Makin' Bacon

OK, get your mind out of the gutter.  To keep with the bacon theme and give a little insight to the process, I thought I would post about... Makin' Bacon.

WARNING:

 This post contains graphic images and descriptions.  Please do not view if you are weak.
Also, bacon can become habit forming...
eat at your own risk.

Ham, Hot Dog,  and Bacon

A while back, someone gave us 3 potbelly pigs.  We had the perfect place for them to grow and later become a meal.  Izzy affectionately named them Ham, Hot Dog, and Bacon.  Everyone warns you not to let your kids name your farm animals, especially if they are to be eaten.  However, we felt it appropriate to name them after the food they will become to help lessen the blow when the time comes.  It sorta worked.  Izzy didn't want t to take part in the slaughter but she has taken part in eating.  

As of this post, we have processed 2 of the mud diggers and have enjoyed every bit of them.  The first one, we cooked whole on a large smoker.  We then pulled all the meat off the bones, packaged, and froze for serving later.  The 2nd pig, we decided to quarter and cook the pieces separately.  Focusing on learning the process to cure the bacon.  I cannot wait to eat this!!!

The process is simple and goes like this (see pics below):

1. kill (i'll spare you these pictures- just know that the pig does have to die first)
1. lesson learned... a 22 placed correctly will do the job, a 9mm is too powerful and can ruin the meat behind the head.
2. hang
1. hang by the back feet after slicing throat to bleed out pig
3. wash
1. you want to wash the dirt, mud, hair, blood off really good.  repeat when necessary at any step
4. skin
1. remove skin but leave as much fat as possible.  this fat will be trimmed later, saved, and rendered to make lard
5. quarter
1. save your cuts of meat for future cookouts- the bacon is under the belly
6. trim fat
1. render for lard- we now have gallons of it.
7. cure/ grind/ or freeze
1. bacon, sausage, ribs, butts...
8. slice/ cut
9. cook and enjoy

needs a bath

the guts... some people eat this... not me

pig with no skin or head...
gets another bath

time to remove the skin

skinned out and ready to quarter

nothing left but the Hams

a table full of pork.  ribs, bacon, loins, butts, and hams

trimmed up and in the cooler

through the sausage grinder

on the stove... that is good sausage

Why is it called a Boston Butt, isn't that the shoulder?

In pre-revolutionary New England and into the American Revolutionary War, some pork cuts (not those highly valued, or "high on the hog," like loin and ham) were packed into casks or barrels (also known as "butts") for storage and shipment. The way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became known in other regions as "Boston butt". In the UK it is known as "pork hand and spring", or simply "pork hand". (Wikipedia)