[Mrs Snoodles]

We took a sow to the abattoir last Monday and although our butchers strongly advised that we only turn her into sausages, I was really after some gammon and bacon and thought I'd risk it.  Well we picked up the sausages on Friday and we got a big thumbs up for the carcass. We were told she was in excellent condition, and such they cut a lovely neck fillet, masses of ribs and have said that the bacon and gammon should be really very good.  She was 20mths, had one litter and has been reared on grass (until fairly recently when well,, it's just mud mud mud!)

I couldn't bear the thought of seller her to a dealer, being transported god knows where, and I didn't really want a sausage mountain!  We've ended up taking her to our excellent local small abattoir and got a good range of different pork products that we need ourselves.  Chuffed to bits

[kja]

we took a 13 month old gilt in last monday. our slaughterhouse usually only take upto 200lb dw but he said at that age she should be okish well the bill for kill & cut was more than usual but we got 264lb back from her 1/2 we brough back as pork and 1/2 has gone to be made into gammon & bacon the pork from her was darker than usaul but as tender as a porker  .

[Tamsaddle]

Would be really interested to know what it tastes like, both cured and uncured.   Our sow meat looked gorgeous when it came back, but it was in the eating that it turned out to be so disappointing.   Tamsaddle

[Mrs Snoodles]

Will let you know..... I am planning to soak the gammon and slow cook for about 8 hrs, with a fast roast at the end with something sweet (ummm thinking apricots and molasses sugar) on top.  I also am going to give the coke receipe a try.   

The ribs look amazing and it will be interesting to see how tender these are.  Darker meat, quite striking against the fat.

[bloomer]

I was gifted a large piece of pork from an older sow care of happy hippy for me to try my hand at cooking


love cooking and will experiment with anything


I assumed as it was older it would be tougher, so i slow cooked it with stock veg etc and it was delicious bit more flavoured than normal pork but i find normal pork bland so that suited me fine...


I have another piece of the same to cook am thinking i'll try that as a slow oven roast and see what joys i can create with it!!!


from my limited experience (as a cook) older animals should automatically be considered sausages...

[ppd]

Bloomer, if you want to try a slow oven roast, then Jamie Oliver has a fab recipe that you can get online for a six hour slow roasted shoulder and it is delicious. I know Bionic has cooked it too so she can back me up
Oh and the roast potatoes cooked in the pork fat are to die for
Pauline

[bloomer]

i have loads of recipes if jamie has published it in the last 10 years its on the shelf, the meat i have isnt shoulder but its exact identity is unknown :-)


the important point is older pork still good if cooked right!!!

[Berkshire Boy]

That is a very good point bloomer, its all in the cooking. You wouldn't cook a leg of mutton the same way as you cook a leg of lamb. The older animal needs cooking longer and slower.
I have a 3 year old sow that will need culling in a few weeks and I had been put off doing bacon and gammon with her from a previous thread but I'm going to give it a go as a bit of an experiment and see what I can get out of her.

[HappyHippy]

I was gifted a large piece of pork from an older sow care of happy hippy for me to try my hand at cooking

I assumed as it was older it would be tougher, so i slow cooked it with stock veg etc and it was delicious bit more flavoured than normal pork but i find normal pork bland so that suited me fine...

The meat Bloomer is talking about was from OLD sows - they were 7 and were supposed to be minced for sausages. We tried out a new butcher and when we went to collect were presented with MASSIVE joints, all vac-packed and ready to go. I was a bit disappointed (because he hadn't done as I'd asked ) but he'd said he felt the meat was far too good to be minced - infact, he said it was a waste to sausage it.
We've currently got a whole loin defrosting (in the bath, cos it won't fit in the fridge  ) to try cooking up tomorrow.

Let me know how the gammon goes Mrs S, I've got an older Tamworth that I can't get in-pig, would love to get some BIG hams (as long as it's tasty/tender) and bacon 

For any older meat (older in terms of animal age that it  ) we do a long, slow cook in plenty of liquid 

[Mrs Snoodles]

I pick the gammons up on Friday and next weekend our Scicillian friend and his wife who is a cookery teacher are coming.  I'll drag them into this and see what we come up with a few bottles of wine later!  I'm pretty sure the Italians appreciate older pork (as well as suckling pig - at the other end of things!)

[Eve]

Our sow meat looked gorgeous when it came back, but it was in the eating that it turned out to be so disappointing.   Tamsaddle

Tamsaddle, what was the issue with it? I haven't used meat from older pigs yet, I thought they automatically went for sausages. It's interesting to hear about HappyHippy's butcher turning it into joints.
Nigella Lawson does a 24h roast which is apparently superb... I wonder if that would work with a big joint from an older pig