Howie1968
40 Cal.
i got the backstraps and the 2 hams they were big hams ive got it on ice with the plug open draining all the blood until it comes out clear. i imagin this will go to smoked jalepeno and cheddar link sausage
Fat pig down with the TC big boar .58
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Have you ever tried to make country hams out of a wild hog? Just curious? Country ham is one of my favorite foods.
Griz44Mag
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Just a tidbit that I got from my grandfather - he had a curing shed the size of a single car garage - and did a lot of cured hams He also did cold smoking as a finish.
If you are going cure a ham - never use wild meat - too many things can go wrong.
Use only very fresh meat - it has to be immediately prepped after killing the hog, no more than 2 or 3 hours, properly washed and drained, salt bath brined for 2 hours to kill any bacteria and then packed in the salt and sugar mix - and completely.
I wish now that I had paid a lot more attention to how he did it back when we still had him to teach me. That treasure was lost many years ago.
He made the best hams I have ever eaten.
Griz44Mag
When the pork is packed in the salt/brown sugar/black strap molasses/cracked black pepper mix, is a nitrate/nitrite curing salt added to it? Also, is the cure mix packed so as to entirely surround the ham, the way that I used to cold sugar/salt cure whole skin-on salmon filets as a chef?
When the pork is packed in the salt/brown sugar/black strap molasses/cracked black pepper mix, is a nitrate/nitrite curing salt added to it? Also, is the cure mix packed so as to entirely surround the ham, the way that I used to cold sugar/salt cure whole skin-on salmon filets as a chef?
Howie1968
40 Cal.
No sir ive never done that i prefer my hogs either link smoked sausage, i get domestic fat from the local butcher or i make roasts for the crockpot or in a roasting bag with potatoes carrots onions im not keen on on fried wild pork barbecued is also good
how can something so nasty looking taste sooo goood?
Great harvest with the .58. Another small victory in the Texas swine jihad! Glad you could get some meat out of it.
Howie1968
40 Cal.
Toot, that is the beauty of it. underneath the mud course hair callous fat is the other white meat. wild pig is some of the best table fair there is. low in fat high in protien. i prefer wild hog over deer only exception is possibly elk or axis deer
Stony Broke
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I have been getting a lot of strange looking hogs in my traps lately !! I finally just gave up and shut down my traps until things change some out there. Yesterday I checked 4 traps, and had 3 of with deer in them. Guess the deer are getting pretty hungry for corn as the acorns are not on the ground like we normally see this time of the year.
Howie1968
40 Cal.
Thats a nice buck. It happened to me once a out 15 years ago. That buck was tearing himself upI have been getting a lot of strange looking hogs in my traps lately !! I finally just gave up and shut down my traps until things change some out there. Yesterday I checked 4 traps, and had 3 of with deer in them. Guess the deer are getting pretty hungry for corn as the acorns are not on the ground like we normally see this time of the year.
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nice looking hog - congrats!
Stony Broke
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yep.....horny old bugger !
RoaringBull
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I have been getting a lot of strange looking hogs in my traps lately !! I finally just gave up and shut down my traps until things change some out there. Yesterday I checked 4 traps, and had 3 of with deer in them. Guess the deer are getting pretty hungry for corn as the acorns are not on the ground like we normally see this time of the year.
I bet he was fun to release!!
I have yet to try some of it. but I am GAME, PUN INTENDED! I LIVE in the EAST, so it is SLIM TO NONE!
Griz44Mag
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PaPa NEVER used nitrates. I think that is why he only used fresh killed meat.
We had one of his "special" hams that had been packed for 2 years. When they develop the large white spots in the meat they are PERFECT and that doesn't happen until they are at least a year old. Most of the hams he turned out were sold in 3 or 4 months. That was one of his commercial products. He also dried and smoked a lot of fish. For his fish - nothing in the cure mix except salt and brown sugar.
His fish smoker was an old retired commercial cold storage box, big enough to walk in. He had cut a several holes in the top and sides so he could control the humidity and heat in every part of it.
He made sausage too, never used curing salts. He had several cultures of the bacteria that he kept active and well fed and would mix those with the sausage for the real deal sausage as he called it. That too - was the some of the best sausage I have ever eaten.
Congrats on some fine ham and bacon!
Stony Broke
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He went away with a little bit of a bloody nose, but no serious injuries. For the present, I'm setting no more box type hog traps. I did go out this afternoon and set up a round trap I have, as the deer can jump out easily.
Thanks Griz44Mag,
From everything that I have studied, it takes a minimum of 18 months to age a country ham properly. Smoking, and curing meats is right at the top of my list of things to learn.
The symbiotic bacteria/yeast cultures are the key to all fermented foods. I have made yogurt and kombucha, but want to branch out to meats, cheeses, vegetables, and vinegars.
From everything that I have studied, it takes a minimum of 18 months to age a country ham properly. Smoking, and curing meats is right at the top of my list of things to learn.
The symbiotic bacteria/yeast cultures are the key to all fermented foods. I have made yogurt and kombucha, but want to branch out to meats, cheeses, vegetables, and vinegars.
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