How to age/prepare wild pork.

I see this has been discussed recently about roast pork, however, yesterday I managed to get a wee pig on the ground and have deboned it to small peices of meat. Everything will need to be bbqed or pan fried.

We cooked up the backstrap last night and it was a bit tough. Tbh when we cook shop pork it is also not much different.

Should I vacuum seal it for a week or 2, cook it slowly at low temp? Or marinade it soften the meat up.

I'm pretty green with game cooking, butchery ect so all help is welcome.

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As you can see, it's not a huge animal so I would have thought it would have been more tender.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...34b5410108.jpg

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let it sit in fridge for a few days --to a week... make SURE IT CAN DRAIN.... sitting in blood will send it off in no time at all.
BBQ or Pan fried is possibly hardest way to get meat really tender... slow cooker in one of the commercial sauses,san remo,barkers etc and it should fall apart. back strap is half the meat of a chop..eye fillet being the smaller bit.... FWIW we cooked pork chops two days ago,smaller boar all of 60lb and it was so tender it fell apart...cooked in electric frypan for hour give or take...start cooking then fill pan with HOT water...when it has evapourated off and pan starts to sizzle again,move meat around to get the caramelization and scoffemupdelishimo thats how we cook all our chops. a tenderizing hammer might help too...bum of a beer stubbie works in a pinch.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

let it sit in fridge for a few days --to a week... make SURE IT CAN DRAIN.... sitting in blood will send it off in no time at all.
BBQ or Pan fried is possibly hardest way to get meat really tender... slow cooker in one of the commercial sauses,san remo,barkers etc and it should fall apart. back strap is half the meat of a chop..eye fillet being the smaller bit.... FWIW we cooked pork chops two days ago,smaller boar all of 60lb and it was so tender it fell apart...cooked in electric frypan for hour give or take...start cooking then fill pan with HOT water...when it has evapourated off and pan starts to sizzle again,move meat around to get the caramelization and scoffemupdelishimo thats how we cook all our chops. a tenderizing hammer might help too...bum of a beer stubbie works in a pinch.

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Nice, good info.

Shoud I have left the rear leg as one piece and roasted it?

Do you vacuum seal it while it spends a week in the fridge?

I've heard of people doing the water method for bacon and apparently it's awesome. I'll look into it.

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Low and slow between 95 and 105 deg c
Take it up to 91 deg c for pulled pork , falls apart , wrap in tinfoil after 1st hr

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Originally Posted by Sharki

Low and slow between 95 and 105 deg c
Take it up to 91 deg c for pulled pork , falls apart , wrap in tinfoil after 1st hr

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Oven or slow cooker? Or are you talking slowly on the Frying pan?

The wife is out getting a marinade or sauce so well have another Crack tonight. Maybe throw the rest in the pressure cooker and do a pulled pork after letting sit vacuum packed for a week.

I may have to do a new thread but I'd love to find some good game butchering info. Meat prep, cuts, ect.

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what is fasination with vacumn packing it???? LET IT DRAIN.... so thats a no... placed in bowl with small plate upside down in bottom of bowl with meat on top works ok as any blood can escape from meat and find its way down to base of bowl under plate and away from meat.
yes a rear leg makes a good roast..the perfect condiment for roast pork is apple sauce.... peeled n cored apple,bit of sugar to taste cooked in tiny bit of water,just enough to stop it sticking and then mashed up...3-4-5 minutes for 2 apples in microwave works....tin of apple baby food works in pinch if feeling really lazy and Barkers sell not a bad apple sauce with just a hint of Cinnamin .

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

let it sit in fridge for a few days --to a week... make SURE IT CAN DRAIN.... sitting in blood will send it off in no time at all.
BBQ or Pan fried is possibly hardest way to get meat really tender... slow cooker in one of the commercial sauses,san remo,barkers etc and it should fall apart. back strap is half the meat of a chop..eye fillet being the smaller bit.... FWIW we cooked pork chops two days ago,smaller boar all of 60lb and it was so tender it fell apart...cooked in electric frypan for hour give or take...start cooking then fill pan with HOT water...when it has evapourated off and pan starts to sizzle again,move meat around to get the caramelization and scoffemupdelishimo thats how we cook all our chops. a tenderizing hammer might help too...bum of a beer stubbie works in a pinch.

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bugger you reckoned the tractor mounted posthole rammer was a good a meat tenderiser as any-apart from that an 12lb sledge hammer on the back step rendered most meat juicy.

You can't go to far wrong with anything under 60lb especially if its clean kill.

Ageing or standing is not necessary, will be tender as, without the strong taint that older animals can sometimes have.

Just cook up with out the ridiculous amounts of seasoning and enjoy, the young ones are basically bush chicken.

Marinade, and steam cook for about 6-7 hours. I use soy sauce, olive oil, honey, salt and mixed herbs and seal it in tinfoil while cooking to cook in it's own juices. Very hard to cook some cuts long enough by frying to break the bonds in the meat to the point of melt-in-mouth tender. That's something that is the realm of specific cuts of select-grown beef or certain breads of deer like fallow, and even deer have to be perfectly treated to be really tender. Any adrenaline or lactic acid left in the meat is game over for tenderness...

Pork doesn't need aging like beef or mutton, the way the pork is cooked is usaly the problem, over cooking it is the most common, put a piece of the leg muscle in the slow cooker on low with your favorite flavours for about 6 hours if it's still tuff it's just one of those animals

Thanks team. Here is one of the jars with the pig in it. Pulled pork thanks to my wife. Shelf stable, to be enjoyed at a later date. It smelt incredible and is essentially slow cooked in the pressure canner.

