my pigs

[red]

joining in the pic sharing

last year we had 2 weaners - and they were great - great pork too - so we thought we would get three this year - but ended up also taking the runt of the litter too

[sortanormalish]

I have always loved the pink noses against the black hair.

[bonniethomas06]

Aww they are lovely! Which one is the runt?

Glad to hear they made nice pork last year - did you cure any of it? We would like to try chorizo and pancetta, but having spent last sunday helping out on a charcuterie stall in a market, I am told that this usually results in a waste of pork for first-timers as it is not easy - usually too much air in the chorizo and over/underfilled sausages. I may go on a day long course first.

I love their noses too!

[red]

the runt is the one on the right

We make our own sausages but not done any other curing yet. would prefer to practice on someone elses pork. Have done ham before nd it wasn't brill -so we wont be wasting any of ours until we have cracked it :)

[sortanormalish]

I have found that my hams cure better if I cut them into smaller pieces. I take off the hock, and then cut the hams in two. We brine for 10 days, dry for 3, smoke for 7. This is supposed to work for whole hams, but they were disappointing. How do you cure your hams? I mean, what type of cure is popular there?

[shiela_robins]

LOL it looks like they are really posing for that shot and one is even looking straight into the camera.

[red]

LOL it looks like they are really posing for that shot and one is even looking straight into the camera.

they do look you in the eye

[red]

I have found that my hams cure better if I cut them into smaller pieces. I take off the hock, and then cut the hams in two. We brine for 10 days, dry for 3, smoke for 7. This is supposed to work for whole hams, but they were disappointing. How do you cure your hams? I mean, what type of cure is popular there?

brine typically. Some go for air dried.

we made ok ham, but nuffin special, it was a waste of excellent roasting pork, the crackling is just divine.

[sortanormalish]

Ham any day here. I'd brine the whole pig if it would fit!

[theabsinthefairy]

We made cured sausages, black puddings, bacon, ham hocks, and dried cured legs 'jambon' with not problems at all first time round. Pate and rillettes also - no problems. Wasted nothing at all from our pigs, apart from the brains - they went to the neighbours, for some reason brawn is just not for me.

[red]

oh we made brawn

and hogs pudding


and pate which was lovely.

[sortanormalish]

I'm going to be moronic/obnoxious. How, exactly, do you cure your sausages, make black puddings, and brawn? I'm tired of the same old sausages, never made a decent black pudding, and well...won't go there.

[red]

i dont make black pudding as the abattoir local to me dont save the blood .. so thats that.

brawn. I cook half a head at a time. - boil with stock veg.. eg celery onion carrots, bayleaf, for at least 5 hours

then pick the meat out.. traditional recipes often leave skin and fat in.. but no thanks - just meat for me.
Then - dice the meat up very finely and set aside.

take a pint ish of the stock, at half a pint of white wine, and boil until reduced back to the pint. taste and season now if needed. add the meat and lots of chopped parsley and bring to boil, then pour into a container to set in the fridge. Turn out the next day

it freezes really well, so i cut it into meal portions and freeze.

[JulieSherris]

Red... I have a feeling that I am going to asking you loads of stupid & a few not so stupid questions when we get our pigs in!!

I am going to bite the bullet this week and apply to the department for a herd number - once I have it at least I know that the pig project can go ahead

Then all I have to do is prepare an area & housing without hubby getting wind of it & voila!