EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

What are your methods and techniques? Temperature? So on.....

We do about 4-5 hogs a year when it's real cold.  We have a big cast iron shallow pit that is about 4 ft wide.  We heat the water in drums and cast iron pots and when we get that water to a rolling boil, we shoot the hog, bleed him, and put the water in the pot.  Stick the hog in there and roll him around until that hair can be pulled off easy.  You may have to get some o the hard to get places with buckets of water by pourin it on them.  We also only do the front end and then the back end when it's a big Barr.  Pop the nails off with a bucket of hot water and then gut em and then hang em in a tree over night.

We did it almost the same but we dug a hole at a 45 degree angle or so and set a 55 gallon drum in it and slid the hog in head first. Poured the hot water over him until the water ran out of the drum. Rolled the hog over in drum and pulled the hair to see if it was ready.
Once it is ready we pulled the hog out over the plywood floor. We had a few men using large knives scraping the hair off while others pulled the hair off by hand. We worked fast because once the hog cooled off it was hard to pull or scrape the hair. Once cooled off we repeated the process...Also used tote sacks layed over the hog and poured hot water over the sack onto the hog. This steamed the hog and made it easier to scrape and pull hair before having to put the hog in the drum...Do not leave the hog in the drum too long or it will start cooking...

Are yall talkin about tame hogs or wild ones

Tame hogs and wild hogs all scraped the same for us.

I know it's something that takes experience becaus you can let it cool to fast and set the hair and you won't get it off, you'll end up having to hang it up and skin it.

Wats the wild skin taste like?

We boil 55 gal. drum of water.
Using small sauce pans, dip out and pour over a small area while another scrapes with knife. 
Just a good constant trickle and work on 1 ft. Or smaller spots at a time.
Once done, hang hog, scrub hide down with dawn soap and rinse well with warm water.
Then skin, rinse inside.
If you get the soap rinsed off good, that hide makes the best cracklins ever.

If you hava a thermometer,have your water about 155 degrees .Add a little lime to the water before you put the hog in.If the water is too hot,the hair will feel gummy and wont come off good.If the hog is too big to go in a barrel, you can lay him on plywood or tin and place grass sacks on him & pour your water over him, but your water will have to be around 165 degrees.

we scald several hogs every winter to make sausage , middlins and country hams to sell . it's sort of a small family side job ... and we get to eat the by products  ( loins , tenderloins , and ribs )  :D :D


we have a scalding vat . a big enough tank will work , you dont want your hog to touch bottom as it will burn . Put 2 by's across to hold the hog up off the bottom. Heat the water to 150 degrees. Shoot and bleed your hog, put it in the water, keep it moving around a bit so it doesn't burn. After a minute check the ears by hand, when the hair starts slipping it's starting to get ready. Grab a front leg and try scraping it with your bell scraper, then move on up to the shoulder and side all the way to the ham, get what you can reach. (most of the time you will have two trace chains under the hog from one side to the other) Roll the hog up on it's belly and try the back. If the hair ain't slipping, put it back in the water for a minute. then roll it on its back and scrape the belly , Don't wait too long, get what you can right quick, then turn the hog over and repeat steps on 2nd side of hog.

get what comes good with the scrapers and then get the hog out so it don't cook or set the hair, finish scraping with a sharp knife , every inch has to be clean .

if the hog dont die quick it will set the hair and wont scrape good , if the water is too hot it will set the hair , if the water is too cold it will set the hair , if you don't hold your mouth right it will set the hair  ;D ;D

good luck , i cuold help more on the phone if you want to call 731 641 6425
        

Yeah JDT is right, it don't take much and you've done set the hair.  It's something that hardly anyone does anymore.  We still cook cracklins and render the lard as well as keep the middlins, hams, and still smoke the jowls and head, but my dad still fools with the hog head cheese.

JDT, what is yalls process on curing and smoking, I'm always curious how other people do it.

i'l try to get on here sunday and tell ya , my wife typed most of that , as it would have took me more time than i have patience  lol , and she's gone to bed , and i'm going huntin in the morning .

your right it's becoming a lost art , and the way things are going it wouldn't be a bad idea for folks to find it again .

a few old timers here still bush singe there pigs build a fire using native timber let the flame die down a bit chuck ya pig on roll it round a bit pull it off scrape the hair off and continue the prosses until finished this will also give the pork a smoky flavour

WE HAVE A RIG WE BUILT. WE HAVE BIG TUBB THAT WE HEAT WITH A LRGE BUTANE BOTTEL. THERE IS A CAGE KINDA LIKE A UPSIDE DOWN CATTLE CHUTE. WE PUT THE HOG IN IT AND DIP IT, IT HAS A LEVER WHICH MAKES IT EASY. THEN WE HAVE A WHEEL WITH STRAPS OF OLD RUBBER FROM A TIRE OR BLETING THAT TURNS AND SLAPS THE HOG AND TAKES THE HAIR OFF. THE WHEEL IS TURNED BY A 5 HP TILLER MOTOR HOGGED TO AN OLD 4 SPEED TRANS MISSION WORKS GREAT AND IN 10 MINS HOG IS HAIRLESS, MIGHT HAVE TO FINE TUNE A FEW HARD TO REACH PLACES. THESE THINGS ARE ACTUALY MADE AND SOLD, BUT I LOOKED AT ONE AND COPIED THE IDEA.

on hams , middlins jowls and sometimes shoulders i use 7 parts salt and 3 parts sugar . let the meat cool out over night . on hams and shoulders i put 3/4 ounce on , packin on and stuffing it in along the bones . 2 weeks later i repeat . on midlins and jowls ijust frost good and leave 14 days , hams are left how ever many weeks it is thick .it needs to stay 35-40 degrees.

  when meat comes out of the salt i rinse good then scrub with warm water and soft brush .then i hang in the smoke house a few days to let the salt equalize . then smoke with hardwood and sawdust 2-4 days on middlins 7-10 days on hams . middlins are ready to eat then . hams i smear blackpepper on to repel insects , wrap in newspaper , put in ham sack and hang at least through next august .

thats 3/4 ounce per pound that the ham/shoulder weighs .

Alot of that sounds similar but some of it, I've never heard of doing and might have to give you a call and try it out this year.  We are gonna scrape some hogs in the next week or two and I'm going to try and remember the camera.

I'm very interested in this thread I have a question for u guys what the difference between scalding a hog and burning the hair off like pros and cons which one taste better

idk i never singed one , i've heard of folks doing it .

Ok I started this thread later than I should have. I have never tried it until this weekend. This is my experience. The hog was slaughtered 15 minutes before it was scalded. I had a burner set up with a large crawfish pot and water sat at 160 degrees. I tried wrapping sections with a towel and scalding. I let the towel sit a minute and pulled it off and started scraping. After the hog was hung up the hair came off relatively easy after 5 minutes. Within 30 minutes the hair had set. after repeating the steps a few times i gave up. So i resorted to skinning the hog. I know I did a few things wrong but hey you live and learn. I will master it one day

sounds like u may have cooked the skin at the freezing works they use a hot hose this only heats up the area u are working on

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Pig rig Wats a hot hose?

The ears on the hog were red pigrig I do believe I burned him:) as they say live and learn

just an insulated hose from the water souce the ones iv seen use a continuous gas hot water supply

(http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j325/pigrig1/1031471227_photobucket_21693_.jpg) just welded a frame on this old  cast bath and put a couple of gass rings under it