Cheers for everyone's input on this one.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...14e9cc42ed.jpg

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Yep, you can actually do that in the jar with the marinade mixed in by stuffing the cut of pork into the jar with the marinade, herbs, an onion etc and sealing it with a jam jar lid. Chuck it into either the slow cooker or a pot with a cloth in the bottom and simmer/slow cook for a few hours. When it comes out, replace the lid with a proper sealing one and when it cools it will pull down and seal. Nifty way to preserve meat... Apparently if you're a true power and water saver you can put the dishes into the dishwasher, whap a jar of steak in and put it on before dinner. Freshly washed dinner cutlery along with your steak and veg for dinner!

I found boning out the backsteak and flap, then rolling it with stuffing what contained a mix of bread crumbs, dried apricots, onion, sage and butter to bind together then tied together with string and slow roast.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

what is fasination with vacumn packing it???? .. .

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It's not fascination, just science. By removing access to oxygen, the goods ( be they meat or fish) are spared much of the spoilage you normally get and clean meat once vac-packed can be left in the fridge for weeks. I currently have a large roasting dish of backsteak chunks sitting in the fridge and have asked my wife to put them in the freezer tomorrow as I'm off fishing. That 5-7 day total after shooting them def makes for more tender eating.

As all fishermen with vac packers will know, the rate of deterioration in the freezer is massively reduced. My wife discovered a buried pack of gurnard recently- was ten months old and still mint.

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Originally Posted by 6x47

It's not fascination, just science. By removing access to oxygen, the goods ( be they meat or fish) are spared much of the spoilage you normally get and clean meat once vac-packed can be left in the fridge for weeks. I currently have a large roasting dish of backsteak chunks sitting in the fridge and have asked my wife to put them in the freezer tomorrow as I'm off fishing. That 5-7 day total after shooting them def makes for more tender eating.

As all fishermen with vac packers will know, the rate of deterioration in the freezer is massively reduced. My wife discovered a buried pack of gurnard recently- was ten months old and still mint.

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Vacuum packing fish (and meat) for freezing, 100%. I use the vacuum packer on a weekly basis. I wouldn't be without it. Vacuum pack to prevent freezer burn. I'm less convinced on vacuum packing for fridge storage. I like my meat, but especially fish stored dry. That said, I know wet aging for meat is a thing.

In practical terms, I dry age fish/meat in the fridge for 24-72 hours and if it's not eaten during this time, vacuum pack and freeze.

A pig like this size, the best way to cook it into a delicious meal is roast it whole and you do `t need to worry about gamy smells, fire will take care it all. If you do `t have outdoor wood fire oven, then you can do it on open fire, but it take hours to go it done. Years ago, my coworkers in Italy, they got a pig, those poor guys were sitting there from morning till afternoon and finally they can have supper, not a sunny lunch as planned.

As you said you are not very familiar with culinary staffs or outdoor cooking, then we can make it simple, put them into cold water for an hour or more, get rid of those blood, and just boil it but you will need a big pot. Ginger and onions is the ingredient, put salt in 40 mins before it done, and eat with smashed garlic and whatever sauces you like. Good for you. I have `t eaten wild pig for quite a while, it `s really nice.

embalm the bloody meat in a bottle of whiskey /bottle of stout .leave for 3-5days ,then c remove it chuck it in the oven .didnt i tell ya ya get pissed eatin tea!
BTWdoing my TF career one of our scenarios on our SNCOs course was to prepare and BBQ an elephant.now that takes some thinking outside the box!

some good advice on here and some not so- wild pork is tricky and goes of quicker than the fat girl in the corner of the Gore pub - keep it dry and cool - it really should not need aging - if its a good eating pig it will be good - if it is a manky piece of skinny crap well it will eat like that and short of roasting really slowly sorry but not a lot you can do about it - marinating for day in fridge with kiwi fruit give that a try - vacuum packing I must admit have not done wild pork but the idea I find rather scary with wild pork and yet I am a huge fan with venison -its the fact that its not dry that worry's me - when we were out in scrub for months on end and no fridge most of the time just bought back legs home as within two days pork will have gone off even hung in shade - funny stuff to handle allright - must have a lot to do with fat content - so my two cents worth but I rate good wild pork the best wild meat out there - wild pork watercress spuds and dough boys - a feed fit for hunters -

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Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

some good advice on here and some not so- wild pork is tricky and goes of quicker than the fat girl in the corner of the Gore pub - keep it dry and cool - it really should not need aging - if its a good eating pig it will be good - if it is a manky piece of skinny crap well it will eat like that and short of roasting really slowly sorry but not a lot you can do about it - marinating for day in fridge with kiwi fruit give that a try - vacuum packing I must admit have not done wild pork but the idea I find rather scary with wild pork and yet I am a huge fan with venison -its the fact that its not dry that worry's me - when we were out in scrub for months on end and no fridge most of the time just bought back legs home as within two days pork will have gone off even hung in shade - funny stuff to handle allright - must have a lot to do with fat content - so my two cents worth but I rate good wild pork the best wild meat out there - wild pork watercress spuds and dough boys - a feed fit for hunters -

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We are talking about fresh meat here. Fat or lean meat does `t mater, and that `s why cook has became a profession for thousands of years, stated from the first mankind who found salt in the wild and he or she putted on the meat over the fire. Cooking is act

Last few weeks haven’t even bothered recovering any pigs that weren’t real handy to truck on hot days. About a month ago shot two nice pigs. Gutted both, hung one in shade and carried other one out to truck about 50 minutes away. Hung that one in shade, walked back to get other one and carried it out. By the time I got back to truck they were both going off. Fuck that for wasted time. Anyway, pig meat goes straight into chiller ASAP and if not eaten within 3-4 days it goes into freezer. I like game meat to go through rigorous but I trust pork about as much as chicken when it comes to storage.

Fking spellcheck. Last sentence was meant to read rigor mortis.