whole hog!

[Al_Smith]

On the hoof or already processed ? FWIW if you watch it you can get some deals on pork except smoked hams and bacon .For example in larger packages I can find center cut chops that figure out with the veggies etc less than $2.50  a meal for two people .Loins are much the same if you watch for them .About once per month I stock up because with only the freezers on two refridgerators don't have that much freezer space .
Bulk chicken breasts are often a good deal .There are no deals on beef that I have found .Fact I think it's a better deal if you want a steak is to eat out .

[aigheadish]

Thanks Tom, that helps, though now I'll have to look up what some of those cuts are, it gives me some nice preparation!

These pigs are on the hoof. I'm not terribly sure if it'll work out to be a good deal or not but I like the idea of having a freezer full of meat should times get weird. 

I buy steaks at Sam's club and I always feel like I'm getting a decent deal for a tasty steak. 

[Chuck White]

Butcher shops usually have "cut suggestions" posted, based on your family size!

[Don P]

We're kind of in the same boat with just 2 of us, but we found another couple and split half a steer... I guess that'd be a quarter  :. It does take 2 fridges and a freezer with the garden.

There has been a pack of smoked bacon ends and pieces the neighbors dropped off and i was batching it tonight. Cracklin bread with a manly portion of cracklins ;D.

[tule peak timber]

I just tell the butcher that I want two pound portions on everything except the roasts, and those in half. We infrequently buy 4h animals to support the kids and a lot of it is given away as gifts to friends and family. The processing people have a list, but I don't ask for it, as I figure that they know what they are doing. I do my own birds and sometimes goats and lambs and it really shows like amateur hour :D

[Tom K]

I have found most of the first time customers have a similar cut order, after you've done it a time or two and start to realize which cut's you do and don't use and start to tailor the cut order to suite how you use it.

I always tell my customers if they are looking for cheap meat I wasn't the guy to buy from. I charge a fair price for a premium product, if cheap meat if what they want they are better off shopping the sales flyers. Beef right now may be the exception, but I have only raise our beef price by $0.10 in the last 5 years.

[Al_Smith]

Cutting meat is not that big of a deal .In my case being in the FFA in HS I placed 7th one year in the Ohio state judging contests and 8th the year prior .My dad among other lessons taught me how when I was a young  teenager .I've lost track of how many deer I'd cut up  .Saying that I never wanted to be a meat cutter other than that small amount .However feeding a family of seven and enough for two people (old ones ) is a lot different . I still have that same skinning knife and meat clever my great grand father made over 100 years ago and the knife will still take an edge you could shave with .Those and his machinists tools have passed through 4 generations  and will continue after my time comes .

[tule peak timber]

Fish filleting, I can hold my own. Not so much a butcher though!

[Al_Smith]

I've never filleted a fish in my life .Might sound odd but that's a fact .

[TroyC]

Just wondering how could somebody live their whole life without filleting a fish? Just asking for a friend...

[Al_Smith]

Oh I've got a fillet  knife and who knows I might use it yet but first I'd have to catch a fish .I haven't drowned  an earth worm in decades . :D.

[K-Guy]

Just wondering how could somebody live their whole life without filleting a fish?

Easy
I love fishing but I don't eat them, not to my taste. If I keep them for friends or family, they get them gutted but whole.

[sawguy21]

I went with a retired co, he loved fishing but wouldn't eat them much to my amazement.:D Right now I am enjoying home canned pacific Sockeye in a sandwich, it is some good!

[aigheadish]

I should be placing my order this evening. Some will be sent to a smoker he knows so it'll be a few weeks until that's available, but it's possible I have fresh pork this weekend? I'm not sure what to expect there.

[Al_Smith]

I've tried on several occasions to eat salmon and trout but they are far too "fishy " for me .Something like the milder types such as lake perch or walleye are much more to my liking .Salmon patties are just about the only way I'll eat them .

[tule peak timber]

I feel lucky to eat fish every other day, sometimes every day. My wife is the same way. Let's face it when I sea food -I eat it.......
 Tide pool soup of snails and limpets, shellfish, squid, yummmmm.

 

[K-Guy]

The more you eat fih, means more beef and pork for me. Sounds like a fair trade to me. Enjoy!!! ;D

[tule peak timber]

Me commercial longlining off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. We fished thousands of hooks in a 20 hr. day, cleaned and packed 5 days in a row to fill the boat.

 

[Southside]

So you just went fishing because you had noting else to do?  Basically for the halibut?  :D  :D 

[tule peak timber]

Nah , haha, because I like having no sleep! :D

[aigheadish]

Welp, I went and picked up my pig, this past Friday. I'm not sure how I feel about the process. The processor, apparently, buys his pigs from someone else, and does the butchering or processing (is there a difference?) in his garage. The transaction left a bit to be desired, but turned out ok. The guy, while well intentioned, did not have his act together as much as I would have liked. I got the impression, when I was talking to him on the phone, placing my order, that maybe it'd turn out a bit sloppy, and it did. He said he was taking notes of the orders for me and my neighbor and he missed a bit for both of us. We both ordered some hams that ended up turning into sausage, we didn't get any brats because his machine broke, and some pork loins never showed up. 

Part of the deal was he was fighting the cold snap we got, which ruined some of the meat, he said it looked frostbitten so he didn't want to sell it. 

Now, I've got a mess of roasts (which I think I can turn into pulled pork), a couple stacks of ribs, boneless pork chops, and more sausage than I can imagine, and some bacon is being smoked and I'll get it in a few days. 

The porkchops are pretty tasty, but I haven't eaten a chop in more than 30 years, so I didn't know how to cook it, turns out I should cook it much longer on the grill. I tried some of the sausage and felt it was fine but nothing special. 

Now, I don't know what to do with all this sausage... Anyone have good sausage ideas beyond just pattying them up or using them in sausage gravy?

[rusticretreater]

I know that the fella that makes Turduckens uses sausage between the layers of the bird meat.  You could probably roll some up in venison.  Meat lasagna also comes to mind.  Instead of hamburger pie make sausage pie.  Zantarains rice kits(cajun) are good for adding sausage to.

[barbender]

That sounds like someone I wouldn't use again.

[Tom K]

There can be some confusion with pork loins. Your boneless pork chops are your pork loins. Some guys will cut one side into chops and leave the other whole, your guy probably just cut them all into boneless chops.

If you got your ham smoked and cured, it will come in with your bacon. If you ordered it as a country ham (plain) then it may have gotten ground.

I prefer my chops cut a little thicker and cook them more like a steak, just a touch longer. You only need 145 degrees for pork, 150-160 will get you cooked good and still be real moist and tender.

How is your sausage seasoned? Breakfast (typically salt, pepper, sage) Itailian, brat, ect?

[Tom K]

The frost bite comment is interesting. I'm not a medical expert, but doesn't tissue need to be alive in order to die?  So whoever dropped the ball on letting them get frost bite before they were killed should be dealing with that issue, and you need to make sure you didn't pay for the drop on that trim.