Yesterday, I went to collect our pork from the farmer - 4 pigs worth. As you can see, it pretty much filled the kitchen (much to the fascination of the dog - don't worry, they were in plastic bags).
I portioned it out into one pigs worth for us, our landlady and each set of parents. This meant everyone ended up with the following:
20 pork chops
10 roasting joints of various sizes (some HUGE!)
liver and kidneys
one huge 5kg bag of sausage mince
4 ham hocks (lovely with lentils in a soup)
one tenderloin
two huge bacon joints (basically a large rectangle which we will slice into bits, cure and make bacon out of)
We had a whole leg too, which Oli wants to air cure and make parma style ham out of.
It has all gone in the freezer for now and we will gather the ingredients (vast amounts of sugar/salt, smoking chips, juniper berries, rusk and sausage skins) that we need to start the ham and bacon curing and sausage making bonanza.
I politely refused the heads and the trotters, though we were offered. I know it is a waste, but with only two of us, we will struggle to eat the above before it goes off - without having to go through the grisly business of making brawn (belurgh!) and cooking trotters. Lets face it, nobody eats these out of choice, do they?
Pork supposedly lasts 3 months in a freezer (although our last lot was OK after 6) before developing a strange metallic tang.
What a great way of buying your meat, in bulk and local. We had half an organic lamb just before Christmas, shared with a work colleague. The lamb was raised on a farm less than 5 minutes from our house. We've enjoyed every bit we've had so far and still have a few things left.
ReplyDeleteCor, my turn to be jealous... We may have to invest in a new freezer before we foray into the world of pigs by the look of it as ours is just about big enough for a box of ice pops and a bag of frozen peas. I have to say I have never had trotters before but would really like to try them. I don't think there's a lot of meat on them, but they are suppose to be really good. Are you thinking of making any salami? That's definitely something I want to do, as well as Parma style ham. Need to get some pigs first though, I suppose...
ReplyDeleteThe chinese eat trotters, don't they - I believe there are some interesting recipes out there. We've tried them once, and I have to say weren't that impressed. I guess it's all down to personal taste!
ReplyDeleteWe've done the whole lamb thing before - and have talked about going on halves on a pig with friends, but haven't got there yet!
That will be us in a couple of weeks. We will be keeping one for ourselves, so i am frantically trying to empty the freezer. I think I will try making brawn and trotters (HFW has a fab recipe which i have used with belly) i alos want the back fat for lard. Have fun xx
ReplyDeleteOnly 3 months - hmmm I tend to have meat in the freezer for a lot longer than that, pork included, and have never noticed any problems! Bon appetit!
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