[Hairy Hogs]

Being new to bacon production, and seeing as for most of my life I have been fed 'crap' bacon like most.........I was more than a little keen to witness the bacon from the curers shack this morning.  Our two Large Blacks had been loved for 10 or so months, but I thought their fat looked about right?

I was showed the amazing amount of meat by the curer, and he commented that he thought it was a little fat on the back, but should be good! 
It looked very fat to me, not the least bit like my Danish Tesco crap!?

Rushed home, threw some in a pan, and was quickly wooed by the smell, that filled the kitchen, no shrinkage to speak of, no swimming bacon, just MMMMMMMMMM.


When cooked, or should I say suitably crispy, in the roles it went...........my mate and i munched away, I being amazed at the flavour!

I sorted all the boxes, and loaded it all into its 'new fridge' ready for sale, still uncertain of its re-sale qualites.
The picture now show the bacon quality we got


Loads of bacon, gammon, etc................. NOW.....................Please let me know what you think of the pedigree Large Black bacon...........'Visually'?


I do want someone more experienced than me to let me have it..............REASON.............A local 'serious gentleman', and ex pig farmer, race horse breeder, cow man, seriously old school respected man who I really wanted to impress with my 2 kilos of finest smoked 'back'..............called me and said he couldnt possibly eat it, far too fat, but liked the look of the middle!

I respect his opinion, and need to know what experiences others may have had regarding pure rare breed bacon.  Would the Saddleback be leaner, or the Oxford Sandy & Black?  I haver to get this right, the farmers markets we have agreed to support deserve the best I can produce.

Please, any advice or critisism will be greatfully received.

It tasted bloody good though!
Regards
Jason

www.hairyhogs.co.uk

P.S.

In total we got 120 kilos of saleable meat, 65 kilos being bacon.  I recon theyre live weight would have been nearing 110 kilos.

[silver swan]

Chin up.  Fat = flavour, but then I look like a stick with the wood shaved off (so don't worry about calories).  Your produce looks yum!  

[plumseverywhere]

I think it looks lovely!! and the flavour is the ultimate decider 

[c day]

i just got back saddlebacks last week from butcher although she was 14 months old she had the same amount of fat as yours, we killed two last november  whom a friend of mine raised he keeps our boars for fattening, i thought they were thin when going to slaughter but the carcass was much better hardly any fat at all, im sure more of the experienced pig keepers will know better but its crucial the last few months of feeding i always over feed and put too much fat on mine too its hard to get it right, ive crossed my saddleback gilt now with duroc which we have kept before and i found to be one of the best carcasses ive had with a great eye in the loin, im at the point were im not pushed on keeping my pigs pure bred. its hard to sell that kind of bacon i agree. i sold mine cheaper than normal as people here will not pay premium for fat regardless of taste(which is amazing)

[Pel]

A good way to see if they are fat are to feel your pigs, you should be able to just feel the ribs (not sticking out), but if you have to press hard to feel any bones then they have a lot of fat. One newbie i know pressed that hard the pig had to bend its back and then the owner said i think he feels ok as he eventually found a rib. Again feel the hams and the backbone. If you cant feel the spine by lightly pressing their too fat, as this is ususally the last place they put fat down on. This can be the problem if you just go on weight.
Personally i'd say its too fat the meat, If you were my friend I'd buy some off you to taste the bacon, but i probably wouldnt be willing to buy it off a stranger.
It seems the 1lb per month method works well on the traditional breeds, and you add a 1lb each month until you reach 6lb then you keep it at that even if you keep them on for a year. Pigs lay down muscle up until around 45-50kg after this they will lay down fat, obvoisly not purely fat some fat will turn into muscle. In traditional breeds this weight can be around the 4-6month old mark, so upping their feed till 6months makes sense and then restricting it from then means you wont have too much fat. Now obviously if your were to feed lots of bread then best to reduce nuts, but fruit and veg would be fine to add without reducing unless you fed loads of avocados, but realistically that unlikey. 

Anyway this is just my point of view going of experience, plus some facts from Animal Nutrion and I think the carol harris book traditional pig keeping (that has the 1lb a month thing in)

[Joe11]

Looks sooo tasty, serious bacon sarnie cravings now!!! Sure maybe theres more fat on the back than most people would like, and I know from experience its pretty hard persuading people otherwise. You stil got a nice amount of meat on the back bacon though and the middle looks amazing I'm very jealous

[Hairy Hogs]

Interesting comments, thanks Pel.  My other half and youngest 'foodie' son, just got back from a day out, and they loved it when they had some for supper!

Jas.

www.hairyhogs.co.uk

[shetlandpaul]

if they are that fussy trim some fat off and sell it as rind off.

[Hatty]

looks bloody wonderful to me!!! love fatty bacon grilled till its really crisp mmmmmm my mouth is watering just thinking about it some nice poached eggs to go with it mmmmm and who wants tesco bacon anyway just hope mine is half as good as yours when i eventually get some!!

[Greenerlife]

I can seriously smell that bacon cooking just by looking at your photo!  Yum! 

My saddlebacks had that much fat on them after six and a half months - tasted gorgeous though, so as others have said, taste should be the most important factor.  i then had Berkshires who I had for six months (bit early for baconers) but just as delicious.  They hadn't developed that extra bt of meat along the fatty side, so I just cut the fat off when we are dieing (which is sometimes, not always!)

Bacn I have bought at farmers markets has always been on the fat side, whichis seen as unwanted by most purchasers, but then they have just beenused to having pretty awful pork, produced in ulk.

[Rosemary]

With the fat, you can dip bread in it. Dan loves that. So do the wild birds.

[Hilarysmum]

It looks absolutely perfect.  He has probably been buying some over priced fancy labelled supermarket stuff.  Education, education, education, fat on bacon is magnificent.  Perhaps he is watching his weight or his colestrol!

[janeislay]

It looks absolutely perfect.  He has probably been buying some over priced fancy labelled supermarket stuff.  Education, education, education, fat on bacon is magnificent.  Perhaps he is watching his weight or his colestrol!

If you dont eat sufficient cholesterol, your liver makes it in abundance instead.

Looks excellent to me too; I'm a great fan of fat 

[bloomer]

mmmm

i want to try some!!!

[seldomseen]

You think there is alot of fat on that,.....
You should see some of the pig meat over here, its all fat, they love it, they cut the fat like making bacon and then smoke it, serve it up and eat like we would eat crisps....eeeek I canna stand the looks of it.
 


oh I am getting some real bad withdrawals here.....my tongue is sticking out with the looks of that bacon, I not had any for 5 yrs.
canna wait till my finishes curing, ok its only a small tester but hey its enough for a couple of breakfasts lol