Harvesting the big pig (graphic, pictures)

LaurieLovesLearning

We butchered our large pig yesterday. It was way overdue, but somehow, he was big & still reasonably lean. There is plenty enough fat, but not copious amounts. He is perfect!

We expect 150 lb total meat from him. We finish up today with cutting up the last front quarter, and making our family recipes for Mennonite farmer sausage & liberwurst (liverwurst). We also want to put some liver away for paté.

While cutting the pig up, we saw the spleen. We've never tried it before. It's been dog food. This time, we'll eat it. We put the heart in the freezer. We've never eaten pork heart. We had kidney this morning, also for the first time.

We will be making bacon for the first time. His bacon looks good. He had huge hams, but we decided to try that on a future pig. We need more fridge space for preparing that.

I'm looking forward to eating pig cheeks again. 😋

Pictures to follow later today.

judsoncarroll4

Excellent! I can't wait to get back in to pig farming.

judsoncarroll4

PS. Do you want my liver pudding (country pate) recipe?

LaurieLovesLearning

Most certainly @judsoncarroll4!

judsoncarroll4

From my cookbook:

More traditional to my region and heritage is a delicious dish that is more like a pate than a sausage, with the off-putting name of liver pudding. This is a spicier, slightly more refined version of the liver mush that is popular in the western part of the state. Both have lousy names due to the English and Scots-Irish tradition of calling nearly everything from a dessert to a sausage “pudding”, while mush is a more accurate description of the uncooked mixture. Liver mush is usually fried before serving, like scrapple. These dishes have a much stronger liver flavor than boudin, and should be eaten in smaller servings. I grew up eating liver pudding on saltine crackers with my grandfather. It was a particularly spicy blend made by a local independent butcher. Most commercial liver pudding is far too bland for my taste these days. Liver mush was fried and served on my grandmother’s homemade, biscuits with slice of fresh tomato.

Liver pudding is made by cooking pork liver in pork broth, then pushing the liver through a fine screen strainer. The liver and broth is then blended with fine cornmeal and spices and cooked into a very smooth, pate-like consistency. I like to use celery salt and black pepper, onions and celery in the broth (strained out after cooking with the liver), lots of crushed red pepper or cayenne and a little thyme and parsley. Most folks add sage, but I prefer less “breakfast sausage” tasting herbs, as this is to be served as a snack and not for breakfast. As always, I use whatever herbs I have on hand that smell good to me at the time. Some people use finely ground broken rice in place of cornmeal. Either way, the meal should not stand out - this should be very smooth; the corn or rice just helps it hold together. Liver pudding can be put in a casing or simply pressed into a loaf pan or other mold. It is refrigerated and usually served cold or at room temp.

LaurieLovesLearning

Pictures!

My Nunuvut made ulu knife (caribou handle) & my grandpa's homemade knife (deer antler handle) in action above! 👍

Torey

Nice looking animal! As you say, not too fat and not too lean.

Its good to see kids that have learned how to handle a knife at an early age!

I much prefer a skinned pig to a dipped and scraped one for home butchery. Skinning is usually my job (or with my daughters). We seem to have a knack for it and can get it done in much better time than hubby.

LaurieLovesLearning

First coils of our family recipe of farmers sausage, salt & sugar only. 😋

All 4 kids doing hands on learning. A new generation gains skills!

I neglected to get pictures of the smoking being done. But this is the result. It smelled so good! This is the best "fast food" ever.

Exploring web of the connective tissue of the spleen.

The inside workings of the heart. The kids found this fascinating as well.

Heart, spleen, kidneys. The kidneys were breakfast. Our one son is fascinated with cooking kidney. He tried beef kidney first & next it was these. They taste & have the texture of liver.

That's our pictures of the day. We do have lard to render, pig cheeks, and still need to wrap (it got late). We still plan to do the bacon as well.

Out of that pig, we got about 250 lb of good meat. It wasn't too fatty (thank goodness). It was just right.

Torey

The sausage looks amazing!

LaurieLovesLearning

@Torey I think you'll have to come for a visit. 😏

Torey

@LaurieLovesLearning You are one of our stops if we ever make that vacation wish list of a cross-country trip.

LaurieLovesLearning

@Torey As are you ours! Maybe next year?

Michelle D

@LaurieLovesLearning I hope so badly to someday be able to raise my own pigs! It looks so satisfying from all the pictures. I have only ever butchered wild game. I feel like a pig can't be that much different.