[Pigtails]

Anyone into doing their own bacon?
Making sausages, etc
what success?

[Hilarysmum]

I make my own gammon, bacon and sausages.  Have tried cooking a ham, sadly not as good as others on here.  Bacon, sausage and gammon are superb. 

[sausagesandcash]

Any 'how to...' tips....especially for the gammon and bacon.

Regards,

Morgan

[rustyme]

excellent topic PTs',
                       I will be keeping pigs soon and I will be wanting to preserve all of the produce from them without freezers or such like, ie I want to salt , smoke etc. I know in many european countries they still keep their produce this way , sausage , hams , bacon etc. Does anybody on here do the same ? Any info would be good !!!  I hope I am not hijacking your topic Pigtails, I hope I am just adding to it a bit..... . I hope to be able to store all the produce in a shed specifically made for the purpose .

cheers

Russ

[Mr Pig]

If it's of any help, the Traditional Breeds Meat Marketing Co are holding a one day pig butchery course in Herefordshire on Sunday 3rd May covering breaking down the carcase, deboning and preparing joints and tying them, sausage making and bacon curing. It's run by a master butcher and former lecturer at Smithfield College and the day includes a cooked lunch and an info pack and certificate. Cost is £120 + VAT. Further details at mail@tbmm.co.uk

[Pigtails]

excellent topic PTs',
                       I will be keeping pigs soon and I will be wanting to preserve all of the produce from them without freezers or such like, ie I want to salt , smoke etc. I know in many european countries they still keep their produce this way , sausage , hams , bacon etc. Does anybody on here do the same ? Any info would be good !!!  I hope I am not hijacking your topic Pigtails, I hope I am just adding to it a bit..... . I hope to be able to store all the produce in a shed specifically made for the purpose .

cheers

Russ

We were of much the same opinion when we first started with pigs some years ago and like yourself we wanted to keep everything as traditional as possible, but although we succeeded with taste, we could not retain the colour and more often than not, we ended up with something either too pink or just plain grey.

We did have great success with the parma ham, and it kept for weeks in an airy cupboard,
served thinly sliced with melon, making a delicious starter to any meal.

Now some years and a little wiser, we are following in the footsteps of the experts.
These days, it's all about vaccum bags, sealing in the flavour, cooking in the bag the gammons we hope to sell some day soon.

Gone are the days of the brining and rinsing, the hit and miss flavours!

I have to say, I am feeling very inspired today with all the endless opportunities and recipes surrounding the "Pig"
 

[Pigtails]

Any 'how to...' tips....especially for the gammon and bacon.

Regards,

Morgan

http://www.lucas-ingredients.co.uk/tech_curing.htm

Will give you all the technical support you will need, they also offer a first class service, by telephone and courier
and if you were thinking of "going into it big style" a rep will call and see you,

We are doing our gammons as per instruction of Lucas.

[rustyme]

cheers pigtails,
                I will be living with almost no electricity soon , so there will be no freezer , just a small 3 way fridge, and I hate, and refuse to use, plastic if at all possible. So I will therefore be going back a hundred years or so in time . I am not worried about colour really , I just want additive free food as much as possible.

cheers

Russ

[Pigtails]

cheers pigtails,
                I will be living with almost no electricity soon , so there will be no freezer , just a small 3 way fridge, and I hate, and refuse to use, plastic if at all possible. So I will therefore be going back a hundred years or so in time . I am not worried about colour really , I just want additive free food as much as possible.

cheers

Russ

Just for you rustyme,
http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Home-Cured-Bacon

and no additives!!

what's to do with your electricity?

[rustyme]

many thanks PTs,
                    thanks for the link ....mmm, makes my mouth water just looking at the piccy.... as for the electicity , I will be spending much more time on my land which doesn't have electricity connected , or a phone line. So I will have to make do with virtually no leccy at all . I will get a solar panel and run an alternator from the river , but it will still mean almost no electric. So no pc , (apart from an old laptop if I can get it working ??) , none of the normal houshold items really , not even my beloved breadmaker......  A leap back in time ...lol. One I do  gladly . I do have an old lister cs start o matic that can churn out about 3kw but that needs lots of work , and may take some time to do .

cheers

Russ

[Pigtails]

What about a generator, bumping out 5kw at least?
These are coming down in price drastically, can be found on various auction sites or imported direct.
Living on and off the land can be / is rewarding but sometimes even just one or two "home comforts" can ease the transition
from the 21st century to the 19th century,

From just one generator, on 12 hrs daily you can have a fridge, a tv, a computer, hot water for a bath or shower,
be a shame, if we, the forum lost out on your progress through the 19th century??
 

