Removing hair from a pig

[abunaitoo]

Normal way is hot water and knife.
I saw on youtube someone burned it off.
Has anyone tried it????
Seems to me it would be faster, but the smell would "not be good".

[GRUMPA]

I did the propane torch only 1 time, it works real well, just rinse after your done.

[Teddy (punchie)]

We did one wood ash and old bath tub steel got water hot almost boiling. Build fire right around tub water got hot got about 4 handfuls of wood ash in water shot pig. Let bleed out and place in water at which point we waited just a little time until hair started to lift. removed hair and cleaned any hair that was left by burning off.

[victorfox]

Where I grew we did the hot water knife scrape routine. But other two common ways was to set fire on a pile of corn straw (from the ears) then scrape with knife where it was burnt. And a propane torch worked too. I prefer the water method the crackling are cleaner and not spot burnt.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I heard a funny story about removing hair from a possum.
A friend told the story about her Mother, so it must be true.
The friend's Dad pastored a small church in Alabama, and times were hard, so someone gave him a possum to eat. He put it up to feed it and clean it up. While he was working off one day, his wife decided to kill and cook the possum for supper. She didn't know how to get the hair off of it after killing it, so she got out her husband's razor and shaving soap and lathered the possum up and shaved it.

Leon

[DougGuy]

I used the round scrapers after a hot water bath burning firewood under an old bath tub, and actually shaved the facial area and the ears which are nearly impossible to scrape, worked pretty good.

[Blackwater]

Leon, that IS funny! Thanks! Friend of mine recently posted a pic of him with a blow torch singing the hair off. If I were making bacon, though, I'd probably want to go the wood ash route. Should bring the hair out by the roots. Don't believe even the roots would add much flavor if cooked well!

[victorfox]

We would always keep an old safety razor around for detail work on pigs...

That was a cool story about the possum shaving... Remember when I was a kid Dad asked to kill and clean some chicken. We always dip them in hot water makes work easier. But being a inexperienced kid I proudly cooked the skin and when pulling the feathers i also pulled a lot of skin. And proudly broght them for my father to open them. When he saw the disaster. He sighed deeply and proceeded to skin the chicken of the little that was left... The I grew more and learnt how to do the whole job...

[mozeppa]

first thing.....get Hillary in a headlock.....then use a very sharp knife to......what?....oh....nevermind.

[JWT]

first thing.....get Hillary in a headlock.....then use a very sharp knife to......what?....oh....nevermind.

I thought it was a Hilary thread until I opened it too...

[Hamish]

Scrape after dipping with Mason jar rings and then the propane torch.

[DougGuy]

Don't believe even the roots would add much flavor if cooked well!

That's why they invented Texas Pete!

[country gent]

We had round scrapers for this job, sort of domed and they were sharpened on a flat stone in a cirular or figure 8 pattern. They would scrape a scalded pig down quick. If memory serves they were around 3" in dia sheet metal around 1/16" thick and domed 1/2" -3/4" a bolt or screw held them to a wood handle. I have seen a couple pieces of glass used, a knife sharpened very sharp also. The scalding is the important part as it loosens the hair and softens it. We scalded chicken it made them easier to pluck as it loosened the feathers.

[victorfox]

We never used anything but any kitchen knife!? But it was sharp. We would heat water in wood fire using a 50 gallon drum (200 liters I'm trying to convert by heart)�� cut in half and used a small pan to pour hot water to small patches. The skin shrink then we start scraping. After the main job is done both sides (did either over a work bench or table and if the pig was too big on the ground) we ran a sharp knife on those parts still hairy or the razor I mentioned.

[Blackwater]

The last real old-fashioned "Hawg killin'" I ever went to was way back when I was in high school, and was at my Uncle Lehman's which was next to our land. He did it much as Country Gent describes, and afterward, they used the white hardwood ashes to make lye soap. Uncle Lehman was so "tight" (with money) he squeaked when he walked, but it was still mostly just to see if they could still do it the old way. We really ate good that night, and for a while afterward. Can't recall how many hogs we killed, but it was enough that all there really benefitted from it, and whoever they invited to dinner! Over the next several days, they made sausages from the ground stuff and scraps, and used the intestines, cleaned VERY thoroughly. It was a real education. I'd read about that stuff, but this was the only time I recall seeing it done after I passed about 9 yr. old, and even then, it was easier to go to the store and buy the stuff. But the stuff you make yourself, or your family does, always tastes "better," just from having had a hand in it all. I was elected to cut the wood and keep the fire going just so under the very large old cast iron pot with the little legs on the bottom. A good time was had by all, and some of the best part was the women arguing over the recipes! All I could do as I kept the wood chopped and the fire fed was lick my chops in anticipation of the feasts to come! And they DID, too!

[w5pv]

We use to scrape the hogs but starting about 20 years ago I would hang them by the snoot and strip them a bout every 2" and about 1/4 deep with a box knife and then take a pair of catfish skinning pliers and pull the hide off.Much faster than scraping and the cracklins was still good without the rhine.

[bangerjim]

Hair removal is one thing.......lipstick on a pig is another!

[trapper9260]

We always skin them and done with it.

[popper]

Don't know why anyone would want to take the hair off a possum (or pig) but the wood ash & water makes lye which is commercially used to remove cattle hair when you want the hide. Not sure I want to eat anything dipped in lye.

[Wayne Smith]

Don't know why anyone would want to take the hair off a possum (or pig) but the wood ash & water makes lye which is commercially used to remove cattle hair when you want the hide. Not sure I want to eat anything dipped in lye.

Better leave the olives alone, then!