Thursday, February 23, 2012

Going Whole Hog!

Literally.

Normally we only get 1/2 a hog each year, but this year the guy we get our hog from had an "excess" of piglets (i.e. the boar got out of his pen) so we agreed to take the entire animal.

Although I wish I could take credit for this magnificent
work of art, it was just a pic I saw online.
"Our" hog went into the butcher last week and I got the call yesterday that the fresh meat would be ready for pickup anytime.  The bacon and ham will have to wait a bit.  But we'll still have plenty of sausage right away.....or more like a plethora.  (...would you say I had a "plethora"?.....anybody remember that line from Three Amigos?)

As much as I love, love, love bacon, I'm also a sausage freak.  And since I cannot do much about upping the amount of bacon we get from the hog (oh wouldn't it be just heaven if you could get an entire hog in bacon???), I do have some control over the amount of sausage we get.

So I got one shoulder and one ham made into sausage.  Yes.  I "ruined" a perfectly good ham in order curb my cravings for breakfast sausage.  Paul claims that this was not what was planned when we were discussing how to have the hog cut up, but I think he misunderstood, or at least underestimated my desire to have as much sausage crammed into my freezer as space would allow.  


Anyways, the last ham we had cut into 1" steaks and it lasted almost a year, so I figured we really didn't need that second ham anyways.


That's my story and I'm sticking to it!



Paul's Take
There was no "misunderstanding".  We can talk, discuss, yap, chat, whatever about something and she just goes ahead and does whatever she wants anyhow.

12 comments:

  1. We took a whole hog the last time too and are still enjoying it. Here might be something to consider. Try getting one ham just ground like hamburger. It makes delicious sandwiches, I also then add certain spices and make my own Italian sausage and if I run out of breakfast sausage do the same thing using sage, pepper, hot pepper.

    I also combine it with ground beef for meat loafs.

    Our whole family wishes the entire hog could be made into bacon too!

    Happy eating.

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  2. ummmm...bacon (think Homer Simpson)

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  3. MMMM, bacon, indeed! And if the ham steaks lasted almost a year...for SURE you need more sausage!

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  4. I don't blame you one bit, sausage is so versatile, can be precooked and frozen for quick dinners and soup add ins on busy nights, plus it's AWESOME, hahaha. Ham, well, it's a holiday thing for us since I don't like dealing with chopping up all the leftovers and figuring out what to add it to :)

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  5. I like gld's idea to just have ground ham/pork...it would be pretty versatile that way!
    Did you mean "a plethora of pinatas"? LOL!! Love that movie!

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  6. I love that sausage cabin pic.... my Hubby would like one of those. :o) Well, I don't think one can have too much food in the freezer. We easily use up 2 pigs a year around here, and that is with "rationing" the bacon and sausage to make it last. Hubby has pondered raising a pig and having it all made into sausage. MMMmmm.

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  7. Carolyn,
    This could be the year that I too get at least 1/2 a hog. And a "BACON Hog" would be so great!
    When and if I get the Turkey's I want to raise for the freezer, I will get ground pork to add to ground turkey and to add to ground Rabbit too!
    I just got a 5 lb box of "Thick sliced Bacon" at the locale store, $13.99! I got 15 freezer bags of 5 slices each, That should fill my Bacon need for a few meals!
    Tom

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  8. It's funny how people who are new to ordering "on the hoof" are so surprised that they can't get 100# of bacon and 50# of pork chops. A full-bacon hog would be a sight to behold. Sort of the nightmary kind. Ah, Paul. Keep up the good fight...LOL

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  9. I always liked "happy wife, happy life!"

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  10. Carolyn, oh my goodness. It doesn't matter. You've got bacon! And sausage! And all that yummy pig meat! I'm envious.

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  11. Not that I don't like bacon (does ANYONE not like bacon?) but ham, pork chops, pork steaks, pork roast, oh my. I do love pork. I think it's my favorite meat. Wish we had a whole hog coming soon to our freezer!

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