Shirley contacted me a while ago to let me know that she would shortly be sending her last porkers to slaughter, and to see if I would like a half pig this time. I thought about this for maybe 30 seconds and said we would.
To clear space in the freezer, we've been eating up the last of February's pork. Not a chore, as it is so versatile. We wanted to butcher the pig ourselves and we arranged to do it under Shirley's eye again. Last night we watched the videecam footage I took, which was great at reminding us about the Primary cuts, the belly and the leg - but as I stopped filming at that point to get stuck in, we couldn't watch anything about dealing with the loin or the shoulder.
Today was the day. We took our list of what we had last time, what we'd like more/less of, what we'd like to try that we hadn't before. Shirley did the primary cuts, then we decided to start with the belly. Discussion on what we wanted to do (compared with last time), and DH started making the cuts. THat was quick, helped by the simplicity of our requirements and watching the video yesterday. Leg was a bit longer to do, as we had to sort out the ham. Again DH did the cuts, then I started turning the remaining leg into lean dice, lean mince, and offcuts for sausages. Quite a lot to do, but we were fine, with help from Shirley.
When we got to the loin, we needed more help. We discussed what we wanted, and worked out where to cut. We made a good team, and we worked well together, with Shirley's advice and tutelage where necessary.
Eventually all was done. We packed the pig into the portable fridge, which was plugged-in in the car, came home, flicked the fast freeze switches on the freezers, and set about vacuum packing everything. The freezable stuff is now i one or other of the freezers (we'll sort then out later when everything is frozen and normal temperature has been restored). We also have a load of stuff in the fridge, these are the bits we are going to process over the next 2 days.
I'll come back and edit the post to put the weights in. I don't want to get partially frozen meat out of the freezer, to be weighed, in this heat!
Pork for Processing
Loin (eye of loin) for Lorenzo 765g
Belly for Bacon 568g (which we decided to de-rind before curing)
Loin bottom for Lardons 828g (which we decided to de-rind before curing)
Loin piece for back bacon (we're going to use Shirley's maple cure)
Half leg for Ham (2.786kg)
Offcuts for sausages
Belly fat for lard
Back fat for rendering into lard
1 pigs liver to be turned into pate
Pork for freezing
Lean Mince
Lean Dice
Lean Shoulder Dice (probably for pork pies)
Spare rib (shoulder) joint 1 for slow roasting
Spare rib (shoulder) joint 2 for slow roasting
Hand of Pork for slow roasting
Belly Pork joint 1 for slow roasting
Belly Pork joint 2 for slow roasting
Pork tenderloin
4 large loin chops 1.5 kg (actually just over)
2 trotters (for gelatin for pork pies)
1 pork hock
Spare ribs
Pork fat and rind for turning into scratchings
To clear space in the freezer, we've been eating up the last of February's pork. Not a chore, as it is so versatile. We wanted to butcher the pig ourselves and we arranged to do it under Shirley's eye again. Last night we watched the videecam footage I took, which was great at reminding us about the Primary cuts, the belly and the leg - but as I stopped filming at that point to get stuck in, we couldn't watch anything about dealing with the loin or the shoulder.
Today was the day. We took our list of what we had last time, what we'd like more/less of, what we'd like to try that we hadn't before. Shirley did the primary cuts, then we decided to start with the belly. Discussion on what we wanted to do (compared with last time), and DH started making the cuts. THat was quick, helped by the simplicity of our requirements and watching the video yesterday. Leg was a bit longer to do, as we had to sort out the ham. Again DH did the cuts, then I started turning the remaining leg into lean dice, lean mince, and offcuts for sausages. Quite a lot to do, but we were fine, with help from Shirley.
When we got to the loin, we needed more help. We discussed what we wanted, and worked out where to cut. We made a good team, and we worked well together, with Shirley's advice and tutelage where necessary.
Eventually all was done. We packed the pig into the portable fridge, which was plugged-in in the car, came home, flicked the fast freeze switches on the freezers, and set about vacuum packing everything. The freezable stuff is now i one or other of the freezers (we'll sort then out later when everything is frozen and normal temperature has been restored). We also have a load of stuff in the fridge, these are the bits we are going to process over the next 2 days.
I'll come back and edit the post to put the weights in. I don't want to get partially frozen meat out of the freezer, to be weighed, in this heat!
Pork for Processing
Loin (eye of loin) for Lorenzo 765g
Belly for Bacon 568g (which we decided to de-rind before curing)
Loin bottom for Lardons 828g (which we decided to de-rind before curing)
Loin piece for back bacon (we're going to use Shirley's maple cure)
Half leg for Ham (2.786kg)
Offcuts for sausages
Belly fat for lard
Back fat for rendering into lard
1 pigs liver to be turned into pate
Pork for freezing
Lean Mince
Lean Dice
Lean Shoulder Dice (probably for pork pies)
Spare rib (shoulder) joint 1 for slow roasting
Spare rib (shoulder) joint 2 for slow roasting
Hand of Pork for slow roasting
Belly Pork joint 1 for slow roasting
Belly Pork joint 2 for slow roasting
Pork tenderloin
4 large loin chops 1.5 kg (actually just over)
2 trotters (for gelatin for pork pies)
1 pork hock
Spare ribs
Pork fat and rind for turning into scratchings
