So just to make clear this is about turning these

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Into

The dispatch is taken care of but anybody had some experience of the butchering? Not done anything this size before, have a few you tube guides and friends who we are doing it with did theirs last year too. Looking for some tips for joints, cuts and stuff along with any good uses.
Reading up on curing etc and wondering if I can get away with freezing it until I have a bit more time or just go mad all weekend.

maybe get a pro in?

You don’t want to make a pigs ear out of it 😉

HFW has done a DVD which is pretty good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0038409IS

I’ve got one and a half of those in the freezer. I didn’t dismantle them though.

Where are you based? My local butcher does demo nights in local pubs/bars. Couple of weeks ago he was knife deep in a lamb carcase.

Pretty sure that the Ginger Pig butchers in London does lessons in butchery

can’t help but mmmmmmMMMM Bacon (sausage, ham, tender loin…etc etc)

Is it worth doing yourself? I think most butchers don’t charge the earth.

Go mad all weekend, get family/friends to pitch in. its possible to freeze, then thaw and salt later, but you will get an inferior product.
Butcher it any way you want to, you-tube is your friend for this. Best to hang the pig by the back feet to halve it, it can be done flat but is a swine to do! 8)
Unless you have experience of preserving/salting I would advise just try it first on less choice cuts, or smaller best bits so you dont lose much if it fails.

Good luck!

22 years butchering, but difficult to explain how to butcher on here. Is there a local butcher who would come and show you? Thats the way I have demonstrated in the past.

I’m glad you pointed out that bacon isn’t for veggies, we’d never have known otherwise.

(-:

Captain Carbon Cheers, not much chance for a demo as we start at 8am 🙂 down here in Tassie, friends have done it before so not too worried. Looks like Sunday will be busy!

Got some good You Tube and HFW’s book

you my friend, need a smoker!

Cougar, streaky bacon’s fine for veggies – it’s mostly fat rather than meat, and the pig’s usually dead by the time they butcher it anyway

that’s the trouble with you lot – no research 🙄

Cougar, a person shows some respect by giving a warning and you get all sarcastic. Ban yourself. 🙂

Tell you what, as a compromise I’ll ban myself from this thread. As you were. (-:

cheers for your attention Cougar, perhaps delegate mod duty to a meat eater.

Smoking was a thought, more research needed

I’m a veggie and this thread makes me happy; they look like healthy content pigs…raising and caring for your own food, just as it should be, chapeau to you sir!

Quick Cougar’s not looking lets do something naughty

*whispers* It’s getting boring on here

You’re in Tas, aren’t you? The Agrarian Kitchen do a popular butchery course but its cost will negate any savings. Luke Burgess at Garagistes in Hobart is into his charcuterie and recommended me a book a while back – I’ll try to dig it out. The best option is likely to be chatting to a farming type who has done it before. Quite envious here!

I’ve got a mate who’s a trained butcher and it is a pleasure to see him at work. Get a pro in to show you how its really done and don’t forget a handful of mates for the black pudding and sausage making.

ive done a few butchery courses and they were great..not pro ones just as a xmas pressie,learnt loads about meat/cuts etc.and came home with enough meat to fill me freezer 😀
still got some left..

me too very jealous…would love to rear a beast!

Part 1 complete 🙂

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2013-05-17 10.24.58 by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr

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All 3 are now half way through, fairly easy with 6 sets of hands for the lifting and shifting. Just researching cured meats tonight before the butchering tomorrow. Need to pick my cuts and build a smoker.

Excellent work, thats just what I want to see on a Friday morning: A bath. Full of blood!

And some people say that this place is boring….

damn it! I’m going to have to have gammon egg and chips for lunch now! Yum 😀

What is that strange blue colour to the sky……..?

Couldn’t put my finger on it… but there was something familiar about those pics..

these fellas been around lately Mike?

A bath. Full of blood!

Sorry to disappoint it’s just muddy water, had to shave the pigs somehow!

For a birthday present many moons ago Mrs Stoner sent me to HFW’s river cottage boot camp to learn how to butcher lamb & hogget. Was brilliant, and I still butcher half a local lamb each autumn for the freezer.

I reckon assuming that god put all the internal components in roughly the same place I could have a go at a piggy too 🙂 Im tempted to get a side of pig from the farm opposite to cure my own bacon.

And this is one of my favourite books. Less a recipe book then an essay on good husbandry and respect for your food.

Sorry to disappoint it’s just muddy water, had to shave the pigs somehow!

Aw, booooring 😀

bacon is apparently easy, i’m making some as we speak though not ready for a few days, so not sure if it will be nice / horrid / poison me. you will need some saltpetre for bacon, so you need to ask a friendly butcher.

made some sausages last week which were ace

you could also make a parma ham which am also trying, but be 6 months before know it has worked

did a butchery course last week which was ace. retired chap ran it, v skilled, i think there is prob a v big difference between an expert and someone (possibly lots of butchers) who can chop something up into reasonable bits.

Did you keep the blood for some lovely non-Bury black pudding?

Johndoh-I thought exactly the same when I saw the thread title!

That is a great game, it always goes on holiday with us!

lovely pigs! great animals. and tasty too…mmm

Johndoh-I thought exactly the same when I saw the thread title!

That is a great game, it always goes on holiday with us!

Yep – great Aprés Ski game 🙂

“I’m going to become a vegetarian”

“Does that mean you’re not going to eat any pork?”

“Yes”

“Bacon?”

“Yes Dad”

“Ham?”

“Dad all those meats come from the same animal”

“Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!”

I have a couple of mates who are lucky enough to have the room to process and store that much pork and either did courses or partnered up with someone else who could butcher. They nearly all ‘go halfers’ on a pig and split the work and subsequent meat between two people at a time.

I will have enough room some day!

And this is one of my favourite books. Less a recipe book then an essay on good husbandry and respect for your food.

As I grew up on a farm that is a given thankfully.

Looked up a few cured ideas and it’s all go on Sunday…

done it a few times. going to try doing some cured mutton next 🙂 once did a ‘parma’ style ham that was hung for about 18months in the end and it was good. like really really good. bacon and pancetta shouldnt give you any problems. be brave, cavemen used to do it and you have you tube at your disposal.
i dont use salt peter though and i wouldnt recommend it – its only to retain the colour and its really bad for you

im in corsica at the moment and the charcuterie here is amazing, like, even the stuff hanging up in the petrol station shops is amazing.

Final update till after the curing – which will be accompanied by more questions.

Like a scene from Dexter we got stuck in

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Many hands make – bacon

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Ribs anyone?

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2 of our 3 surgeons making swift pogress

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All chopped and in the fridge & freezer now except for these bits

Ribs by Mike Smith 79, on Flickr

The final count up is 44kg of good free range pork ready for use! (From 1 of the 3 pigs – we had half of the brown one and half of the black one)