Over the Gate

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

We've just had a 5 year old sow turned into sausages and bacon. Everything looks gorgeous, but we're rather disappointed with the bacon. We've so far only tried the Middle BAcon and although it only takes a couple of minutes to grill it, its quite chewy and the rind is far too touch to eat.

Is it our cooking, the cure or the fact the pig was 5 years old that's at fault

Any advice very welcome as we've got a lot of Gammon Steaks and Gammon joints in the freezer too!!

thanks all
M.

chicken feed · Joined: 16 Oct 2009 Posts: 93 Location: cambs

could be the age of the pig we only have pigs of 8-9 months old for bacon and the older ones go for sausages. i could be wrong i am sure someone else will come along with another point of view its all about personal taste.

neathchris · Joined: 06 Apr 2007 Posts: 437

Its the pig, the older the pig the tougher it gets and the stronger the taste.

Not much you can do with a cull sow except sausages or sell at mart or to a dealer.

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

Oh dear - I took the advice of the Butcher

. I assumed she would only be sausages but they said they could do Bacon too.......what a disaster. Really peed off now, cos we've sold some of it and gonna have to now apologise for the quality of it.

thanks for your help folks.
M.

debbie · Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 1768 Location: exmoor

you can use an older sow - we do - but you need a little extra sugar in the cure to soften the meat...it also depends on the cure she used and how long the cure is left on for - the longer it stays the tougher the meat. we turn the loin and part of the belly into bacon, legs into gammon and rest into sausages - oldest so far has been 3 and have had no problems - doing another next week and there is a waiting list as usual for the bacon and gammon.
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www.hiddenvalleypigs.co.uk
Gary Rhodes Local Food Hero South West Champion 2008. Berkshire Pig breeders and Butchery/pig processing and smallholding courses

LadySlip · Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Posts: 710 Location: Lincolnshire

a customer waiting list for a quality product can only be a good thing Debbie.............

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It's not what happens to you in life that matters...It's how you react that makes the difference

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

I'm having to refund a good proportion of the cost to the 4 customers that have had it (we've stopped selling any more of it !)...simply because we feel that its just not up to the quality it should be

. It was cured for around about 12 days (as far as I can work out) and lOOKS absolutely fine - but isn't

We're really disappointed because we put our trust entirely in the butcher and had no reason to think there might be a problem.

debbie · Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 1768 Location: exmoor

sorry but I would go back to your butcher. I don't know the facts of course but mine is dry cured for 5 days with any resulting liquid being drained every 12 hours or so!!
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www.hiddenvalleypigs.co.uk
Gary Rhodes Local Food Hero South West Champion 2008. Berkshire Pig breeders and Butchery/pig processing and smallholding courses

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

debbie · Joined: 17 Feb 2007 Posts: 1768 Location: exmoor

yes, sometimes but mostly dry. When wet curing gammon we only leave them in for 12 - 14 days max and thats whole legs using a cure of 500g of sea salt to 5ltrs of water

I am taking a four/five year old tomorrow. next week is bacon and gammon prep (as well as sausages) this sow is going to comeback around 230kg carcass weight - she will be skinned because of her size and I fully expect to be taking a good layer of fat off her before curing - I really don't expect a problem. Where are you Blinkers? I would happily send you a couple of samples to see what you think, weather permitting.
_________________
www.hiddenvalleypigs.co.uk
Gary Rhodes Local Food Hero South West Champion 2008. Berkshire Pig breeders and Butchery/pig processing and smallholding courses

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

That's really kind of you Debbie - in fact, I'm now hedging my bets that maybe it was the fault of the cure and not the fact the pig was 5 years old. She wasn't a big pig and was quite lean...

We're in South West Wales - but the postal strike may cause a bit of a problem and I'd hate to have it "lost" somewhere between you and here

.... but I'd LOVE to try some and taste the difference - then I can reassure our customers that what they've received this time is not the norm!! We've only ever taken to Pork weight before - never bacon and its kinda put me off having a go at a young Bacon Weight - so some reassurance would be good

neathchris · Joined: 06 Apr 2007 Posts: 437

We are taking some baconers off soon Blinkers, took ours last time to Raglan and it was absolutly fantastic, killed cut cured packed labelled all for about £80-£90 pig.

Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136

danndans · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 5325 Location: aberystwyth

Blinkers we've used dragon foods, they were great. they picked the pig up from tregaron, then dropped it of with us all vacume packed once it had been done. It was more expensive but worth every penny

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Blinkers · Joined: 23 Mar 2008 Posts: 136