butchering swine

I"ve raised and had several steers butchered but never swine. I have 2 pigs to be butchered in the end of November. We are planning on keeping all the meat (cut, rapped and frozen) unless somebody we know wants a half of one. Anyhow, Question is...do I need to have the butcher "cure" or "smoke" any of the meat, all the meat, just some cuts, or what? We are a family of 5 and we probally won"t get it all eaten in 6 months. (Butchered at 200 to 250 lbs. each, so end up with 200 to 300lbs. of meat?)

so what are the reasons to "cure" if it"s going to be frozen.

thanks, Doug

Pig is a big thing here but you don't find a lot of ham, bacon, etc....... Anything that isn't good enough for steaks and schnitzel gets ground and used like hamburger for meatloaf, stuffed peppers, etc, and what doesn't meat that gets made into bratwurst, headcheese, etc.

Back before refrigeration, smoking and curing was a way to preserve meat. Nowadays, it's just a taste thing. Your bacon and ham won't have the flavor most people associate with those cuts.

We raise freezer pigs and what I usually tell people, is, the ham and bacon will both taste like pork chops..... it'll be good, just not what your mouth is expecting.

By the way, uncured ham is officially [i:8468e1eef9]fresh ham, [/i:8468e1eef9]and uncured bacon is known as [i:8468e1eef9]side meat or fresh side[/i:8468e1eef9].

Personally, when we freeze a pig for ourselves, we usually do half the ham roasts fresh. I like side meat but my wife doesn't care for it, so we cure/smoke all the bacon.

In our area, the charge for smoking/curing is $.75 -$1.10/lb on top of the regular processing charge, so it really adds to the price of your pork.,,,, nothing better than bacon straight back from the butcher though.

The old rule of thumb was that pork wasn't as good after 6 months because it wouldn't hold it's flavor. Seems like modern pigs do well past that time, but we try to have everything cleaned up within a year. If it's wrapped well, it'll keep.

How big are your pigs now?? If they are already on finishing feed, I'm guessing they'll go over 250 pounds by the end of November.

Tim

Smoked meat will not keep any longer or shorter in the freezer.

It can all freezer burn if it is not packaged correctly. If you package your own beef you can package the pork.

So it comes down to taste preference as others have said.

I love side pork myself and rarely smoked the bacons when we butcher our own.

I do prefer smoked hams over fresh hams though. It seems to tenderize the meat when you smoke it as well. But a 1" thick grilled fresh ham steak is pretty tasty.

Gary

Smoking and Curing meat are two totally different things.Curing preserves the meat Smoking just renders it unfit to eat in my opinion and does nothing to help preserve it

I cure the hams and bacon. Leave the shoulders for roasts. Pork chops are pork chops. The rest is ground and, as you like, left as ground pork or seasoned to sausage. For me, German sausage which requires beef mixed in. Some places make good sausage some don't.

Tim,

I'm in NE Ohio my shop charges 50 cent/lb to cure and smoke hams and bacon. They do it the old fashion way 10 days in the brine tank and 3 day in the smoker.
Hams are always juicy and tender. Most shop use an injector system and only smoke for a few hours to give the meat a pitina I wouldn't call it cure or smoked just pink pork.

I would have the butcher cure/smoke whatever you like to eat like that. Bacon and ham, for example. Don't be surprised about cleaning it all up before springtime. When you've got it in the freezer, you tend to use more of it.

Christopher

I raise, kill, cure, and smoke my own hogs. I smoke the bacon and have smoked a few hams. We love it. Smoking gives the meat a flavor that only an idiot or a Yankee would dislike. And, yes, smoking and curing are two different things.

.......I'm in NE Ohio my shop charges 50 cent/lb to cure and smoke hams and bacon. They do it the old fashion way 10 days in the brine tank and 3 day in the smoker.........

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Hey Andy,

Can you send me an email with your Ph#, email or website?? Or all 3. freezer pig @ gmail.com

We have some customers in NE Ohio, I might have some business for you.

Thanks, Tim

Dad always figured his homemade smoked (breakfast style) sausage kept longer than the non smoked. I think mostly because the smoking (the way dad does it) renders some of the fat out (but not too much that you can't cook it) and the fat is what turns meat rancid in the freezer. Fat makes most thing go bad faster. meat, nuts, milk (skim will last longer than whole) ect.

Have it vacuum packed if not going to use before 6 months. I personally vacuum packed some loin and had it frozen for 3 years and when used it was as good as when we packaged it. I swear by vacuum packing meat and cheese.

.....Curing preserves the meat Smoking just renders it unfit to eat in my opinion and does nothing to help preserve it

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Well, I don't like disinformation so I've got to respectfully correct you.

You are correct, [i:fc04c5fe39]curing does preserve meat[/i:fc04c5fe39].

[i:fc04c5fe39]Smoking making meat unfit to eat [/i:fc04c5fe39]is your opinion, you're entitled to that.

[i:fc04c5fe39]Smoking does nothing to preserve meat [/i:fc04c5fe39]is dead wrong. Smoking lowers the moisture content, which inhibits bacteria growth. It also leaves a film of rosin from the burned wood that closes up the cells so bacteria have trouble penetrating it. The old timers didn't have smoke houses just to improve flavor, it carried their meat longer after butchering.

Tim

http://www.putporkonyourfork.com/all_about_pork/freezing_pork.html