The pig was shot in its sleep, sleeping in its favorite spot. The way I want to go. This particular pig is a 290 or so pound barrow. Nice and fat. 
Over to the scraping station, and the scraping begins
This is a hands-on class. Pour on boiling water and rub the skin & hair off. 
Everyone participated. We demonstrated both scraping and burning the hair off. The dark areas are char that is incompletely scraped off -- which doesn't bother me too much as I'll be smoking it and it'll turn dark anyways. 
Splitting the pig, stem to stern
Something is in this plastic bag. To a 12 year old, it's pretty interesting
Carcass is split -- you could barbecue this pig just like this if you'd like. Meat saw makes quick work of this. 
The front leg is already off that half, here's the ham coming off. The lion and belly are still attached. 
The loin has been cut off, here's the belly. I'm explaining about making bacon here. 
Now for the 2nd half. Lots of discussion about options in cutting. 
As each primal comes off, we bag it for later icing. Thanks again for a great day!
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6 comments:
Really good class. Appreciated the opportunity for hands on. I feel much more confidant in the process and my ability to break the carcass down into primal cuts. My dad butchered animals and I do have some personal experience. Bruce was very thorough, and I learned a lot more than I expected I would.
My 81 yo mom said she learned a lot also. Brought back many memories for her. She was glad to have had the experience and we both appreciate the handouts. Also, having plastic covered posters of the pictures in color and blown up sounds like an excellent idea to me. Will be perusing the recommended websites further.
Time well spent! THANK YOU!
Dama
We had a lot of wild pigs on the ranch, and no one wanted to scrape the hides, so we just popped them off with footwheeler. Same way you field dress a deer. Worked well and was much faster.
LOL I'm sorry I meant to say fourwheeler, although a "footwheeler" may work as well.
Killing me (no pun intended) to have missed it Bruce! Glad it all went well!
I came to the class with only experience preparing birds. Taking apart such a large animal was quite a differeny experience. It gives me a lot of appreciation for the food on my plate.
Looking back, the only other suggestion I can think of is that it would have been helpful to learn how to skin a pig. After scraping the hair off I now know that I'm not doing that again. I'll have to take a look on the internet to see about the best way.
Bruce is a great teacher. I'd highly recommend you take his class once he puts it together. I can't wait to raise my own pigs and get my hands on some fresh bacon. That was the toughest part of the class, no take home bacon.
Thanks Bruce!
Matt
Nice post! Out of curiosity, do you use the innards for food items? I had a Swiss friend in New Zealand who said that the intestines of the freshly slaughtered pig made the best sausage. Are you aware of this, and do you know how to do it? If so, perhaps a post on it sometime would be welcomed.
Wish I lived closer!
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