We're buying a freezer pig

[ani'smommy]

any advice? I will be calling the butcher on Tuesday or Wednesday to have it cut up and packaged. I'm thinking we'll see if we can get the bacon smoked, but I'm not sure if they can do it there or not.

Has anyone done this before?

[kdmama33]

Yep. I did this through my local farmer. Bought a whole pig, the farmer had it processed for me, then I picked up the wrapped packages of pork. Got everything from roast to ham to chops to bacon. Definitely the way to go, IMO.

[ani'smommy]

So did you have the bacon and hams smoked or cured? Did the butcher do that for you?

[AJP]

If you have the butcher cure and/or smoke anything for you, ask about what they use for curing. If they don't do it nitrite-free, you might want to just do it yourself. It's pretty easy to make bacon at home, either cured and smoked (American style) or just cured (like panchetta), and then you can do it nitrite-free and use the kind of seasonings you want (for instance, sea salt or Real Salt instead of table or Kosher salt).

Ask to have all the fat scraps, for making lard or putting in sausage. Also, the cheek makes great bacon, and just gets scrapped unless you specify you want it.

The butcher will probably have some guidance for you, asking you what type of cuts you want.

[ani'smommy]

Thank you so much, that really helps! How do you smoke bacon at home? And thanks for the tips about the fat scraps and cheek! I'll definately ask for those.

[momto l&a]

Make sure you get the hocks smoked. They are wonderul for when you make beans

[AJP]

Well, we have a smoker (the brand name escapes me at the moment, looks like a little refrigerator with an external heating unit), but there are ways to rig smokers at home from found materials. Do you ever watch Food Network? Alton Brown has done a couple of different Good Eats episodes about smoking at home without an actual smoker - one was salmon done in a cardboard box with an electric hotplate, one was bacon done in an old metal locker from a junkyard. You should be able to find instructions with a web search.

[kdmama33]

Actually, we didn't get bacon, as such. I asked for side pork instead, and then cured it myself. The hams are actually just ham steaks, which are not cured, either.

Sounds like AJP has the answers you're looking for.

[ani'smommy]

AJP, so forgive my ignorance, but is bacon "cold-smoked" then? I did a little googleing on the Alton Brown method. Do you think the cardboard box/salmon set up would work for bacon?

[AJP]

I think technically it's hot-smoked. The way we've done it, the bacon reaches 150F, then is cooled before slicing and packaging. I believe cold smoking is under 100F. The book Charcuterie says you can smoke bacon on a charcoal grill as well, by adding a few hot coals to a pan of hardwood sawdust and monitoring the temp. There are also those stovetop smokers, they might work for bacon if you monitor it closely so it doesn't get too hot, and if you have a good vent fan.

I remembered the name of the smoker we have, it's a Bradley - probably not worth it unless you plan to smoke more than just bacon, but it's been worth it for us (we make smoked turkey, pastrami, salmon, etc., in addition to bacon), especially since it's designed in such a way as to reduce the potentially carcinogenic components of the smoke.

[Rachel J.]

I'm planning on getting a whole pig as well (if a whole cow is referred to as a beef is a whole pig a pork?). Just out of curiousity, how many pounds of finished product do you typically get?

[ani'smommy]

I think I was told that the one we're getting is about 250 lbs, and it will come to about a third of that after processing.