Charcuterie

Two weeks ago, Terry saw an ad in the paper for a new butcher shop in Lake Geneva that was selling half hogs at a good price. We were due to take delivery on half of a half of a beef on Feb. 16. I did a freezer space assessment and decided we had room for half of a pig also. (Unlike in math, a half of a half of a beef is not equal to a quarter. If one gets a quarter of a beef, one gets either the front quarter or the back quarter. In our case, we split half with some other people, thus getting half of the front quarter and half of the back quarter.)

I looked at my calendar and found that the only whole working day I had without meetings or appointments in the foreseeable future was Feb. 21. I designated it “out of office” and added “Pig Day” to my schedule.

Terry was out the door early to fetch the pig. The wind was blowing at 50 mph, creating white out conditions in places along the road. I was up early also trying to get the last of my grading done before devoting myself to butchering. Fortunately for me, Terry had some trouble finding the place and had to wait before he got the pig loaded. He got home just as I was finishing up.

“He gave me a small one!” Terry said. “It’s perfect. I hope you don’t mind, but I let him keep the head.”

“Not a problem,” I replied.

I put my coat on as soon as I saw that Terry was back, but he thought he could drag the pig across the snow from the driveway to the basement door by himself. I took my coat off. A few minutes later, he was back. “I need help,” he said. I put my coat on and went up the stairs and out the garage door. Terry’s truck was not in its usual spot, but halfway down the driveway. I went back in the house and out the downstairs door, where Terry had been waiting.

The problem was that the pig was in a giant plastic bag, and the weather was too cold to be without mittens. We couldn’t get a good grab. We hoisted, moved a few feet, and set the pig down to get another hold. Terry didn’t watch where he was stepping and fell on a patch of ice. Half lifting, half dragging, we got the pig around the house and hoisted up to the table Terry made from plywood and sawhorses.

The pig after Terry cut the giant plastic bag away

He took his filet knife and cut the meat around the ham. He put a new blade in his reciprocating saw and cut through the bone. We put the ham in a large garbage bag. If we do this again, we will leave the ham and belly with the butcher for brining and smoking. We didn’t know ahead of time that that was an option, and Terry did not wish to make an executive decision. He’ll take those cuts back tomorrow. I’ve tried to make our own bacon and ham. It was difficult, time consuming, and did not yield a good product.

Cutting off the ham

The pig was easier to handle without the ham. We carried it easily into the house with the bag still under it and flopped it on the paper-covered countertop. Terry took the belly off next, followed by the sausage meat from the shoulder. I mostly held the carcass to keep it from falling on the floor. Terry has a tendency to lose track of edges.

The pig, minus ham, on the kitchen counter

Separating the belly from the ribs

The meat wasn’t as stiff as Terry would have liked. We moved all of it back outside to chill while we took a lunch break. Even though we’d had this on the schedule for two weeks, I had never inventoried the sausage ingredients. Terry rested while I went through the recipes. I was a little low on red pepper flakes, dry mustard, and parmesan cheese. I had no parsley whatsoever. I went upstairs to confer with Hilda, which is a major convenience of having combined households. Hilda’s parsley was beyond salvageable. She volunteered to run into town.

Meat chilling outside: ribs in bowl on left, skin and extra fat in bowl in the back, the spinal column in the middle, and sausage meat on the trays

Terry and I ground the sausage meat while she was gone. The sausage meat wasn’t as cold as it should have been for easy grinding. Besides, the sun was coming around to the west where the meat was sitting outside. We put the spinal column (I’m sure there is a less biological term for it) in two garbage bags and put it in the chest freezer. I chopped garlic and ground up fennel seed and red pepper flakes for the first batch of Italian sausage. When Hilda got back, she chopped the parsley while I made a guess at half of the ground pork. Our recipe was for 3.5 lbs of ground meat. It turned out that I had divided the meat almost exactly at 7lbs 4 oz. in each half. We made two batches of Italian sausage and two of bratwurst. Hilda and Terry put the Italian sausage in casings while I mixed the bratwurst.

Mixing the ground meat and spices

Taste test patties

Sausage in casings

We wrapped the sausage in two-packs for the freezer and cleaned up that mess. Hilda went back upstairs. Terry got his saw out again and cut the backbone in half for ease of handling. We began cutting pork steaks. That didn’t go very well. I suggested we just cut the rest of the anterior end up to where the ribs were straighter for a roast. We then cut pork chops until I was afraid I was going to lose a finger. He boned the last two chops and cut them in half with a knife. We cut the chops off the posterior half of the spine and left the rear end for another roast. 

Roasts, ribs, and pork steaks, left; chops, right.

Hilda came back down for help with the plastic wrap. She kept her hands clean to cut the wrap while I wrapped the meat. Terry worked on clean up. I put the meat on trays to chill in the refrigerator overnight. To prevent large ice crystals in the meat, one wants the meat to freeze as quickly as possible. For that to happen, it helps to have the meat as cold as one can get it before one puts it in the freezer.

On Saturday, I put the meat, still on the trays, in various freezers. This morning, we bagged it. All done.