Wild Boar Bacon

[Greygoose]

New member-please forgive! Am about to try making some bacon off some shoulder meat from a few 120lb wild boar.Have made great hams in the past in food grade buckets brining with spices and pink salt..Am going to try tossing a few shoulders into the brine this time and smoking them in some maple chips then slicing them into bacon, Any recommendations? Thanks so much!!

 

[tallbm]

New member-please forgive! Am about to try making some bacon off some shoulder meat from a few 120lb wild boar.Have made great hams in the past in food grade buckets brining with spices and pink salt..Am going to try tossing a few shoulders into the brine this time and smoking them in some maple chips then slicing them into bacon, Any recommendations? Thanks so much!!

Hi there and welcome!

I'm interested to see what you turn out. There is likely very little fat on them front shoulders and there isn't a great deal of large whole muscle meat either with them being 120 pounders but I think you can get some good grub out of them.

With there being the shoulder blade and the other bone involved I would recommend injecting some brine all around the bone areas just to ensure it really gets down in there and into the ball joint. With those bones in place I'm not sure you will get much whole muscle meat for slicing like bacon but you will definitely be able to cut chunks and pieces to be more like bacon ends or ham chunks.

I imagine you will end up with more of a ham-like product or possibly Canadian bacon type product than belly bacon, but that is ok because it will taste fantastic!!! :D

Since getting thin bacon-like slices might be a challenge I would think that for safety sake you may want to go ahead and smoke them to an internal temperature of 165F to kill all the micro-nasties just in case you can't get bacon slices and therebye forcing you to need to cook the meat to 165F anyhow. Doing so from the get go would simply save some time should the sliced bacon idea fall through preventing you from easily cooking in a skillet like bacon.

I'm excited to see what you turn out and man I LOVE wild pig pork!
I usually remove the shank from the front leg and then just smoke the whole front leg and have a heck of a meal with that fantastic tasting wild pork, bbq sauce, and bread/rolls for great bbq bread and pork bites!

We expect pictures to be coming soon and best of luck with it all! :)

 

[poacherjoe]

I wanted to do the same thing but the pigs in my area aren't fat enough, I have made some good hams though.

 

[Greygoose]

Hi there and welcome!

I'm interested to see what you turn out. There is likely very little fat on them front shoulders and there isn't a great deal of large whole muscle meat either with them being 120 pounders but I think you can get some good grub out of them.

With there being the shoulder blade and the other bone involved I would recommend injecting some brine all around the bone areas just to ensure it really gets down in there and into the ball joint. With those bones in place I'm not sure you will get much whole muscle meat for slicing like bacon but you will definitely be able to cut chunks and pieces to be more like bacon ends or ham chunks.

I imagine you will end up with more of a ham-like product or possibly Canadian bacon type product than belly bacon, but that is ok because it will taste fantastic!!! :D

Since getting thin bacon-like slices might be a challenge I would think that for safety sake you may want to go ahead and smoke them to an internal temperature of 165F to kill all the micro-nasties just in case you can't get bacon slices and therebye forcing you to need to cook the meat to 165F anyhow. Doing so from the get go would simply save some time should the sliced bacon idea fall through preventing you from easily cooking in a skillet like bacon.

I'm excited to see what you turn out and man I LOVE wild pig pork!
I usually remove the shank from the front leg and then just smoke the whole front leg and have a heck of a meal with that fantastic tasting wild pork, bbq sauce, and bread/rolls for great bbq bread and pork bites!

We expect pictures to be coming soon and best of luck with it all! :)

I forgot to state-these will be de-boned before brining using shank and all.I'll let you guys know how it turns out-promise!Thanks for all the info!

 

[tallbm]

I forgot to state-these will be de-boned before brining using shank and all.I'll let you guys know how it turns out-promise!Thanks for all the info!

I look forward to what you make. I'm sure it will be tasty! :)

 

[Bearcarver]

Sounds Great!! And Tasty!
I'll keep one eye on this thread, and be back for a jealous look-see.
Just be careful, since it's Wild Piggy.

Bear

 

[tallbm]

Sounds Great!! And Tasty!
I'll keep one eye on this thread, and be back for a jealous look-see.
Just be careful, since it's Wild Piggy.

Bear

I heard a story on the radio a couple of days ago that a pack of feral hogs killed a woman around 6am about 50 miles east of Houston in a fairly rural part of Texas. So always be careful with wild hogs whether you are cooking, hunting, or just in the general vicinity of them.

 

[pops6927]

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