Forums46
Topics537,029
Posts9,719,585
Members86,989
|
Most Online25,604 Feb 12th, 2024
|
|
|
Wild hog bacon?
#7745891
02/14/20 03:06 PM
|
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 553
AMF
OP
Tracker
|
OP
Tracker
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 553 |
Can you get decent bacon from the belly meat of wild hogs ?
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7745928
02/14/20 03:37 PM
|
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 857
Thisisbeer
Tracker
|
Tracker
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 857 |
Not really. They need to be monsters to get enough to make bacon. I've pulled the belly and cut it to show people on 150+ pound hogs and it's just not big enough. Remember when you brine and smoke it you will get a lot of shrinkage. I've heard of people getting good bacon on 450+ pound hogs.
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7745930
02/14/20 03:38 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 905
driedmeat
Tracker
|
Tracker
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 905 |
Yes. But like Thisisbeer says.. it takes a really big and fat mature pig to have the bellies big enough to really mess with... I made some last year from a 205lb sow that had been feeding on a sunflower patch all fall - big commercial sunflowers (not the little wild ones).
Last edited by driedmeat; 02/14/20 03:39 PM.
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7746106
02/14/20 07:06 PM
|
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 11,512
rickym
THF Celebrity
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 11,512 |
Best wild bacon I’ve had was from one we trapped and fed out on pure corn for 10 days before shooting. And there still wasn’t much on it for a 250+ pound pig.
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7747116
02/15/20 10:26 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 91,416
bill oxner
THF Celebrity
|
THF Celebrity
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 91,416 |
Someone made what they called bacon from another cut of the hog awhile back.
Quail hunting is like walking into, and out of a beautiful painting all day long. Gene Hill
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7747704
02/16/20 08:42 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 680
fmrmbmlm
Tracker
|
Tracker
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 680 |
We use to buy the used up sows from a hog farm, they would feed them for a while then sell them. Weighed 400-500 lbs. and very lean,had to add grease to skillet to fry bacon, was mighty good. The pork chops were solid hunks of meat, not soft and mushy like on a top hog.
|
|
|
Re: Wild hog bacon?
[Re: AMF]
#7748274
02/17/20 04:55 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 147
Jesse Griffiths
Woodsman
|
Woodsman
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 147 |
You'll be hard pressed to get sliceable bacon, but you can certainly cure and smoke fattier bellies to produce a really good "bacon flavored product". I'll often make pancetta (cured, unsmoked belly) and even smoked belly to use diced up wherever you need bacon. Fatty, acorn-fed hogs are best for this. To get slices, you'd need a monster hog - probably a sow - and it would need to have been eating really well. A simple cure of salt, pepper, brown sugar and molasses (or maple syrup) for a few days followed by a warm smoke in the 180 degree range will yield some pretty good stuff.
author of The Turkey Book, The Hog Book and Afield @thewildbooks.com @daidue.com
|
|
|
Moderated by bigbob_ftw, CCBIRDDOGMAN, Chickenman, Derek, DeRico, Duck_Hunter, hetman, jeh7mmmag, JustWingem, kmon11, kry226, kwrhuntinglab, Payne, pertnear, rifleman, sig226fan (Rguns.com), Superduty, TreeBass, txcornhusker
|