do you eat boars?

[onthespot]

my friend has a potbellied pig boar that has recently started biting and using his tusks on her leg. I told her to put him in the freezer immediately, but she says you can't eat boar, it won't be any good, and that her butcher says potbellies are all fatty and gristle. I have seen this boar and he is just right, weight wise, enough so I told her I would gladly split processing cost for half the meat. He is about five or six years old I think. Would you eat him?

[highlands]

It varies with the line of pig. Some breeds are rumored to have bad taint. Others don't. We do not castrate our pigs. We raise the boars up and they are excellent meat, no taint at all. So maybe he'll have taint, maybe not. Until she cook tests him it's hard to tell. Since he was incline to nip off a piece of her perhaps she would be willing to return the favor and cook up that sample to see how he tastes.

[Gailann Schrader]

In a heartbeat. Or feed him to the dogs.

ANYTHING that attacks me will have issues with my Dan Wesson.

My PBPig boar is threat-show about his sow, but backs down. Once he decides he's big enough to use his tusks or doesn't back down? He's MINE. Immediately.

Has she used a wood handle on his snout and shout NO? Or is he just too big for his mini-britches? Intact PBPig boars don't make very good family pets.

But I would eat him. BBQ in December isn't a bad thing... And then you can report back about the taste. Walter knows his stuff! The boar-taint can vary. But wild boar is very wonderful...

*drooling*

[onthespot]

thanks. is there any way to sniff the raw meat and tell if it has taint?

[highlands]

The primary taint is in the fat. See:

http://www.google.com/search?&q=site%3Asugarmtnfarm.com+boar+taint
Provided that you are capable of smelling it (not everyone can) you might be able to smell it but cooked makes it more accented. You might be able to smell it on the boar's breath, especially if he is around a female in heat.

Cheers,

-Walter

[Gailann Schrader]

If you could home-butcher and save some $$, could you then fry up a little of the fat after butchering and see if it's strong?

Would that work, Walter?

[highlands]

Definitely. And home butchering will gain you both experience as well as you'll get more of the animal. Unfortunately, when taking to the butcher much gets thrown away that could be used.

Also, even if it is does have taint the meat may make fine spiced sausages. That is the traditional way of eating strong boar. Although I imagine there may be some boar somewhere that is too strong flavored even for that.

[Gailann Schrader]

The wild boar I had was made into spicy loose sausage. It was EXCELLENT when cooked up and I put it in potato soup - ala Olive Garden - with greens and milk. Excellent.

I plan to butcher my own PBPigs - I've done goats for years by myself. The biggest thing is to have a table (or Windridge Farms suggests a tailgate of a truck - works very well - or I've used a small trailer too) to work on - preferably waist high. Back stress is what will get you gimped up...

A large pig you need a heavier lift (tractor) or a chainfall or comealong in a tree to lift it up. A PBPig or goat is small enough you can chunk it up and then deal with it.

After, of course, you've removed guts and skin and such...

I butcher whole deer too. String it up, skin it, then divide it up in chunks. If it's back legs hanging (traditional around here)... Take off each of the fore legs at the shoulder - they aren't ball & socket the way ours are (cutting off the hooves first). Then half the rib cage (don't ruin the tenderloin though! - using a saw cutting through the spine. Then at the tailend of the ribs, taking care to support the back legs on the gambrel - because they'll now be "free" (or it will slip off) - those ARE ball&socket. You can ratchet down the back legs and rest of ribcage onto a clean, white sheet underneath until you can saw off the lower legs (just tendon and bone on deer) for the dogs. Don't think of it in one HUGE chunk. Think of it in quadrants of meat and it will make more sense.

I agree with Walter. The first time I took a goat over to my deer butchering friends? They threw away a LOT on the bone - because you do that with deer. The meat is stronger there. With goats? I save all the bones and cook them down for gyro meat. Excellent! Same with hog. SAVE THOSE BONES!!! Cook them down for soup stock & meat for scrapple (cornmeal mush with pork in it).

Wish I was closer, I'd help!

[TedH71]

I used to hunt wild hogs....friends did too. If we wanted to eat them, we would casterate then feed for 30 days depending on weight. If they were below maybe 150 lbs then no need for casterating because the meat wouldn't taste bad. Casterating and waiting for 30 days would work best.