Hog

Breakfast, Charcuterie, Cook, Hog, Smoke

Homemade Cherry Smoked Bacon

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Today is the day! Follow these simple steps to forever change your perspective on what this all-American staple is capable of being.

I want to take a moment to thank my original charcuterie mentor Seth Davis over at Crooked Oak Brewing Co. (IG: crookedoakbrewingco) for the friendship, tutelage and support in my quest to get on his level at the charcuterie game.

Homemade Bacon
Homemade Bacon

Homemade Cherry Smoked Bacon

Homemade bacon changes your life forever. Once you discover how easy it is to take ownership of the skills and means by which to produce your own bacon, you'll never look at store bacon the same again. To compare the two would be akin to comparing a Pinto to a Ferrari.
Follow these simple steps to another huge milestone in your culinary liberation.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 7 d
Cook Time 10 hrs
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 20 people

Equipment

  • Stainless steel pellet smoking tube
  • Smokehouse, smoker or other smoke chamber
  • Food scale that measures in grams
  • Meat hooks for hanging the bellied while smoking

Ingredients
  

  • 2 % Salt kosher
  • 1.5 % Sugar granulated
  • 0.25 % Curing Salt

Instructions
 

  • Remove pork belly from packaging, and using your food scale, measure its weight in grams. Ensure you tare the scale if you're placing the belly on a plate on the scale (which you likely will be, to keep the scale clean).
  • Set the belly aside, place a small bowl on the scale, and tare the scale. Then calculate 2% of the weight of the belly, and weigh out that much salt. Move the salt to a second small bowl.
  • With a now empty bowl on the scale, tare the scale again, and add sugar to 1.5% of the weight of the belly, and again, move it to the second bowl.
  • Now, with an empty bowl on the scale again, tare it once more, and add 0.25% curing salt. Please take special care not to botch the math (I've almost done this many times by missing a zero when doing the percentage).
  • Mix the weighed ingredients together.
  • Place the belly in a large ziploc bag, and add half of the weighed out mixture to each side of the belly, rubbing it in well on both sides.
  • (optional) record the weight of the belly and all of the ingredients on the bag for future notes and fine tuning of the cure to your liking.
    Homemade Bacon
  • Remove most of the air from the bag, and place in your fridge for seven days, flipping every day during that week.
  • After seven days, remove the belly, and pat it dry, and use meat hooks to hang the belly in your smoke chamber of choice.
  • (optional) lightly coat the bellies with pepper. I prefer 16 mesh for bacon.
    Homemade Bacon
  • Fill the smoke tube with cherry pellets (or any other pellets you feel like using, but cherry is the best in my opinion), and light one end so it starts smoldering like a huge cigar.
  • Cold smoke for ten hours, ensuring that the temp inside your smoke chamber does not exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If it gets over 90F, remove the bacon, put it up in the fridge, and start again once your ambient temps drop enough (this might have to be at night if you live in a hot climate or its summer). I often fill the water tray in my smoker with ice to help bring the temp down if I'm running too hot.
    After at least ten hours of smoke, you're good to remove the bacon, slice, package and enjoy. Don't be afraid to experiment with longer smoke times or different pellets to make it your own!
    Homemade Bacon
Keyword Bacon, Cold Smoked, Cold Smoked Bacon, EQ Bacon, Equilibrium Cured Bacon, Homemade Bacon, Smoked Bacon
Charcuterie, Hog

Cured Wild Hog Ham

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I couldn’t have imagined when I started this process, that a wild hog (even for me, a consummate fan of all things related to eating wild game) could have become such phenomenally flavorful and savory ham. It all started with the kill, naturally, and his was no ordinary wild hog. As good as your average hog is, this one was the stuff of dreams: a huge sow, fattened on a diet of a local farmer’s sorghum crop, and putting on weight before bearing a litter of bacon seeds. I spotted the sounder to which she belonged enter the field from a distant CRP pasture, and began a 500 yard stalk with the AR. Mind you, at this point I’d been on a dry streak with the hogs, and I decided to give the bow a break and bring down the thunder since I had a mad hankering for wild pork! I kept the wind in my face, and when she looked my direction to try to finally determine what I was, I was 20 yards away and had the drop on her – goodnight Ms. Piggie!

