The Texas BBQ Forum

Going to shoot a piggy this weekend and wanted to try my hand at this. Can anyone give me some pointers making bacon with wild pigs?

You need to talk to TXDragon! viewtopic.php?f=47&t=21994

Andrew, if the hog is large enough they make fine bacon. Most of the wild hogs killed around here are not large enough to have very thick belly's.
Txdragon did do one here a while back, looked mighty fine. check the link TeX posted. CF

It's definitely doable. Wonderful

Hello and welcome!! I got lucky with the pig I got the bacon from 'cause she was a big one. I pulled most of the side meat, killing my ribs, but had a nice amount for bacon, if you looked at the thread. If you've ever made bacon before, the process is the same, EXCEPT the fact you're dealing with wild hog. I have noticed that the meat from these animals is very inconsistent on spoilage time. Fridge time; I have had feral meat spoil in 48 hours, and I have had it last for 3 weeks+ without the slightest indication of going bad. All a matter of the stress they go through at the time of death. I recommend using your pink salt in the initial dry rub (if you follow my process posted), to attempt to curb premature spoilage, and get these things processing ASAP. Any questions, feel free to ask them here or shoot me a PM. I've done all sorts of feral goodies from bacon to ham! Happy hunting, I expect to see pictures!

TXdragon thanks so much, especially about the spoilage issues. I'm going hunting Monday and hopefully will bring back a porker or two. Tomorrow I will get all my ducks in a row so I can start the bacon process immediately.

Smoking questions: how hot was the smoke and for how long?

I love salting meat. From my bear in the picture below I made a ham and some corned beef. I can't wait to try pig.

I do my best to maintain less than 200 deg for about 10 hours. The heat range was anywhere from 150-180. I had a VERY small fire in my little pit of only about 2-3 small mesquite chunks at a time. And by small chunks, I mean no bigger than a tennis ball lol. Heat spiked a few times, but I'd raise the lid a bit every 5 min or so to let some excess heat out.