Hanging pork- Skin on? Skin off?

7073 Views 23 Replies 15 Participants Last post by RJ2019, 5 mo ago

HannahG

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2020

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!

Save

1 - 2 of 24 Posts

Hopesprings

· #20 · 5 mo ago

homesteadforty said:
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.

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.

Save

Hopesprings

· #23 · 5 mo ago

JRHill02 said:
Where are your backups for information and what are the precautions? Don't you have a neighbor who knows the process with weather and all?? It doesn't seem like you are ready and don't know the storage tricks. The down side is you could get really sick.

Several backups, new to community and just finding our neighbors. That being said, if one doesn't get directions, help, advice from those already living or doing what you're wanting there will be a longer learning curve and safety issues. Forums such as this one allow for a sharing of information and learning from those who've been there and done that so to speak.

RJ2019 said:
I haven't hung pork before but other animals get wrapped or covered in a sheet to keep the nasties off. As far as being prepared, you can watch 1000's of videos and not learn as much as you can by that first attempt at butchering. Just do your best and don't waste the meat.

My suggestion is to skip the ham curing at first and get the animal processed first them circle back around to the curing/smoking/ect after you have the hang of taking the animal down into parts and then cutting/wrapping.

Thank you and great idea about circling back to cure. Appreciate it, and yes you're correct. We watched dozens of videos to l earn beef butchering, but doing it was a whole different level lol. Not pretty, but tasted same lol

Save

Reactions: 1

1 - 2 of 24 Posts

Top Contributors this Month