DOWN, over the coals. Don't forget to put the ceremonial apple in it's mouth and cherries in its eye sockets.

A large cardboard sheet is needed to cover the pig. (Remember, paper burns at 450 degrees. If the paper burns, your fire is too hot.) The cardboard acts as a reflector of the heat as well. The pig should be cooked 3 to 4 hours on the backside. The coal bed will need to constantly refilled and that's why the blocks were used. It allows the guy with the shovel to put the coals under the pig without throwing ash on the meat. Both ends being open allows access to the whole hog. The shovel guys need to keep the heat going until the job is complete. Make sure that the hams and shoulder areas STAY HOT. This is the thickest meat and the last cooked throughout. REMEMBER TO CONTROL THE HEAT. IF the drippings are catching fire on the pig, it's too damned hot. You're cooking, not searing.

While it is cooking on it's back side, keep the body cavity wet with barbecue sauce. Lift the cardboard occasionally to insure it's not drying out. You'll see it bubbling slighty at times as the heat comes through and this will insure that your meat is fully cooked and the sauce permeates the meat.

At the 3-4 hour mark, you need a couple of strapping guys with gloves to lift the pipes and flip our hog over. At this point if your pipes and wire weren't there, you'd dump your hog into the coals. As it is, many of the bone joints are going to be cooked through and it needs to be done gently so as not to taint the meat. Cook this side of the pig about two hours.

Now you need that big table again. Lift the hog off the pit and carry it to a big table. Lay it belly side down and remove the pipes and the top wire. Now you have a pig pickin going on. Pull the burned and charred skin off the back of the hog. Some people like it as a snack, but it's pure fat. I keep a big bucket beside the table and discard it and the extraneous fat atop the meat. Carefully start pulling away the HOT meat from the backbone. The backstrap (loin/porkchop/whatever) is the easiest to remove first. Have someone painting the stripped meat with barbecue sauce as it's placed in a serving tray or pan. The hams and shoulders should pullout of their sockets easily at this point and can be set aside and attacked individually. Remove the charred bones and find that tenderloin underneath

Now if you're going to cut the head off and would like to make "hash", let me know. You'll need all the organs as well and if you do, the hash can be made while the hog is cooking. Hash is rather rich and is served with white rice.

Some years back, a set of books was published telling how to make soap and lard and all the other period things you didn't get ready made from stores. The series was called "Foxfire" and you can likely find it on Amazon.