I skin them and only hang them in the cooler a couple days, just enough to firm up the meat good for butchering.
Any animal is much easier to skin right after it's killed.
Any animal is much easier to skin right after it's killed.
Hanging pork- Skin on? Skin off?
Hi everyone! We have 10 pigs that we are raising and butchering with some family and friends. We want to get the most meat and fat out of the pigs and waste as little as possible. I know growing up when we hung our deer or other game, we would gut it, put a stick in the ribcage, and leave it to hang with the skin on. Which helped protect meat from drying out. Could you, or would it even be helpful to leave the skin on a pig if you were hanging it for a week? Would it affect the meat in any way? Thank you in advance for any advice!
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I've done it both ways. I like the skining better. Most won't agree on this but I use a carpet cutting knife. Double sided blade , but it's what I got used to...I skin them and only hang them in the cooler a couple days, just enough to firm up the meat good for butchering.
Any animal is much easier to skin right after it's killed.
Why do you like skinning it right away better? Also how long do you let it hang? Thanks!I've done it both ways. I like the skining better. Most won't agree on this but I use a carpet cutting knife. Double sided blade , but it's what I got used to...
I've done the scraped method with hot water. It just takes time. I do have my own walk-in cooler and about everything else. Were are going to do a steer this year. Three or four days on the hanging.
Pork you generally don't hang long. I prefer the skin on scraped clean method. You can leave the skin on for the hams and roasts to get more food value. Tender cooked skin is good for your nails and joints. If you make headcheese a generous amount of skin can be added to that to give it the gelatin it needs to harden.
I skin because it is a heck of a lot easier than scraping. I don't hang pork for long. Basically just long enough for rigor to pass.
Having no refrigeration, I do my hogs in late fall when it's just above freezing (up to 40 degrees) during the day and just below freezing at night. They generally only hang overnight or maybe two nights at most (depending on how many I do and if I can get them done in one day). I scrape and leave skin on my baconers (especially the shoulders, hams and bacon) and scrape the skin my larders.
After being scraped of fat the skin from some of the larders is used for pork rinds . The rest is thrown in the pot to be rendered and becomes lard and cracklins. Ham, bacon, shoulders, jowls and hocks are salted in the saltbox for a couple of weeks or so, washed and hung to spring then cold smoked... usually with apple but occasionally with hickory or corn cobs. They are then hung to age anywhere from 6 months to several years. I also make, cure and smoke several different kinds of sausage.
After being scraped of fat the skin from some of the larders is used for pork rinds . The rest is thrown in the pot to be rendered and becomes lard and cracklins. Ham, bacon, shoulders, jowls and hocks are salted in the saltbox for a couple of weeks or so, washed and hung to spring then cold smoked... usually with apple but occasionally with hickory or corn cobs. They are then hung to age anywhere from 6 months to several years. I also make, cure and smoke several different kinds of sausage.
Hanging up game or any butchered animal with the skin on is the absolute worst way to handle meat possible. Get the hide off while the body is still warm, preferably within twenty or thirty minutes. With hogs we always scalded and scraped the hair off, then cut them up into manageable pieces. We smoked the hams, cut the bacon into two or three pound pieces and smoked that as well. Everything else went into sausage. Everything got used and eaten even the ears.
Why scald and scrape if you were skinning?Hanging up game or any butchered animal with the skin on is the absolute worst way to handle meat possible. Get the hide off while the body is still warm, preferably within twenty or thirty minutes. With hogs we always scalded and scraped the hair off, then cut them up into manageable pieces. We smoked the hams, cut the bacon into two or three pound pieces and smoked that as well. Everything else went into sausage. Everything got used and eaten even the ears.
I usually do groups of two, or maybe three at a time (normally 6 - 8 total). Dispatching, bleeding, scalding, scraping, halving, hanging, and then emptying, rinsing and scraping the intestines for casings is an all day job (which can't wait until day two). The butchering, sausage making, salting and boxing, and rendering is the whole day number two.
The hanging ins't to age but merely because it all can't be done in one day... that's why it's done when nights are at or slightly below freezing (natural refrigeration)... been done that way around here for many, many generations.
I don't skin hogs, I scrape them. Split them down the center, and let them hang overnight. The next day the hams are soaked in brine, everything else goes in the freezer.Why scald and scrape if you were skinning?
I don't know if you killed your pigs yet, but here are a few tips...
shoot em and then stick em as soon as they hit the ground. You have to get the blood out and the heart will pumplong enough to get it out if you do it right away.
get the innards out. Don't cut the pooper! You should split the pelvis and keep the dirty end outside the body cavity.
Hose the body cavity out good when you are done. Don't poke the bladder or guts. Take your time here.
get the hide off asap. Stay close to the skin with your knife if you want to save the fat.
hang em up and let em cool. they have to get to 40* or less. if you ave a cooler, you can hang them for a couple of weeks if it's cold enough in there. We will be doing a few soon and plan to hang them for at least two weeks.
shoot em and then stick em as soon as they hit the ground. You have to get the blood out and the heart will pumplong enough to get it out if you do it right away.
get the innards out. Don't cut the pooper! You should split the pelvis and keep the dirty end outside the body cavity.
