Hog Kill

[Baglady]

We are exhausted. Yesterday was spent preparing for today. Tomorrow will be just as hard, grinding and making all the sausage, and preparing the bacon.

So, one shot with the .22, right between the ears. Good shot, no suffering.
Then the scraping began. We are blessed with good friends and neighbors who came to help.
The biggest helper was the 18 year old, Devon, who was raised in the farm life, and really knows his stuff! We learned
a lot from him.
1959
1960
1961

[Baglady]

Then hang up, gut and begin to butcher. 1962
1963
1964

[Baglady]

Bottom picture is Devon and Hubby getting the backbone out, to separate the two sides.
The cleaver my Hubby is using was my Dad's. It's older than we are!
He ended up using the sawzall to cut out the backbone.

[Baglady]

Finally got to the BACON!!!1965
Ended up with 30lbs of bacon.

[Baglady]

1st pic. 19lbs of tenderloin!
2nd pic. 15 lbs of Ribs. 1966
1967

[Baglady]

Backbone, and tenderloin.
More to come tomorrow.1968
1969

[Inor]

Good work!

I look forward to hearing about the sausage making and bacon curing. That is awesome!

[Baglady]

Wait till you see the home made grinder we borrowed...it's amazing.

[Auntie]

Wow you got a nice amount of meat. Congrats and thanks for the photos.

[Slippy]

Excellent!

[hawgrider]

Last half of your pics are not showing up baglady.

We need a admin to fix the picture attachments issue?

[hawgrider]

Last half of your pics are not showing up baglady.

We need a admin to fix the picture attachments issue?


"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify theadministrator"

[Inor]

Last half of your pics are not showing up baglady.

We need a admin to fix the picture attachments issue?


"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify theadministrator"

Weird. They worked for me yesterday. But today I get the same message.

[Baglady]

Last half of your pics are not showing up baglady.

We need a admin to fix the picture attachments issue?

I'm seeing that too. Don't know why. I'll have more pic's tonight, and re-post those if need be. Thanks.

[Auntie]

Baglady what do you do with the liver, heart etc.

[Baglady]

Baglady what do you do with the liver, heart etc.

The liver we gave to neighbor/friend, 72 yr. old that wanted it.
All the Jowls were given to Devon. (18 yr old)
The rest of the head, heart, etc, were put in a bucket for Devons coon dogs.
Devon and his 1/2 brother, Christian, were raised by their Grandparents. Reminds me of you with your nephews. They taught those kids the value of work, and how to live mostly a self sufficient life.
Wish you had been here these past few days...lots of knives and testosterone! I was the only female here.

[Baglady]

I dont know what to do about the pic's that didn't show up. So, I'm going to post them again, and some from today, and see how it goes.
I did go to my attachments and erase a bunch in case I needed more space.
197119721973

[Baglady]

We bought a coke cooler last year that we use for produce and now the meat.

[Baglady]

The hams weigh about 75lbs each. These are coated with Mortons Smoked Flavor Sugar Cure. The same product we'll use on the bacon, and fatback.1974

[Baglady]

Sausage day! Another long one, requiring a nap this afternoon!
1975
1976
1977

[Baglady]

We ended up with 50lbs. of sausage. We used this sausage seasoning, and added extra black pepper, and crushed red pepper flake. 1978

[Baglady]

We borrowed this neat little machine that tapes the sausage bags.1979
1980

[Baglady]

It's 8:40 pm. I have my brine, for some of the bacon, cooling.
My recipe for the brine:
2 gallons water
1/4 cup Mortons Sugar Cure
1/4 cup pickling salt
25 peppercorns
2 tsp. garlic powder

Boil water, add to seasonings and allow to cool.
Once cool, put into food safe container, and add pork belly (bacon).
I'm weighing mine down with large rocks in ziplock bags.

A lot of restaurants are using a short brining method to infuse whatever flavors they want.
Most are only brining for 12 - 32 hrs. And then they'll smoke for about 4-6 hrs.
This is my plan. This is not for a bacon meant to be kept for long periods of time.
Although, if mine turns out, I will be freezing it.

The rest of our bacon is in the cooler, rubbed down with the Morton's sugar cure.

[Slippy]

BL,

That is freakin AWESOME. :potd:

[Inor]

WOW!!! You guys have been working! Nicely done and thanks for sharing the pictures.

[Baglady]

Thanks guys. Without my "Big Guy" (Hubby), this would not be possible.
For that matter, THIS WAS ALL HIS IDEA!! Should I be pissed that the last 2 days have warmed up to the 60's,
and all I did was work?? :wtf:

I'm sensing a pattern...:thinking:

He had me at...:bacon:

[Baglady]

Speaking of BACON. We just put our small portion of pork belly in the brine.

DONE for the night.

[Auntie]

With all that meat and bacon was it worth the work?

[Baglady]

With all that meat and bacon was it worth the work?

It was worth the memories Auntie.

[Baglady]

This hog was not a good breed for bacon. I don't know what kind he was, but half of the bacon is very thin.

[Arklatex]

Great job BagLady!

I love the idea with the drink coolers! Where did yall pick those up? I'd like to have one.

[Deebo]

Thank you for sharing this with us.
I will look more at the pictures on work computer.
So great to see young men carrying on life skills like this.
Can I come eat???

[Baglady]

Great job BagLady!

I love the idea with the drink coolers! Where did yall pick those up? I'd like to have one.Thanks Ark. A friend of ours had a flower shop, and used the cooler to keep flowers in. He sold it to us for $300.
Maybe check Craigslist?

[Baglady]

Thank you for sharing this with us.
I will look more at the pictures on work computer.
So great to see young men carrying on life skills like this.
Can I come eat???

:biglaugh: As they say in the south... "Ya'll come"
Gotta tell you tho, we let the hog get too big. The tenderloin is tough. We're cooking a bit of bacon and ham right now to see how it's curing.
The sausage is really good tho.

[hawgrider]

:biglaugh: As they say in the south... "Ya'll come"
Gotta tell you tho, we let the hog get too big. The tenderloin is tough. We're cooking a bit of bacon and ham right now to see how it's curing.
The sausage is really good tho.Tough tenderloin. Pressure canner/cooker or maybe BBQ low and slow.

[Auntie]

I vote for pressure canning it. Then you don't have to worry about the power to the freezer, it will tenderize the meat and you have meat done and ready to throw together a dinner on those busy days.

[Baglady]

Tough tenderloin. Pressure canner/cooker or maybe BBQ low and slow.

And the winner is...Low and Slow BBQ!! :bigthumbup: