Can you improve wild hog by hanging it for a few days?

[GregLaROCHE]

I ask this question seriously. I usually let pig meat sit in a cool spot for a day or two, so the meat tightens up and is easier cut. Not to age it. Could I improve it if I left it hanging longer?

[1911sw45]

I believe not. Sure not going to help with the taste. We always skinned and processed the meat as soon as possible.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Rub down with a thick layer of non-iodized salt, brown sugar, and a pinch of tenderquick before aging!

[nueces5]

I think you have to take out and process the viscera as soon as possible. The intestine contains bacteria, and it is not good to let them grow in the meat that one is going to eat.
A few years ago, I was talking to a meat processing specialist and he told me that the ideal is that once processed (eviscerated), they should be left hanging in a refrigerator for 7 days before consuming them.

[MT Gianni]

USDA wants at least 40 F for high temps and I think most lockers hang for a week before cutting. Hide and internals are all pulled within minutes of killing. I never thought taste improved a lot but believe you have a much more tender product. I know with beef Prime hangs almost 40 days and is cut with just a bit of mold showing. The mold is wiped and cleansed. BTW, most of what is sold in stores is choice not prime. The flavor from that process is much improved but it is graded as to fat content and sorted prior to the hanging cooler.

[kungfustyle]

It doesn't take much to ruin a pig. Kill it, gut/skin it and get it processed asap. Even a processor can ruin one. Soak it in buttermilk or use some other tenderizer before you cook it. MHO. Good luck. Once it's skunky there is no amount of sage that will cover that flavor.

[Shawlerbrook]

Smoked or sausage.

[iomskp]

I worked as an Electrician at a meat processor they would hang the animals after skinning gutting and splitting in half I think at 4 Deg C if it was colder the meat was to hard if hotter they where too loose, with the meat works it was all about speed of breaking down the carcass.

[GregLaROCHE]

I always marinate in red wine, garlic, salt and pepper for 12 to 24 hours before cooking it. I cook in down real slow until it falls apart. Towards the end I add onions, carrots and potatoes. Sometimes some herbs too and extra garlic at the end.

[Jeff Michel]

Hogs are cut the next day following slaughter, you cannot "age" pork. If your referring to the "musky" smell found when you deal with boars, this is referred to as "sexual odor" in inspection parlance. These are retained by inspection for a couple days to see if the smell dissipates. If it smell is still noticeable, it animal is condemned as inedible. Usually, the smell isn't very noticeable and the carcass is passed. The problem is, most mature hogs, are used in further processing, think lunch meat, fresh and cooked sausage, etc. The sexual odor (and taste) is passed on to the finished product and you can imagine how that would be received by the end user. Not a food safety issue, just quality. Out of the couple hundred thousand hogs I've inspected, I doubt a hundred were condemned for sexual odor.

[JWFilips]

If it is still alive I would think it would only make the meat tougher!

[jmorris]

We often field dress and cutout the tenderloins because they are right there and cook them that evening.

Still the best tasting part IMO.

[MaryB]

Hogs are cut the next day following slaughter, you cannot "age" pork. If your referring to the "musky" smell found when you deal with boars, this is referred to as "sexual odor" in inspection parlance. These are retained by inspection for a couple days to see if the smell dissipates. If it smell is still noticeable, it animal is condemned as inedible. Usually, the smell isn't very noticeable and the carcass is passed. The problem is, most mature hogs, are used in further processing, think lunch meat, fresh and cooked sausage, etc. The sexual odor (and taste) is passed on to the finished product and you can imagine how that would be received by the end user. Not a food safety issue, just quality. Out of the couple hundred thousand hogs I've inspected, I doubt a hundred were condemned for sexual odor.

I have gotten boar bacon buying cheap on sale bacon... had to throw it away and it stunk up the house after I cooked some of it...

[Lloyd Smale]

just had a sale this weekend at the local store here. Bacon in a 10 lb box for 11.99. Yes it wasn't as pretty as Oscar meyer and some is thick (which I prefer) and some thin but for a little over a buck a lb I can live with it. I bought 5 boxes. I paid more then that a lb to the butcher who cut up my last whole pig just for the labor of making it and me providing the meat! Ive bought bacon like this for a couple years now and have yet to get a bad batch. Matter of fact my wife says she prefers it to the brand names.

[Boaz]

I worked on kill floors back in the 70's . To make it simple ...you can age beef if temperature is controlled but not pork . With pork you kill and chill (if possible) and process as quick as possible . Chilling preserves and makes it MUCH easier to make nice cuts of meat .

[Silvercreek Farmer]

just had a sale this weekend at the local store here. Bacon in a 10 lb box for 11.99. Yes it wasn't as pretty as Oscar meyer and some is thick (which I prefer) and some thin but for a little over a buck a lb I can live with it. I bought 5 boxes. I paid more then that a lb to the butcher who cut up my last whole pig just for the labor of making it and me providing the meat! Ive bought bacon like this for a couple years now and have yet to get a bad batch. Matter of fact my wife says she prefers it to the brand names.

Wow! Modern industrial farming/processing is making it cheaper and easier than ever to commit death by bacon! Even doing my own butchering, I can't raise a pig for that!

[nannyhammer]

Biggest thing I've found with wild hog is to minimize stress before killing. The ones I've butchered that were just walking through the woods were five times better than the ones killed after being bayed with hounds. Pork was the meat of choice for many of ancestors because you could easily raise and butcher it yourself without the need for aging it.

[MaryB]

just had a sale this weekend at the local store here. Bacon in a 10 lb box for 11.99. Yes it wasn't as pretty as Oscar meyer and some is thick (which I prefer) and some thin but for a little over a buck a lb I can live with it. I bought 5 boxes. I paid more then that a lb to the butcher who cut up my last whole pig just for the labor of making it and me providing the meat! Ive bought bacon like this for a couple years now and have yet to get a bad batch. Matter of fact my wife says she prefers it to the brand names.

Store near me use to sell it like that... now nobody carries it. I would grab 30-40 pounds and break it down into 1 pound packages and vac bag and freeze. The ripped up/broken pieces went into a 3-5 pound bag for making a batch of baked beans.

[Lloyd Smale]

just what I do mary. pieces are good for beans, mac and cheese, pizza and many other things.

[Lloyd Smale]

Wow! Modern industrial farming/processing is making it cheaper and easier than ever to commit death by bacon! Even doing my own butchering, I can't raise a pig for that!

Yup I used to by whole hogs and have them butchred but found I was costing me about twice what pork in the store cost. Had to laugh. I was talking to the guy I got my hogs from about a year ago. Hes the local mechanic and his dad and him run the farm. Told him I was getting bacon for 12-13 bucks a 10 lb box. He told me the next time he saw me that he went and bought 5 boxes himself and is going to use the meat hed have made into bacon for himself as sausage meat because he couldn't grow his own hogs and end up with bacon any cheaper. You can still save money today buying a half a cow or a full cow and having it butchered but not pigs. The guy that I talked about told me a while back that they switched to what he called hippy pigs, grain fed with no hormones ect because he just cant compete with regular old pork in the store anymore.