The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: Bionic on August 29, 2012, 10:19:23 am
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My pigs are due to go on 19th Sept. The abattoir has asked me to give him a list of what I want with regards to butchering.
To be honest I don't know what I want but I do know that I don't want the blood, offal, head, trotters.
The pigs are OSB's and will be 27 weeks but they aren't particularly big, although one is bigger than the other.
Anyone got suggestions of what to ask for. There are only 2 of us so we don't want huge joints and we like sausages.
thanks
Sally
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There'll be lots of differing opinions but what has worked for me in the past is for the butcher to do the legs as joints for roasting, belly as it comes, shoulders i get made in to diced 1lb stew packs, pork 1lb mince packs, sausages & burgers(he'll charge extra for making sausages & burgers) then you'll get your chops as well.
Sometimes we get the shoulders done as joints and do the dicing & mincing ourselves now we now a bit more.
You could always send half a side for bacon too if you didn't want them back all as pork.
HTH
mandy :pig:
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We had 3 OSB's go in the last couple of weeks. One we had back as a hog roast for a party (and it was excellent :yum: ) whilst the other 2 were done as joints. In the past we have done bacon and (more) sausages from the same pigs as joints but decided against it preferring to keep some pigs back to approx 90 - 100kgs for sausage and bacon.
This time our cutting list looked something like this:
Loin all chops packed into 4's
Belly cut into joints to serve 4 people
Leg Cut into joints to serve 4 people
Tenderloin
Shoulder best bits for joints , remainder for sausages (thick, packed in 8s)
Hock & Trotters
We dont want the head or any offal
If you want more sausage you could specify all the shoulder for sausages.
Hope this helps.
Pete
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Thanks for starting this thread, and the contributors, as we're shortly going to be sending our first for slaughter and I hadn't a clue what to tell the butcher.
Cheers
Gary
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Thanks Mandy and Pete, that has been very helpful
Sally
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Have a look at this too ;) :thumbsup:
http://porkforbutchers.bpex.org.uk/product/Images/Pork%20Cuts%20Poster%20Butchers%20aw%20sml%20vrsn.jpg (http://porkforbutchers.bpex.org.uk/product/Images/Pork%20Cuts%20Poster%20Butchers%20aw%20sml%20vrsn.jpg)
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Thanks Karen, thats very good.
I have seen pics before which tell you what you get from the different parts of the animal but this one is much easier to understand when you can see the actual cuts of meat and recognise your favourites.
Sally
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Thank you all as was going to post that too :)
Sally mine go just before yours, so here's to us, being big and brave, and having some lovely home reared pork in the freezer :fc: :excited:
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hear hear ppd
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I don't know how many are going to slaughter, but it really is a shame to miss out on the chaps (cheeks). Probably not worth it if you have one pig, but I think they are the best bit of the pig!
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we usually ask for
leg joints
chops or loin joints boned and rolled
belly back in slabs to make bacon
shoulder best jointed the rest into sausages
tenderloin
you could also ask for some pork to be minced always handy and very versatile
pork burgers always go down well here
we usually have 1/2 or whole pig turned into bacon and vac packed its surprising how quickly it gets used there is nothing like your own ham & gammon.
i am sure you will enjoy your pork however you decide to get it back :trophy:
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We offer the following as standard which seems to work well for most of our members:
loins: 1/2 as chops; 1/2 boned and rolled
shoulder: boned and rolled
chumps: boned and rolled
hams: boned and rolled
hand&hock&offcuts : - can be either sausaged or diced if you want to do your own
bellies: whole
heads, ears, trotters, liver, kidney
Basically, we do the big joints as boned and rolled but left whole as its then easier for everyone to cut them down to the right size for their family - a big cleaver or carving knife will easily cut a ham or shoulder into two or three bits.
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Thanks for all who put butchery lists on here, as went for reccy to abattior today and to book pigs in for monday and was able to have a farily sensible chat with the butcher about what I wanted :relief:
HH that chart (which I have printed off) was great too and gave me more ideas about what to ask for.
Just got to get the next 6 sleeps over and done with!
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This might be too late and perhaps you don't have a dog but we ask for the lites back and any bits of offal we don't want, then it all gets ground up and cooked up and frozen in batches for the dogs. My hubby loves looking at all the bits and grinding them up :P if you can't stomach it, perhaps the butcher could do the grinding bit?
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Button End, no its not too late and I do have a dog. I can remember years back getting lites in the supermarket for my dog.
Maybe I will just ask the abattoir for a doggie pack.
thanks for the suggestion
Sally
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If you keep the legs whole you can turn them into delicious gammons, or if you are patient enough, parma hams, ours have all been exquisite and worth the 6 to 9 month wait. And definitely dont give the liver to the dog - make pate, very easy, very good, freezes well, once again discussed on a previous post, possibly about kidneys as far as I can remember. Tamsaddle