Cooking Hogs?

[baldhunter]

This is my recipe.I used this for the pork loin too.
I made some pecan smoked boneless wild boar ham and some pecan smoked whitetail tenderloin and backstrap.I break the hindquarters down and use the larger muscles.I used Morton's Tenderquick Curing Salt and let me tell you they came out awesome.I used 1/2 oz. per lb. of meat.Dissolved the salt cure in a cup of water,used an injection needle and injected the meat,this helps get the curing process started on the inside.I then put the meat in a large plastic bag and poured the cure solution on the meat.Make sure the meat gets mixed around good so the cure can go to work on the outside.I keep the meat iced down in the bags for 2-3 days,then I rinse the meat and let it soak for several hours in fresh water to help remove the excess salt.I repeat the fresh water rinse and soak three times and it's OK to let it soak overnight.I've found that soaking the meat three times gives me a light salt taste where soaking the meat twice will give you a fairly salty taste.So it's really a matter of how you like yours.When I get ready to smoke it,I take the meat out of the bags,run some butcher twine through the meat so I can hang it in the smoker,then sprinkle the outside of the meat with med. ground black pepper.I set my smoker temp at 130-140 degrees,hang the meat and smoke for two hours at this temp.After two hours I quit the smoke,but kick the temp up to around 160 degrees for two hours.Then after the two hours at 160 degrees,I kick the heat up to 180-185 degrees for round eight hours,depending on how thick your meat is(I use boneless meat around a couple of inches thick).Anyway,just keep it at this temp till you reach your desired dryness.After your drying is complete,take meat out of the smoker and let it cool.Wrap the cooled meat in butcher paper and store in the refridgerator for a day or two if you have room,if not just go ahead and freeze what your not going to eat now.

 

[Grumpah]

We eat every wild hog I take at about 60lbs or less. The bigger ones get left for the coyotes. If you're worried about worms...go to the store, buy any cut of fresh pork you want. At home, cut off a chunk and soak it in Coke. Wait a couple hours and voila....worm stew! Store bought processed pork is full of worms and the same parasites as wild, maybe even more so, simply due to deplorable grow and slaughter environments of major producers . It's simply unavoidable.

A well respected wildlife biologist in my area offered me these words of wisdom..."place all wild game in the freezer for a minimum of 3 days before doing anything with it whatsoever. Freezing kills off everything including worms, bacterial and virus infections."
I'm not here to say that's gospal, however, I took his advise a long time ago and have never become sick from any game meat by doing so.

As for gloving up prior to field dressing...that's just good common sense to avoid contracting blood born pathogens.

I love to cook them up in my smoker, make sausage, wrap in bacon and slow roast or bbq. There's plenty of You Tube videos to show how.

Bon Appetito

 

[GSRetrievers]

Store bought processed pork is full of worms and the same parasites as wild, maybe even more so, simply due to deplorable grow and slaughter environments of major producers . It's simply unavoidable.

That's laughable being the pork industry, entirely not true. Trichinosis is very very uncommon in commercially produced pork and the parasite count is much lower. I have discussed this before, well managed farms produce high quality animals because it is more profitable to not have sick, poor performing animals that require more money to be spent on their care. At least I know my animals are eating the best quality food.

 

[Grumpah]

That's laughable being the pork industry, entirely not true. Trichinosis is very very uncommon in commercially produced pork and the parasite count is much lower. I have discussed this before, well managed farms produce high quality animals because it is more profitable to have sick, poor performing animals that require more money to be spent on their care. At least I know my animals are eating the best quality food.

We can agree to disagree...all good

 

[FireFlyFishing]

That's laughable being the pork industry, entirely not true. Trichinosis is very very uncommon in commercially produced pork and the parasite count is much lower. I have discussed this before, well managed farms produce high quality animals because it is more profitable to not have sick, poor performing animals that require more money to be spent on their care. At least I know my animals are eating the best quality food.

Agreed. Best to cook food to temp. Then you know you don't have problems.

 

[southpa]

For best taste, substitute with deer or elk!

 

[longtubeman]

Alaskan fish and game is the authority on trichinosis. They say store meat at -5 degrees for 30 days to eliminate everything!

 

[RB II]

Short answer is no.

Pork butts are .99/lb right now anyways. Just stock up.

 

[Lee7588]

Short answer is no.

Pork butts are .99/lb right now anyways. Just stock up.

Must be nice. Where I'm at they are about $3-4 per pound.

 

[GSRetrievers]

Must be nice. Where I'm at they are about $3-4 per pound.

Go to the piggly wiggly, they will have them on sale soon.

 

[Deanocraft]

I'm mostly a reader on this site, but every now and then you suck me in to comment. I'm a fan of hunting hogs and cook all that I kill. I'm originally from Louisiana and I love to cook Cajun food. In LA, I could always get really good tasso which is a spicy and smoky seasoning meat. I have trouble getting it where I live in the NC mountains.

In January, I killed 4 hogs in GA and decided to make some tasso. It was KILLER! Here's how I did it:
Debone the front shoulders of a 110lb hog. I left on some of the fat.
Brine the meat in a ziplock for 24 hrs. The brine was 1 heaping tablespoon of salt, 1 heaping tablespoon of cayenne, a tablespoon of candied ginger, cut up. Enough water to cover the meat.
After 24 hrs, rinse the meat and season it thick with more cayenne, black pepper, a little more salt, and garlic powder.
Smoke it at about 200 to 225 degrees for 3 hrs. It's not a big piece of meat, so it doesn't take forever, and tasso isn't necessarily a tender meat!

I used it about 1/3lb at a time in red beans and rice. Perfect! It comes out pretty spicy. I rinse off the thick coat of seasoning so I don't over spice my beans. The Tasso adds spice and a smoky flavor.

 

[GSRetrievers]

I'm mostly a reader on this site, but every now and then you suck me in to comment. I'm a fan of hunting hogs and cook all that I kill. I'm originally from Louisiana and I love to cook Cajun food. In LA, I could always get really good tasso which is a spicy and smoky seasoning meat. I have trouble getting it where I live in the NC mountains.

In January, I killed 4 hogs in GA and decided to make some tasso. It was KILLER! Here's how I did it:
Debone the front shoulders of a 110lb hog. I left on some of the fat.
Brine the meat in a ziplock for 24 hrs. The brine was 1 heaping tablespoon of salt, 1 heaping tablespoon of cayenne, a tablespoon of candied ginger, cut up. Enough water to cover the meat.
After 24 hrs, rinse the meat and season it thick with more cayenne, black pepper, a little more salt, and garlic powder.
Smoke it at about 200 to 225 degrees for 3 hrs. It's not a big piece of meat, so it doesn't take forever, and tasso isn't necessarily a tender meat!

I used it about 1/3lb at a time in red beans and rice. Perfect! It comes out pretty spicy. I rinse off the thick coat of seasoning so I don't over spice my beans. The Tasso adds spice and a smoky flavor.

Tasso gravy is required to make great shrimp and grits, but like you said, it's unobtainable here in NC. Everyone wants cured hams.

 

[FireFlyFishing]

Sous vide my friends…

 

[GSRetrievers]

Sous vide my friends…

I use it, but not on wild boar.