What to do with a whole pig?

Raspberry_Swirl

Personally, I would get half the belly cut into joints for roasting and the other half into strips to be used in other braised dishes. It's the best part of the pig IMO

thriftlady_2

Ooh how exciting your own pork:)

when I bought half a pig earlier this year I asked for it to be cut up thus;

Leg into 2 or 3 joints
Shoulder into 2 joints, one they rolled and called a 'Jamie Oliver style' shoulder joint.
The belly into 3 or 4 joints
Loin into 20 chops

I didn't get any liver but he saved me the kidney and threw in another for free. I still have the trotters and why on earth I didn't think of using them for the jelly in a pork pie I do not know:doh:Thanks Pen I'll be making a big pork pie for Christmas.

As an aside - presumably only meat eaters have clicked on this thread as it is clearly about meat so why the 'oh don't kill poor piggy!' reaction? Do you really need to be told meat is dead animal? One thing's for sure most of the meat eaten in the world has not lived a life of contentment in an acorn field but one of misery and degradation. Grow up people- if you want to eat meat an animal has to die.

DayDreamBeliever_2

Hi Penny,

Sorry no real advice to offer but could i ask who you've done this through? Would love to buy my dad something like this for Xmas (i know he wouldn't be able to eat him/her then but to know s/he's coming would make him excited enough for sure!) as he is very conscious about where his meat comes from?

I've done the google thing but a bit wary as i have no idea who's legit and who's not

Thank you and enjoy - i know i would!

Primrose

I think what cuts you ask for will depend on how many of you there are in the family and what your eating habits are. Obviously chops will probably feature but are you a family who need to take packed lunches for example? If so, large joints which can be roasted and sliced might make up a bigger propotion of your cuts. If you like batch cooking, fillets of pork to make dishes like Pork Normandy with apples might feature.

Dazi

years back my then SIL and her partner used to keep some pigs on my ex FILs farm, after they had been butchered they always used to give us hand joints, as they said no one wanted them, not sure what they were but they tasted great roasted.;

lil_me

Interesting which gives further ideas http://www.britishmeatnpd.com/product/cutsproducts/swf/main.htm there are recipes inc for sausages but there are recipes for the alternative cuts.

http://www.meateat.co.uk/butchering-your-own-cuts-meat.html DIY butchery too

I like this guide http://www.lovepork.co.uk/prime-cuts

canidothis

Not sure if anyones mentioned it but you could have some cuts minced up to make into burgers, this time of year you might want to think about making some stuffing for christmas as well. In the past we have taken the skin off a loin of pork, cured it and then smoked it for ham and the skin was salted diced up and whacked in the oven - we had a lovely bowl of porkie scratchings:j. Legs make good roasts, shoulders can be made into sausages or just diced and bagged up, we've even smoked the ears and they go to the dogs. It doesnt appear difficult to make bacon, but my OH does that .
You probably wont have enough pig now for all the ideas :T

wogglemaker

I can vouch for the River Cottage faggotts recipe, they are fantastic!! so make sure you get the necessary insides back.

Edit: I forgot belly pork can make the sweetest most fantastic roasting joint on earth

Stephen_Leak

Why not do one half of the carcass as pork, and get the other side cured for use as ham, bacon, etc.?

Pauls

hotcookie101 wrote: »

Pants-I was writing a big long reply and it disappeared Grr to supersensitive touch pad that does bad things when typing!

timmmers wrote: »

Off topic, but I do that too...and it's really irritating. I got Lazarus, a Firefix addon to help with forms...and if you right click a form like the forum one I was happy to find it has a refil text option too :T ..so if you !!!! up and lose those words ..one click and they are all back again.
t

Again not piggy related, but try hold the 'ctrl' key down and hit 'z' (assuming you're running windows)