Wild Hog Leg

[avaserfi]

I was just gifted a 10-15 pound wild hog leg, spoils of my uncle's hunting trip. The leg was wrapped in plastic and frozen for three to four months to deal with any trichinella issues. I believe it is skinless, but cannot tell because of how the leg is wrapped.

I'm trying to decide what I want do with the leg as it sits in my refrigerator defrosting. There is the obvious roasting it, but that seems a little to simple (boring?). I don't have the ability to hang dry the leg like one would do with prosciutto or it would already be salted. I've been thinking maybe curing the leg and smoking it?

Does anyone have any experience or suggestions?

[suzilightning]

is it the whole leg?

any access to a bandsaw if it is?

if you can butcher it up you can dry hang and age part then maybe brine, lard and roast the other part?

i've only had fresh hog to deal with not the lovely, gnarly wild version but have had experience with other game.

ship it to new jersey? just kidding

[avaserfi]

is it the whole leg?

It looks like it is the shoulder blade down, but might be the picnic shoulder down. The foot is removed. As it defrosts I should be able to get a better look at it.

any access to a bandsaw if it is?

No access to a bandsaw, but I can cut it down by hand with a bonesaw.

if you can butcher it up you can dry hang and age part then maybe brine, lard and roast the other part?

I don't have a good place to keep proper humidity and temperature required for dry hanging otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to do dry hang the whole leg.

i've only had fresh hog to deal with not the lovely, gnarly wild version but have had experience with other game.

ship it to new jersey? just kidding

I've never cooked with it myself, but love eating it!

[avaserfi]

I just unwrapped the leg to see exactly what is going on. It seems to be a skinless front leg with the foot removed, but hock still attached. The leg goes from the hock all the way up including the shoulder blade blade. It was butchered right on the muscle seam between the blade and the picnic shoulder. I couldn't get any good pictures of the leg this time, but I might be able to get some tonight.

I'm not too sure what I want to do with it yet. Right now I'm thinking I need to pick up an injector and pump it, then pickle the whole thing. Follow that up with a good long, cool, smoke. Something like the bone-in smoked ham from the Marianski brothers Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages on page 474. I wouldn't bother stuffing it in a net though, I would just use butcher's twine.

Edited April 11, 2011 by avaserfi (log)

[catdaddy]

Sounds like a tasty project.

Let us know how in turns out.

[OliverB]

I'd probably just rub it with s&p and then put it in my Big Green Egg at about 250-300F, add wood for smoke early on and then let it finish. I'd be trying to not overpower it's flavor with intense rubs or sauces, or too much smoke. Since it's wild, it's probably not very fatty, and might benefit from an oven finish or at least wrapping it in foil half way through?

[avaserfi]

I'd probably just rub it with s&p and then put it in my Big Green Egg at about 250-300F, add wood for smoke early on and then let it finish. I'd be trying to not overpower it's flavor with intense rubs or sauces, or too much smoke. Since it's wild, it's probably not very fatty, and might benefit from an oven finish or at least wrapping it in foil half way through?

I thought about giving it a light smoke and finishing in the oven to really preserve the flavor, but the leg is so lean that I didn't know how well it would hold up especially because it has been skinned. If it wasn't skinned I wouldn't hesitate to put it in the oven or grill it.

Based on the size, I'm guessing this was a pretty young hog which means it probably won't be too gamey which does offer a little more leeway in preparation.

[OliverB]

Once it's wrapped in foil it won't loose much moisture, if any. You could put some good bacon on top of course, but I'm not sure you'd want that bacon flavor to cover what I'd expect to be a very different pork flavor.

An other way to make it could be in a covered roasting pan in the oven, nice and low. You could bed it on some onions and garlic cloves, maybe some carrot. I have no idea how lean it is, but maybe you can get some fat back, slice it and put it on top? Good quality fat should not add any overpowering flavor

[avaserfi]

I ended up starting the brine tonight. Once the leg was defrosted I could smell a nice slightly gamey porkyness that isn't present in farmed pigs. I thought turning the cut into ham would really compliment that seemingly subtle gamey flavor. I've never made ham before, so I'm hoping all goes well. Thus far it seems the size of the leg is the biggest problem. It is pickling in a turkey bag (which seems to be very flimsy) that is sitting in a large tub in the fridge. I'm hoping some of the pictures taken tonight turned out. Just got a picture of the leg, nothing too special.

[avaserfi]

Just an update: The leg has been smoked, cut up and is ready to go. It turned out pretty well, but was a pain in the butt because I don't have equipment large enough to really work with a primal this large.

Final pictures:

Full story posted on my blog here.