[rustyme]

with generators you only get out what you put in  !!! in other words they cost a fortune to run in fuel and the modern ones in spare parts. I have had, and used them in the past , but I am not in the position money wise to do so in the future. I have got the old lister S O M which will generate about 3kw and is very cheap to run . It is a very old design and the engine runs at about 650rpm , much slower than modern ones that run at anything upto about 3000 rpm. The faster they run the faster they wear out. The listers will run all day every day for many many years and will run on filtered used cooking oil , or new sunflower/rapeseed oil that I intend to grow  . However I am limited in the amount I can grow and proccess. New lister copies can now be bought from India, they sell for about £800, and can be just as good as the originals. I have, for the last 8 years ,been gradually weening myself off of the massive electricity useage that we have become used to . It therefore won't be such huge change for me really . I already live without a bath or shower in a caravan , have done so for more than 8 years now. Not even a proper loo or running water. My land at least has a spring for running water and I can fit a back boiler type rayburn cooker that runs off of wood from my land . So cooking , heating and hot water will be free. The loo will be sorted by composting toilet , grey water will be treated by willow/reed beds.  I will use the modern led lights  for lighting , very cheap to run !!!, and as I say the laptop for my pc use . I could get a phone line put on , but I am not sure yet if I really want one or not . At the moment I need one , but once I step back in time it becomes just another bill I have to pay . For the last ten years or so I have been using only hand tools to make things with . I have learnt how to work metal and now have my little forge more or less up and running . This I will heat with charcoal made from wood off the land plus any other I can get hold of. Power for machines I will be getting from a water wheel I am starting to make soon. All this has taken forever to ammas , but I am about there now and over the next couple of years I shall dissappear back, somewhere between the 16th century and now . Different things will be to different degrees , but it will be very much different to a modern lifestyle , but not THAT much different than I have been living for some time now. It seems the less of modern THINGS I have the less I want . So there will be some point soon when I just drop off the radar as it were. When I do, I will be living the lifestyle I have been gearing up/down to for ten years . No regrets, it is what I want , I just wish I could have done it sooner.......

cheers

Russ

ps:  sorry for taking things off topic and boring the bum off everyone......

[Hilarysmum]

Russ does your local library have a computer you could use or an internet cafe or borrow a friend's?  Dont want to lose touch.

[Pigtails]

Hi again rustyme,

You sound as though you have your life well and truly mapped out and you are right about the generators.
We have recently put up a small wind turbine, we dug out and built a well, the water coming from a natural spring.
We are early in our project and you might find, that we will be picking your brains for a while,
certainly with you all the way on the idea of no more bills coming through the door.

For wood, a scavengers license from the foresty commission, three months a pop and a snip at £52.50, all the wood you can collect for yourself,
the license is renewable.

What can I say, other than I wish you all the best!
Cheers!

[rustyme]

 the local library does (well did???) have a pc , but that is 7 miles away and another thing to go is the car?? I really am getting back to basics !! I am already walking 2.5 miles to the land and I have found out that that is more than my limit due to all the broken bones from accidents.. So 7 miles to a pc isn't even on the cards ... I will still have a laptop and I may get a phone line put in , but at the moment the chances are it is a no no on that . A minimum of £75 for connection and then the monthly charges which all in come to £102-£107 a quarter. Not much these days I know , but I only get £55 a week injury pension. So not much money floating around these here parts...lol. My nephew has a pc and broad band , but he lives in Kidwelly and thats about an hours drive from me . That works out a bit expensive to get him to come over to  pick me up, take me back to his place and then bring me back again , plus I have 4 dogs . Two of which don't get on  and just want to kill each other. My nephew also has 5 dogs , it gets very difficult.... It will be upto about a year or two before I go off radar, but there again it could happen tomorrow??? I can only control my side of life !!!! So if it all goes quiet from here , I am either off radar or kicked the bucket !!!
     I also plan to make a wind turbine mine will be on the basis of the old american ones you see in the old films . Reason being I can make one of those out of scrap for free. It will only charge a battery bank but it will supply something . The water wheel will also supply some !!, a solar panel will also supply something , but I really want to get away from having to have thousands of pounds worth of stuff just to have a bit of electric ! I have planted loads of willow for fire wood and to make charcoal and for basket making and I will get other wood as and when I can ,I used to have the forestry licence , but it would be a long trip from my place now and I only want wood that is very local . My water supply on the land is also from a spring . Well three springs actually , plus I have a 10ft wide 6 inch deep fast flowing river for animal water and veggie plot watering , so hopefully all my water needs are covered (and free). Still lots of things to sort out , but I am nearly there now , the sooner the better 

cheers

Russ