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Sunday, December 7, 2008

Fresh Pork

It's that time of the year... time to butcher, then cure and smoke some bacon and hams.
I kept two pigs back this year, one for me and one for the friends that helped me do the butchering.
I'm leaving out the graphic photos....






This is one of the fresh hams, one back loin and all of the fresh side from one pig....


The fresh side, skin side up...





The fresh side, rib side up...






I have the fresh bacon curing with a dry cure and the loin is curing in a brine cure... I will post the pics. :)

7 comments:

outside ed said...

Can't wait for the results. I have been reading for a couple of months now and thought I needed to chime in. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. Ed

cowgirl said...

Thank you Ed! I'm glad you chimed in. :)
I am working on posting the pics of curing the bacon....seems like I am better at butchering a pig than I am at posting pictures. lol

Also, thank you for reading my blog, I appreciate it!!
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season too. :)
take care

Nate said...

Seeing how I live with about 2.5 million of my closest friends here in FL and get my bacon from a store, I have absolutely no idea how you go about slaughtering a pig. Do you just shoot it? Also, what do you do with the parts of it that you don't eat (head, etc)? Do you just bury it? Sorry for what I'm sure is goofy questions, but this city boy just has no idea.

cowgirl said...

Hi Nate!
I will try to explain how I go about processing a pig.
Don't worry, you're questions aren't goofy at all. :)

cowgirl said...

Nate, I made a post for you about how I process a pig. Hope this explains it. :)

Anonymous said...

Jeanie, is that fresh side cut from the outside of the pig above where you would get the ribs? I wonder if it would be possible to get that cut from the butcher in my local grocery store? I would love to give this a try! I swear I think I could eat bacon with breakfast lunch and dinner!! Ever thought of opening an on line store? lol I'll bet it would be a big hit!
Dave~

cowgirl said...

Yes Dave, you need to try it! Ask your butcher for fresh bacon bellies or sides. Some Asian markets carry them too.
It's really easy to make your own bacon and once you get the cure amount right you can experiment with other flavorings too.
Hope you have good luck with it Dave. :)

no way would I open a store online or off.. it would cut into my fishin' time. :)

Thanks!