Wild Hog Meat

[Biginge]

Boys, theres two kind of Ranchers down here in So. Texas. Them that has hogs, and them thats fixin to.

 

[Smitty357]

Little fatty from a few months back.

 

[rojodiablo]

Actually, what you describe is a barrow, often shortened to "bar."
A shoat is a young weaned hog of either sex, up to maybe 50-75 pounds.

A gilt is a female hog that hasn't yet had a litter.

A sow is a female that has had a litter(s)

A boar, of course, is an intact mature male.

I am with the group that says it depends on what they have been eating. In South Georgia, feral hogs often feed largely on agricultural fields and products, particularly peanuts and corn. Those taste pretty good, even the intact males if you get them at 100 pounds or less. Some of the deep swamp hogs are so full of parasites that I just wouldn't eat them without catching, penning, worming, and feeding on corn for a month. I don't care what you say about proper care and preparation of the meat, a 300 pound sow, raised in a 105 degree summer in a deep swamp in South Georgia is practically inedible. Probably dangerous to eat without some serious heat for a long time. I had a student who helped her parents in a deer/hog processing facility. She and her uncle both got a serious infection from cleaning one of those old rank swamp hogs. Had to stay in the hospital for a week or so.

Ha! That's what I get for posting while dead-dog tired. Thank you for the correction.
I am pretty in line with your assessment; I left hogs 'much over 200' out of the discussion because they tend to be so tough, even if they have good flavor that they Each of the giants was the request of a landowner- it goes something like this: "There is a monster tearing my place up. If you see it, at the very least put a bullet in it." I skinned one boar that was well over 400; after gut and skinning, we could not easily lift it, 2 good size guys. It smelled good, was eating pistachios, so we tried it. When we lit it up, it smelled great. And, if you ever have to eat leather??? That was the piece of leather you wanted to eat. Flavor was great. But unbearably tough.
The vast majority of the great big hogs we render a few parts to sausage, and the rest is for the buzzards. If they stink, then we just open it up so nature can get inside it easily, and we walk away.

The hogs pictured by Smitty and Cocked & Locked are about the max size I will target. My favorite size is about 75-130ish pounds for freezer filling; the best taste/ tender/ succulent hogs are around 25lb.

 

[rwsmith]

I hope it was smoked.....

I can remember my Grandfather going to the barn and bringing back a ham that had been hanging for over a year...
guess them days would be hard to find now?

I hope it was smoked....or cured....SOMEHOW!!!!

And NOT from old age.

 

[millisec]

I can remember my Grandfather going to the barn and bringing back a ham that had been hanging for over a year...
guess them days would be hard to find now?

Same from family farm in SW Virginia. You can probably still find them in the country but god it was salty ham usually fried for breakfast. They always wrapped, salt cured and left them hanging in a shed off the barn for a year or so. Like real cheese the more mold on the outside the better the flavor.

 

[1morethan8]

I hope it was smoked....or cured....SOMEHOW!!!!

And NOT from old age.

LOL! And you're from SC?

It's called "Country Ham" and is salt cured.

 

[rwsmith]

I love the stuff.....

LOL! And you're from SC?

It's called "Country Ham" and is salt cured.

I grew up in the suburbs and I haven't had a lot of exposure to farms (of course I have been around a few) but I had no idea that the red crust was from hanging around for a year.

 

[redlevel]

I grew up in the suburbs and I haven't had a lot of exposure to farms (of course I have been around a few) but I had no idea that the red crust was from hanging around for a year.

Yep. Literally hanging around in a house like this one with smoke seeping through the cracks between the boards and from under the eves. That's after it sat in the salt box for a couple of months "taking the salt." No telling how many hams/shoulders/sides have been cured in that old smokehouse the last 125 years or so.

 

[shouldazagged]

Same from family farm in SW Virginia. You can probably still find them in the country but god it was salty ham usually fried for breakfast. .

The way to alleviate that is to soak the ham in cold water, changing the water repeatedly, for two to three days (after scrubbing off the mold). Some people then boil it before baking; but I like to seal it in foil with red wine and orange juice, with orange slices laid on top, and bake it slowly. Then I skin it, leaving a little fat but not much, coat it with a mixture of bread crumbs and brown sugar moistened with wine and orange juice, and put it in the oven to crisp up the coating. Bone the ham, slice it, and enjoy.

You can also use bourbon instead of wine, but I never tried that.

 

[dcxplant]

In my case.......I'll eat frog legs before i eat fried chicken. Last i checked the frogs dont eat their own ****. A chicken has to be the nastiest bird on the planet, yet people love to eat chicken.

I'll stick to frog legs.

Ha! this quote sounds like it came straight from a good friend of mine.

He grew up working in coops and will NOT allow any bird of any kind enter his home. They do ham for Thanksgiving and Christmas.