Hose the body cavity out good when you are done. Don't poke the bladder or guts. Take your time here.
get the hide off asap. Stay close to the skin with your knife if you want to save the fat.
hang em up and let em cool. they have to get to 40* or less. if you ave a cooler, you can hang them for a couple of weeks if it's cold enough in there. We will be doing a few soon and plan to hang them for at least two weeks.
The old methods seem to have been skin on for hams and then plastering the exposed meat/joint with rendered lard. That makes sense to me since the enemy would be oxidation and well, what grows when you have oxygen present... My plan is to try it that way but having said that, I have no direct experience with pigs yet.
I don't think this is always true. While I agree that skinning is easier while the carcass is warm, the hide also protects the meat from dirt. I live in an extremely windy place and I would lose a ton of meat if I hung my game skinned. I typically gut, pull the tenderloins, and hang. I'm currently raising my first hogs now and the jury is out as to whether I will skin them or scald them.Hanging up game or any butchered animal with the skin on is the absolute worst way to handle meat possible. Get the hide off while the body is still warm, preferably within twenty or thirty minutes. With hogs we always scalded and scraped the hair off, then cut them up into manageable pieces. We smoked the hams, cut the bacon into two or three pound pieces and smoked that as well. Everything else went into sausage. Everything got used and eaten even the ears.
I find it easier to skin them. The logistics of scalding and scraping aren't really worth it to me.
I agree, I would never hang meat outside in the wind. We had a place in an old barn where we butchered and hung everything inside.I don't think this is always true. While I agree that skinning is easier while the carcass is warm, the hide also protects the meat from dirt. I live in an extremely windy place and I would lose a ton of meat if I hung my game skinned. I typically gut, pull the tenderloins, and hang. I'm currently raising my first hogs now and the jury is out as to whether I will skin them or scald them.
My preferred method-
Shoot
Stick
Scald
Split
Hang for couple days
Butcher
Butchering in cuts to make chops, bacon, sausage, hams, lard etc.
Save the leaf lard from around the kidneys…..great for baking & pie crust.
Save the kidney, liver, & heart to make pate’ or put in the sausage.
Don‘t forget to trim the head….lots of meat on those jowls.
Extra bits like head (after trimmed), tail, feet, lungs, scrap, gets boiled for the dogs. I’m not into eating tripe or stomach so thats for the coyotes.
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Shoot
Stick
Scald
Split
Hang for couple days
Butcher
Butchering in cuts to make chops, bacon, sausage, hams, lard etc.
Save the leaf lard from around the kidneys…..great for baking & pie crust.
Save the kidney, liver, & heart to make pate’ or put in the sausage.
Don‘t forget to trim the head….lots of meat on those jowls.
Extra bits like head (after trimmed), tail, feet, lungs, scrap, gets boiled for the dogs. I’m not into eating tripe or stomach so thats for the coyotes.
Last fall I had a bunch to process in a short time.
Shoot
Stick
Hang
Skin
Quarter
Freeze
I didn't gut any and just went for meat and fat. I normally will hang them about a day inside a small haybarn.
I could never get into scraping but whatever works for you.
Shoot
Stick
Hang
Skin
Quarter
Freeze
I didn't gut any and just went for meat and fat. I normally will hang them about a day inside a small haybarn.
I could never get into scraping but whatever works for you.
Depending on the temperature. But no more than 2-3 days unless its freezing out and the salt is keeping everything thawed. We love salt. Any extra bit of brine is fine. If we could we'd pack em in a barrel of salt.I don't skin hogs, I scrape them. Split them down the center, and let them hang overnight. The next day the hams are soaked in brine, everything else goes in the freezer.
Could you elaborate a bit, forthose of us absolutely New to home butchering, how you hang for aging (wrapped with cloth or? Walk in coldstorage, cold smokehouse, or?), when hanging for do long, do you slice off the blackened outside then cut what's wanted on inside like a hanging deer in cold storage or? What about the Parasites within the meat, keeping flies maggots away, etc. Simple to most, but to newbies we need help lol.Having no refrigeration, I do my hogs in late fall when it's just above freezing (up to 40 degrees) during the day and just below freezing at night. They generally only hang overnight or maybe two nights at most (depending on how many I do and if I can get them done in one day). I scrape and leave skin on my baconers (especially the shoulders, hams and bacon) and scrape the skin my larders.
After being scraped of fat the skin from some of the larders is used for pork rinds . The rest is thrown in the pot to be rendered and becomes lard and cracklins. Ham, bacon, shoulders, jowls and hocks are salted in the saltbox for a couple of weeks or so, washed and hung to spring then cold smoked... usually with apple but occasionally with hickory or corn cobs. They are then hung to age anywhere from 6 months to several years. I also make, cure and smoke several different kinds of sausage.
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
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