Pinching a penny - Part Deux

[Butterbean]

Had a busy weekend. Things didn't go as planned. Had one fella drop out on the pig butchering project which was all good with me because I think we had about all we could handle. My help was ...... um.....how should I put it politely.... inexperienced and lacking motivation but between David and I we got it done.

Here is a picture of our guest of honor. You can see she is enjoying the attention.



Here is my jury rigged scalding tank some litterbug donated to the cause. She was a bit large for this tank but we improvised and made it work.



Even with the tractor she gave us a good workout.



Some might think this gross but I think many here will find this photo inspirational. Free casings.



Also collected the blood. Added a cup of salt and vinegar to the collection jar and whisked the blood to keep it from clotting. It will be good for 3 weeks.



We broke the pig down and put in the cooler. Bellies went in brine and coppa meat went in a sweet sweet brine.



Started working with the more perishable offal products first. Made Kaszanka first.



Ground meat, seasoned and mixed with groats and blood.



Stuffed in fresh casings.



Finished Kaszanka. Important note on Kaszanka - when they say stuff it lightly they mean just that. What is lightly? I know now for progressively stuffed them tighter and the latter ones burst. Casing needs to be very limp. It will swell and tighten during poaching process. Also, I didn't get as smooth of sausage as I think I could have because i poached to 182F rather than 160F because I had too many irons in the fire. Its good but I think 160F would have been much better.



Finished the day off with souse.





After resting overnight.



Breakfast



I still have a lot to do. Plan is to cut up all the meat and sort by meat type then start the sausage making. I'd do it today but my real job keeps getting in the way and as much as I hate having to work today I will go into work with a new and better attitude because at least I know my job isn't as bad as the poor guy who cleans casings for a living. Not that the job is that bad but I'd hate to think I had to do that for a living.

[Bob K]

Gees in the first pic she looked like she was relaxing before jumping into the Hot Tub in the background

Wow great job...and that made for a long day!

Still haven't tried the free casing rout.

[redzed]

She was a beut! Prime salumi material! And BB, I don't know how you did all that in one day! Do you ever sleep?

[Butterbean]

She was a pretty pig wasn't she? According to the tape she weighed 275 lbs but she sure seemed and looked bigger than that.

It was a long day for sure. We got off on a bad start with a tire on the trailer early that morning. Think Clampetts because I'm sure that's what we looked like sitting on the side of the road with no spare.

I really think it would have been more productive if each person only had one job to do rather than David and I having to do everything. Don't need spectator help that's getting underfoot that's for sure. But it was what it was. I remember my dad talking about pig killing being a neighborhood thing and they would do several pigs in a day but each person just worked one job and they had more experience than either of us. But we got some good meat and lots of casings.

The thing that impresses me about pigs is the lack of waste. When we had finished I bet the 5 gallon waste bucket didn't have but three inches of junk in it. Last sheep I did had a half bucket and deer are even worse. Pigs are awesome animals for sure.