# Hog Killing time !



## skiff23 (Jan 1, 2012)

Will start this morning and hopefully finish tommorow evening. I will post pictures later  after I get home tonight !


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## fishfryer (Jan 1, 2012)

Wish you weren't so far away,I'd like to be there.


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## skiff23 (Jan 1, 2012)

Here are a few pictures...


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## RNC (Jan 1, 2012)

Man that is the ticket rite there ! ;]

We use to do this alot when we was kids ...

On both sides of our families we would kill hogs when it got real cold in the winter ......... my dad would walk up an put a 22 in the brain ,pig falls over an my Papaw would stick a loooong butcher knive under the hawgs neck an cut the aorta an bleed em out ...... fun


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## T.P. (Jan 1, 2012)

Mmmmm..... Bacon.


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## skiff23 (Jan 1, 2012)

RNC said:


> Man that is the ticket rite there ! ;]
> 
> We use to do this alot when we was kids ...
> 
> On both sides of our families we would kill hogs when it got real cold in the winter ......... my dad would walk up an put a 22 in the brain ,pig falls over an my Papaw would stick a loooong butcher knive under the hawgs neck an cut the aorta an bleed em out ...... fun



Done exactly that 4 times  today. Two of the hogs weighed in at 600 lbs each, two at 400 lbs each.


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## diamondback (Jan 1, 2012)

RNC said:


> Man that is the ticket rite there ! ;]
> 
> We use to do this alot when we was kids ...
> 
> On both sides of our families we would kill hogs when it got real cold in the winter ......... my dad would walk up an put a 22 in the brain ,pig falls over an my Papaw would stick a loooong butcher knive under the hawgs neck an cut the aorta an bleed em out ...... fun



Thats how we done it too.You forgot to mention the fun part.cooking down the lard and cracklin bread.


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## fishinfart (Jan 1, 2012)

RNC said:


> Man that is the ticket rite there ! ;]
> 
> We use to do this alot when we was kids ...
> 
> On both sides of our families we would kill hogs when it got real cold in the winter ......... my dad would walk up an put a 22 in the brain ,pig falls over an my Papaw would stick a loooong butcher knive under the hawgs neck an cut the aorta an bleed em out ...... fun



My Grandma would have put a .22 in us if we had done anything to hurt them pig brains! She had the pan ready to scramble them up with some eggs as soon as we had them out!! Nothing like some fresh brains and eggs!!


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## skiff23 (Jan 2, 2012)

We are gonna put the hams,bacon,and midlins down today in the curing box and cut up the rest of the meat, make sausage ,wrap ,freeze and can everything else. Take two long days to complete the big part of the process.Then in a couple of weeks I will take up the bacon and midlins and smoke them , then after 45 days or so take up the hams. It is a lot of work but we love it !


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## diamondback (Jan 2, 2012)

Please explain some about the curing box and smoking process.we just cut and wrapped everything and put in freezer.I remember a couple times cooking down the lard and getting pork rinds.Grandmother made hog head cheese or sauce,if thats how you spell it.always gave the chitterlins ,liver,and lites away.Its amazing how almost nothing was wasted on a hog.


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## RNC (Jan 2, 2012)

diamondback said:


> Thats how we done it too.You forgot to mention the fun part.cooking down the lard and cracklin bread.


 
 


I really digg that scaldin pot they got ....... man that is koool


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## Son (Jan 2, 2012)

Been many a year since i was involved in a hog killing. In fact, i was so young, i mostly watched and built the fire under the big pot to render the lard. Syrup making was also a great time, good eats and lots of comradry.


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## skiff23 (Jan 2, 2012)

Put down the hams,fat back and bacon today. We weighed the quarters as we took them out of the cooler to butcher, the hogs hanging weight was 285 each. I will let the bacon and fat back stay down 20 days and then take up the hams in 45 days or so. I will then smoke  the hams and bacon . I cut and wrapped all the chops, roast and ribs. I only ground the trimmings for sausage and had 55 lbs total ! So ......... Right now I am fixing to fry some tenderloin for supper.


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## Redbow (Jan 4, 2012)

Some people in this world still know how to eat ! Its been a long time since I was involved with an old fashioned Hog killing ...Good stuff there...


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## RNC (Jan 4, 2012)

skiff ..... keep us updated with all the pics from what you do in the curing an smoking ....

I wanna see anything you will post for us all 

Really enjoyin this thread !


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## skiff23 (Jan 4, 2012)




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## Nicodemus (Jan 4, 2012)

That brings back a lot of fond memories. I can tell that ain`t the first hogs ya`ll ever scalded either. Nice job for sure. If I was closer, I woulda come give ya`ll a hand, just for the fun of it.

