Went to the Dallas Safari Club show and on our return leg home stopped by a very good friends ranch where he gave us several trapped hogs to butcher. Came out with 50+ pounds each of breakfast sausage, loins and hams to cook. Gonna take a while to eat through all of it. Had to store some in the neighbors deep freezer as mine is full. 5 lbs of sausage already gone! Nexy up- ham slo-cooked.

That is what I consider the real reason for trapping the hogs.....lots of meat to pass around. Some folks don't realize that processing some of your own pork can be fun, like sausage making and experimenting with recipes.

Cliffie, How do you smoke your hams? Brine first?

Haven't smoked them yet. Took one out of freezer today to pressure cook for pulled pork this afternoon. Have a new PC recipe I want to try. Too cold outside for me to fire up the smoker right now.
Cooking some more bfk sausage this morning also :-) :-)

Should have added that I haven't tried brineing them before. I smoke'em for a few hours with an apple juice spray now and then ( I have my own dry rub I put on) and then wrap them in foil with more juice and let them heat soak for 2-3 more hours.

Killed 2 hogs this year and had both made into breakfast sausage, ended up with 96 pounds of sausage. We going to eat good this year. I see lots of sausage gravy in my future

1/2 the pulled pork is already GONE! :-) YUMMY!

4 lb pork ham (deboned)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Pepsi
2 tblsps sugar
Salt and pepper
Pressure cook 55 mins and remove from heat until pressure gone
Shred meat and add 3/4 bottle of Bulls EYE BBQ sauce. BUT goo enough without the BBQ sauce.

I'm going to need to go back for more pigs soon at this rate.

I posted my ham smoking recipe here a couple of years ago, but since some of you are asking in this thread.... Here's what I perfected from experimentation and reading here and other sites. It makes KILLER pulled pork that is tender and juicey. Everyone likes it. You can't cut corners and you have to do each step just right or it will come out tough...

I usually use hams from 90-150 lb hogs.

Steps:

- Inject half a jar of Cajun Butter injection into each ham
- rub with oil, then put your favorite rub on the outside
- smoke at about 225 for about 3-4 hours.
- wrap in heavy duty foil (i usually wrap twice to get a good seal and keep all the moisture in)
- place in smoker or oven set to 235
- After about 4 hours, insert thermometer through foil and check temp
- After temp reaches 180, keep it there for one hour, then remove from heat and let rest for a while before trying it out. (it should be falling off the bone at this point)

The key is adding moisture and keeping it in, and keeping the internal temp at 180 for an hour. This breaks down the toughness and makes it tender.

I have not tried brining a hog ham, but from my experience with chicken, I would think it work well too.

Most say hogs over 100 lbs are no good, but this process works even on hogs over 100lbs, and you get tons of pork to freeze and each later (save the juice!)

I've killed 25 hogs in the last few year and hope to fill the freezer again this weekend.

Good luck!

The pulled pork is gone
The 8 pounds of sausage is gone
Now its time to dig in the freezer for some loins!

Yum!

cliffie - thanks for the PC recipe. Gonna try that one out soon! Just got a PC last month for wild game cooking purposes.

George- my wife says I used a little too much vinegar but I don't think so but she liked it real well anyway.
Try it before you put the BBQ sauce on. Its good.

Doing a loin tomorrow in the smoker for and appetizer for a Monday gathering

en & chillen... Hog jerkey tis good also...