Aging Pork

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inowis

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 15, 2013
3
10
I am well heeled about aging beef.... but I am hearing seeing lots more about pork and aging. High end restaurants. What and how are they doing it? Dry/wet/cut/time? 
 
seen a few pros and a few cons . never have tried it so can't say.
 
The best 'aging' is on the hoof... killing it at the right size and age; dressed about 200 - 240 lbs.   You get the body heat out of it and chilled down to 38°, start cutting!  i've dealt with plenty of 'aged' hogs - it's called half rotten and slimy, left too long in the barn.  Esp boar hogs - OMG what a rotten smell, even fresh killed!
 
The best 'aging' is on the hoof... killing it at the right size and age; dressed about 200 - 240 lbs.   You get the body heat out of it and chilled down to 38°, start cutting!  i've dealt with plenty of 'aged' hogs - it's called half rotten and slimy, left too long in the barn.  Esp boar hogs - OMG what a rotten smell, even fresh killed!

that smell is that musty disgustingness from no castration. when they keep their danglers, boy does it get wrank up in there. lol.
 
 
The best 'aging' is on the hoof... killing it at the right size and age; dressed about 200 - 240 lbs.   You get the body heat out of it and chilled down to 38°, start cutting!  i've dealt with plenty of 'aged' hogs - it's called half rotten and slimy, left too long in the barn.  Esp boar hogs - OMG what a rotten smell, even fresh killed!
Hello, Pops, Newbie here and would like to learn more from your personal experiences with aged hogs. I agree with you on sooner the better to process.  Half rotten and slimy, yeah a little late at that point!  How long have you seen hogs aged hanging chilled and or right at the point of frozen and still been good?

Is it possible to still cure aged Pork Bellies and Hams or does everything go into sausage at this point?  Would the aged Pork fat still be ok to render for Lard as long as it didn't have any funky odor?
 
Once 'aging' for more than 48 hours once chilled, the meat deteriorates rapidly and airborne bacteria grows quickly, taking it from 'fresh' to 'tainted' to 'ripe' to 'spoiled', each a progressive day apart. 2 week old killed pork is rotten. 
 
Once 'aging' for more than 48 hours once chilled, the meat deteriorates rapidly and airborne bacteria grows quickly, taking it from 'fresh' to 'tainted' to 'ripe' to 'spoiled', each a progressive day apart. 2 week old killed pork is rotten. 
Pops ,

Aren't we talking fridge conditions here?
 
When you add up, processing in the mid-west, transportation to regional hubs with storage, transportation to grocery and restaurant distributors with storage then transportation to the end user retail stores and stored...That hog has to be dead 2 weeks, +/-, before it even hits your smoker. If slaughter to rotten is 2 weeks, I wonder how ANY pork is edible? Or is there a diference in sanitation and handling at national packers and at Mom and Pop slaughter/butcher or on farm kill facilities?...JJ
 
When you add up, processing in the mid-west, transportation to regional hubs with storage, transportation to grocery and restaurant distributors with storage then transportation to the end user retail stores and stored...That hog has to be dead 2 weeks, +/-, before it even hits your smoker. If slaughter to rotten is 2 weeks, I wonder how ANY pork is edible? Or is there a diference in sanitation and handling at national packers and at Mom and Pop slaughter/butcher or on farm kill facilities?...JJ

My GUESS is that the meat is almost if not frozen during most of this process.
 
[h3]http://www.thepigsite.com/articles/2364/ageing-and-the-impact-on-meat-quality/[/h3][h3]  [/h3][h3]  [/h3][h3]Effects of Ageing on Pork Quality Attributes[/h3]
08-08-26Pig1.gif


Ageing is one of the main factors that affect variation in tenderness. Pork tenderness increases rapidly in the first 48 hours post-mortem. In leg nearly 100% of the ageing occurs within 4 days post slaughter. In loin, 80 per cent of the total increase in tenderness occurs within 4 days, and 90 per cent within 6 days. Tenderness is improved further by longer ageing for up to 12 days.

08-08-26Pig3.gif

Hip suspension
[h4]Pelvic suspension[/h4]
Pelvic (aitch bone) suspension dramatically increases tenderness, particularly of the high value leg muscles, compared to hanging carcases from the achilles tendon (Figure 1). By hanging from the aitch bone the muscles of the leg are held in tension; this reduces any possible shortening and seems to accelerate the effect of ageing.
 
That's a good web site Dave, I have already visited it in my quest for more knowledge on the whole Pork aging thing vs spoilage?  I also don't hang my Pork like that to age it like they do either.

I did take a few pics of these last two hogs I recently Slaughtered and been butchering myself, Maybe I could start a new thread  with pics of my untraditional method I use for how I go about doing things ?

I didn't join this SMF to start any ugly debate in the correct way in how to do things, I already know the right way in a perfect world scenario. I am trying to learn how I can still achieve the save end results, in being able to do things a little differently to fit my not so perfect situation and conditions.

I am very clean and meticulous in how I go about my slaughtering and processing, that's not the problem I have. It's all those other things that pop up during the day and I can't keep after things to finish, so I will have to stop and come back and resume where I left off last.

I am very fortunate to raise my own Pork, so I want to learn how I can deal with the huge amount of meat all at once, and not have to worry about any waste from spoilage. I am fully aware the clock starts ticking as soon as I squeeze the trigger !
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