Excellent thread.


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## skiff23 (Jan 5, 2012)

Nic 
 We do this ever year. We have been collecting things for  awhile trying to figure out how to make things easier and have come up with a few things. one of the newest is the scalding vat. We got a vat big enough to float a 700 lb hog. With the water at 140 ' , I can almost have him scraped with a square shovel before he come out of the water ! One of the biggest improvements was the cooler. but you still need proper weather to cure the hams and side meat outside in the salt box. Inside the cooler doesnt do near as well, to much humidity.


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## georgia_home (Jan 5, 2012)

Some friends used to use a saw-z-all to run the ribs out.when I first saw that it was so cool! Nice work and cool pics!


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## jigman29 (Jan 6, 2012)

We pretty much do the same as yall,I love to kill hogs on a goos frosty morning.I guess my favorite part is frying up some middlins.Do yall make souse from the head also?


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## skiff23 (Jan 6, 2012)

We usually give the  head after I trim my jowls to an old black man who makes stew out of them. We cook the lard though.


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## RNC (Jan 6, 2012)

Hogs head makes some good  brunswick stew ! 

My Papaw used to cook it down an then add a rooster ,a  beef roast (we use deer) an a rabbit or 2 

He would cook it up in one of his big iron pots  .... an when it was done you could stand the paddle up in it an it wouldnt move


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## NCHillbilly (Jan 7, 2012)

Man, that brings back some memories. Been nearly thirty years since I've done that. I sure miss those good home-cured hams and bacon, though-and that canned sausage.


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## skiff23 (Jan 7, 2012)

Keeping yall up on the rest of the process..

THis is my lard rendering and cracklings finished !


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## fishinfart (Jan 7, 2012)

Man! - I ain't had no fresh cracklin bread in a few years! Keep it coming skiff, I can smell the cracklins cooking down now. Do you guys use the natural casings for sausage and stuff 'em and smoke'em?

I didn't realize how much I miss this stuff!


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## shakey gizzard (Jan 8, 2012)

Good stuff skiff! Got any pics of the curing process/salt box? Thanx for sharin!


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## skiff23 (Jan 8, 2012)

We buy the casings then smoke the sausage.

And I will post picutres of the curing/salt box next week when i take up the Bacon and Middlins . 

Gonna have me some cracklin bread tonight !


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## skiff23 (Jan 21, 2012)

Took up the bacon yesterday and smoked it.Enjoyed some a little while ago !  Just keeping yall posted.


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## dpoole (Jan 23, 2012)

great thread  !!!!!!!!!


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## jcinpc (Jan 23, 2012)

dang thats fine looking eats, makes me wanna go lick a pig.


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## jcinpc (Jan 23, 2012)

dang thats fine looking eats, makes me wanna go lick a pig. 

I`m getting gout just looking at it


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## j_seph (Jan 23, 2012)

Would love to join in and just learn it!


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## rigderunner (Jan 24, 2012)

you wasnt the one on  the grinder was ya


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## skiff23 (Jan 24, 2012)

rigderunner said:


> you wasnt the one on  the grinder was ya



Yeah , I clicked the switch. I have my owne recipes for everything. I smoked the bacon for 18 hours over hickory wood.It is sugar cured bacon. Now I am waiting to take up my hams.


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## rigderunner (Jan 24, 2012)

skiff23 said:


> Yeah , I clicked the switch. I have my owne recipes for everything. I smoked the bacon for 18 hours over hickory wood.It is sugar cured bacon. Now I am waiting to take up my hams.



we always had the ole handturn haha


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## Artfuldodger (Jan 28, 2012)

Does any other cure go in the salt box? How much lard can you get out of a hog that big? I think saturated fat is healthy. I take a spoonful every morning. People started having a lot more heart problems when they switched to Crisco and Margarine. Canola is the worst.


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## skiff23 (Jan 30, 2012)

I cure with Brown Sugar and Curing salt. I cover my meat side with brown sugar the cover in salt. the salt pushes the sugar in and you have a sweeter taste to the meat and less salt. 
As far as lard, i use most of the fat in sausage and fat back. The only fat i cook out is what is laeft over form this and the leaf lard. I got Approximatly 1 gallon of lard from 1 hog. It is not as uch as could be , but I would rather have the other products.
 I use the lard for biscuits most of the time. Best biscuit made !


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## dpoole (Jan 31, 2012)

We need biscuit pictures !!!


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## CaptainCraig (Feb 29, 2012)

Great thread! My grandmother tried to pass down a lot of knowledge  to me that was learned over many generations and I sure wish I had paid better attention. The way things are going I'm going to have to learn some primitive skills in a hurry. Work is next to nonexistent and I have way to much time on my hands.


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