Butchering Wild Boar Weaner

[Ross Boyce]

I've just been told that I'm having a Wild Boar weaner delivered tomorrow (some relatives live the "Goode Life" and have decided to give me a late birthday present).

Anyway, I'm fairly handy with a saw and knife but I've never broken down a whole pig/boar before - does anyone have any tips or recommendations for an online resource?

Lack of commercial sized refrigeration means I don't have time to order any textbooks before processing it.

I'll even share my secret recipe for Korean BBQ style sausages in return

[Matthew Grant]

I can only offer encouragement rather than specific advice. I've butchered Milk-fed lamb myself and despite my initial apprehension found it all quite obvious once I got going. Of course, I didn't have a huge amount of cuts like you may get on a fully grown animal.

[sheepish]

Hi. I know this is far too late to be useful, but for others searching in future this is about the best online cutting guide I know.

http://www.qmscotland.co.uk/cutting/pork-major/index.html

How did you get on? Was it really a wild-boar weaner? 8-12 wks old? I imagine that was pretty small, wild boar are slow growers?

[Ross Boyce]

What a brilliant resource, thanks Sheepish - now I've discovered a local breeder where I can get boar for a lot cheaper than the butchers I think I'll be doing a lot more...

I was told it was a weaner, maybe 14 weeks old (just before sexual maturity - though I'm not sure how that fits with them being slow to mature); it was too small though - the meat/bone ratio was off and it's diminutive size restricted the cuts I was able to produce.

That said, I was quite happy at my butchery for a first time effort - I took one of the legs off and have it curing in a dry cure prior to air drying and then I concentrated on roasting type joints (rolled shoulder etc). I seperated one of the racks to make chops and the other I kept attached to the belly, deboned it and part skinned it to make a Wild Boar porchetta kinda thing - which was lovely as well.

I've just had a call to tell me that I've got a Hebridean Sheep Hogget on it's way as well; not sure how I'll explain that to my wife - we're moving house soon and the freezers are full already...

[paulraphael]

That scottish site is brilliant!

Here's another take ... my butcher hamming it up on the Gourmet magazine site.

Edited September 9, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[sheepish]

Hi Ross

I've never kept wild-boar, you need a dangerous animals license with all sorts of hassle from the local council to do so, but 14 weeks seems very young to be just before sexual maturity. Some of the really modern breeds will make pork weight in about 3 months, but they grow scarily fast. That said I only fatten weaners of the same sex so I don't know what they could get up to if mixed. My last lot went at 24 weeks, they were boars and had been mounting each other for a few weeks but not more than that. Some people say that after 6 months boars can be tainted because of their sexual maturity, it's supposed to give the meat an unpleasant smell but I've never noticed that.

Got a couple of hams in the salt myself at the moment. Took my first small hams out of the brine today - those will be for boiling hams.

If you're into your charcuterie the forum over at sausagemaking.org is very helpful.

Best of luck with the ham. If it's your first, best advice I can give is find somewhere really drafty to hang it. You can even hang them outside if you can build a frame round to keep the worst of the weather off.

And for your hogget, how about a little lamb ham? To be honest I haven't rushed to make another, I just was really pleased with how nice it looked.

[Ross Boyce]

The Boar proscuitto has failed I'm afraid, and it was my own fault as well - not enough salt covering the leg and a "funky" patch developed. It was towards the base of the leg and, while I'm sure I could cut above it for the rest of the cure and drying, I'd rather not take the risk. Still, I won't be making that mistake again.

I'm just getting into charcuterie right now, in fact my first "experimental" ham has just been started (12 days in a dry cure then 8&1/2 months hanging in my garage) and I'm pleased with the results - it was a half leg of Glos Old Spot from my local breeder and it has a wonderful flavour - the ham is slightly too salty but I'm guessing that could be because I used fine salt rather than rock salt. I've sourced a wholesaler for rock salt now, so hoopefully that won't be an issue again.

Thanks for the tip on the Sausagemaking.org forum, I bought my grinder and other things from them but haven't perused the forums, I'll mosey on over.

Can I also bug you with two quick questions: is there any variation on the "lamb ham" or is it just the same technique/time as pork? Your photo has me rather hungry and wonderin what it'll taste like.

And how difficult is rearing the weaners? My father-in-law has an (arable) farm and he'd agreed to my using the old stys & orchard for a few pigs but I'd like to find out how much time/effort is involved before buying an animal or two - I don't want to neglect them but two young kids take time as well...

[sheepish]

Hi Ross

Lamb ham was just me having a go with some lamb. Sheep being my most common reason for trundling to the abattoir. Did it just like you would an air dried pig ham. I boned a small leg for this one. It tastes sort of air dried ham with definite sheepy overtones. It was OK, but as I said, not something I've rushed to repeat.

Salty ham could just have been left in salt for longer than your tastebuds dictate. Is rock salt the same as sea salt? That's what I always use. It's not as salty as cooking/table salt.

Weaners were really easy, and fun to have. But ideally you'll want to feed them twice a day, so not sure how close you are to the farm. I know of people who just leave them to roam, and I'd like to do that a bit more myself. However, be warned, slow growing pigs will take a while to fatten. Mine went at 6 months, were a relatively improved breed so would expect to grow well. They did have a lot of space (30 acres-ish) so walk off a fair bit of that food, but also graze and forage. At 6 months pigs you see twice a day and are very used to you can still be, shall we say, boisterous. I had the bite mark on my thigh for a few weeks, and it flippin' hurt! My daughter is 18 months old, and there is no way I would let her on the same side as the fence as them unless their noses were in the trough - pigs seem oblivious to most things when they are actually eating. Even so, they're big and strong and omniverous, you want to take care.

Rob

Edited September 13, 2009 by sheepish (log)

[Pam Brunning]

Pigs can get very stroppy en mass - if you have several in a confined space and they decide they don’t like you they put their heads down, all start a low grunting sound and advance together. I have been out of a cottage style pen over the wall very fast before now.

We experimented curing lamb but didn’t think much of it. We kept one of our cured hams for a year once - it dried right out but was very strong even with our mild cure.