Hog Butchering Question

[Rotorhead]

Alright Guys, I'm posing this question to the experts.

I basically do all of my own game processing (I guess I'm cheap and a glutton for punishment, but I don't trust too many butchers).

Anyway, I'm new to the pig hunting game and when I get one I want to cut it in half lengthwise and barbecue it with the skin on. What's the best way to get the hair off?

When I was a kid we would dip the freshly killed pigs (before gutting) into a huge tank of boiling water to loosen the hair, then scrape it off with knives. I don't really have that capability now. Any advice?
Thanks,
Rotorhead

 

[hatchet1]

DUDE

CANT HELP YOU THERE BRO,BUT LOOKING FORWARD TO THE RESPONSES

 

[bobcatman04]

save the bbq plan you kill a small pig, then use a 55 drum to boil water in.

All the rest you have down pat.

 

[TRey]

There are youtube videos showing teams of two or three guys pouring water over the pig and scraping the hair off. Probably easier, but messier, than dipping it. I'm thinking of trying that as well with the next pig I kill. Roast the whole pig on a spit over the fire and have a party.

 

[dp1077]

TREY,

let me know when and were the party is.

 

[myfriendis410]

Hope you have all your shots, man................

 

[bigworm]

I have not done it, but I have heard of burning the hair off with a propane torch. I don't imagine it smells very good. I could see how it could be fast easy way to remove all the hair.

 

[Rotorhead]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (myfriendis410 @ Dec 12 2008, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Hope you have all your shots, man................[/b]

Myfriendis410 - looks like you have some input that might be important here. What are you getting at? As I said, I'm used to butchering domestic hogs. Is there something I should know about the wild ones?

Thanks,
Rotorhead

 

[sancho]

seen it done. they had a caldron of boiling water going. they would scoop pour it over a spot and scrape it off. they used a propane torch (the highway striping guys call it a rose bud) and burn off the leftovers.

i think you should shoot a little guy. something that would fit in one of those turkey fryer pots. then just dip.

 

[Speckmisser]

Hopefully Live2Hunt will see this thread. I believe they've done a couple with the boiling water method.

For what it's worth, at a dove hunt this year I was around for the fun when they tried the blowtorch method. It worked, but I think it works better if you scrape as much as you can get first, and THEN torch it. The meat was OK, but the stench of that burning hair kinda took the tasty out of it, if you know what I mean.

 

[m hunter]

Pour boiling water by section and scrape with knife, after done tourch the pig, hose off and scrape clean.
torch will work too

 

[trapperbr549]

I talked to a guy who uses a steam/power washer on domestic hogs, it might work on wild ones. If nothing else it should be clean.
We scalded domestic hogs for years when butchering but after skinning a couple I don't think scalding is worth the effort.

 

[weekender21]

I was talking to a professional butcher friend of mine last month about that. Basically you have it down, dip in boiling water and scrape it off. I'm like you, I don't really have a place to do the process so I haven't tried yet. Let me know how it works out, don't worry about the shots! Domestic pigs carry just as many diseases as the wild ones. You should always try not to cut yourself while butchering any game; wild or domestic. Good luck!!!

 

[Live2hunt]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Hopefully Live2Hunt will see this thread. I believe they've done a couple with the boiling water method.[/b]

You've been peeking in my backyard eh?


Besides the tough old boars, most of the hogs I killed that I can easily hauled to the truck got the scalding cleaning method. It's a pretty time consuming and dirty job but if you do it right, the result will come out nice and clean. As some of the guys already mentioned, I also used the pour hot water to an area and scrape it with the knife method. Then torch it with a propane weed burner to get the rest of the hairs. I like to torch the skin til it hash brown, then water it and scrape it again.

NEVER use only the torch to burn off all the hairs. The problem is that you can burn all the hairs down to the skin surface, but the root of the hairs are deep in the skin. You will see hair roots inside the skin which you won't be able to feel from the skin surface. When you eat the skin like that, you will get a mouth full of hairs. What you want is to take out the hairs from their roots.

The one in the photo is one 200 pound sow that I scalded and I got help from mom as you can see. You can see the bottom side of the sow was already done so I turned it over. I let the full pot of water in that giant pot boiled, then add about one gallon of cold water to cool it off from the boiling point. I used that kettle to scoop water from the pot and pour gradually over the hog. As I poured water, I keep trying to pluck the hair. As soon as I can pluck out a chunk of hairs at a time, I bring out the knife and start scraping. Comes out really nice. If you have not done it before, the first few times you will end up with water too hot and the skin will be cooked which will let you pluck out the hair, but that layer of very thin dark skin coat will bond right into the skin and you will have a black spot instead of peeling off leaving only the white skin.

L2H

 

[Rotorhead]

WOW, thanks for all the great info guys.

If I get a small one, I'll probably try Live2hunt's method - at least once, then I'll probably just skin them after that. Sounds like a fair amount of mess and trouble to get the hair off, but I have barbecue'd a few domestic hogs and I like the way they came out so much better with the skin on.

Appreciate all the expertise! Now I just have to do my part and kill one.

 

[sancho]

live2hunt, your mom is badasss!! my mom would have abandoned me, if i tried a stunt like that.

last year i blew it. running out of my mom's house, she yelled, "shoot me one that will fit in my oven!".

i made a mental note to give it my best shot. sure enough a tiny one got into my bowsight. i was putting the pins on the big one, and then the little one, the big one...back and forth. ok mom...THWACK! i shot the smallest pig in the history of archery. by the time i walked up on it, it had shrunk to tiny proportions. i got the most horrendous ribbing from my brother and his SWAT friends...

then i effed up and skinned the little guy. my mom was bummed. she wanted to roast it chinese style. and that needs a skin. now i have to blast another baby.

[attachment=57182:wilbercloseup.jpg]

 

[Speckmisser]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

You've been peeking in my backyard eh?[/b]

Yeah, I took a look when I was sneaking over there trying to follow ya'll to that public land honey hole.

 

[norcal-noodler]

Don't forget you need the skin to do a prosciutto/serrano ham !!! I'm bummed I skinned my last pig although I cheated and raised that one !!!!!!

 

[yupurs]

OK--- I'm green about scraping the hair--- I've always skinned my pigs.
Do you have to remove the hair in order to spit roast or pit BBQ the pig?
I'm not that interested in eating the skin, but it would help to preserve the moisture while cooking.
Everytime I pit BBQ a pig, after skinning, I would wrap in butcher paper and wet burlap prior to setting it in the coals.
Seems the skin would take the place of the paper.

 

[Rotorhead]

Any time I have roasted a whole or half domestic pig, I was lucky enough to have paid someone to slaughter it and scrape the hair. I like the skin on for a couple of reasons. First, it keeps the meat much moister and secondly, it prevents burning or charring the meat if the heats gets too high. I usually inject marinades (for flavor and prevents burning) throughout the pig so the skin helps keep that in too. There are probably some folks who like to eat the roasted and crispy cooked skin but I'm not one of them.

If the pig is skinned, it takes a bit more work to keep it from drying out, but it can be done by basting or mopping with sauce.

All that being said, I have always cooked them on a big above ground BBQ, never in the ground. That's mainly because I didn't trust myself to get it right. I have heard of the wrap you mentioned by the guys who cook them in a hole.