Wild Hog
Sorghum fed 180 pound sow.

I took her home, where she weighed out at 180 pounds, and got to work from there. However, upon butchering her, I discovered just how noticeable the difference was between this pig and the countless others I had killed. Her fat levels were through the roof, and even her strip loin was laced with fat veins!

Strip Loin
Beautifully marbled strip loin!

Truly, if there were such a thing as wagyu pork, this pig would have qualified as such. Needless to say, I was excited! My buddy David had told me about how delicious his first pass at making ham out of wild hogs had gone, so I decided to borrow my brine formula I use for corned beef, and get to it. For the brine recipe, scroll down to the bottom of this post!

After 10 days of soaking in the brine, all that remained was around 10 hours of mesquite smoke, beginning at 160 degrees, and building up to 260 degrees for the final stretch. The idea here is to warm the center of the ham while the outside is absorbing smoke, but not so rapidly that you end up completely drying out the exterior of the ham and making a bark that’s too chewy and bitter.

Wild Hog Ham
Just after removing from the smoke.
Cured wild hog ham
Perfectly spiced and sliced.
Bon Appetit!
The money shot.
Wild hog ham
Into the skillet to pair with yard eggs!

Bon Appetit!

Wild Hog Ham

Perfectly cured, savory wild hog ham. Prepare to never want to grind your wild hog meat again!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 d
Cook Time 10 hrs
Course Main Course
Cuisine Wild Game
Servings 20 people

Equipment

  • Pellet Smoker or Smokehouse
  • Stock Pot
  • Plastic Turkey Oven Bags

Ingredients
  

  • 1 deboned, cleaned wild hog hind leg
  • 1 gallon water
  • 2/3 cup kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
  • 1/4 cup pickling spices
  • 4 tsp pink curing salt
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 pack powdered gelatin

Instructions
 

  • Carefully and cleanly remove the femur from the hindquarter. Then, looking at the now-deboned meat layed out on your cutting board, remove any arteries, glands, connective tissues, and excess fat (a little remaining is ok). Basically, you want to see almost exclusively lean meat by the time you're done.
  • Heat water after adding salt, curing salt, sugar, pickling spices and simmer until all salt and sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature.
  • Place meat in a large plastic turkey oven bag, and then add all of the brine solution to the bag also. Remove air from the bag, twist the top, and then clip the twist with a potato chip clip. Place the bag in some sort of plastic tub to protect against any possible leaks during curing process, and keep refrigerated for ten days.
  • After ten days, remove meat from brine and spray off meat thoroughly. Pat dry on a cutting board, and sprinkle one bag of powdered gelatin to what will be the interior of the ham (where you removed the femur). This will promote adhesion and act like a glue that will help keep the various muscle groups sticking together into a nice finished product.
  • Tie up with butchers twine and smoke in a smoke house or with a pellet smoker for 10 hours over mesquite. Starting temperature should be around 160F, with temps increasing by about 15 degrees per hour up to 260 degrees, then kept there until internal temperature reads 155F.
  • Remove ham from smoker, immediately immerse ham in ice bath for 20 minutes to stop the cooking process, pat dry, and either rest for 24 hours or start slicing!
Keyword Charcuterie, Cured, Ham, Wild Hog
Hog, Hunt

Karnes County Hog Smackdown

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Karnes County Boar

Karnes County is beautiful and full of both good game to hunt and good people. Big thanks to my buddy for having me out! I saw tons of deer, turkey, cranes and a boar who scared off the young deer at the feeder at last light. I wasn’t in the mood to track blood through South Texas cactus country at night unless I was shooting a big buck, so instead of my usual bow shot, in opted to split his wig with the 7mm and get right to cooking my buddy and I a fabulous flame grilled wild hog backstrap dinner! 

Bow, Hog, Hunt

Caper at the Caprock

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This past week/weekend I went on one of the most fun hunts I’ve ever been on. It all started Wednesday when I hit the road after work, picked up my great friend David, and we hit the road, destined for the windswept Caprock Escarpment that rises up from the flatlands east of Lubbock, Texas. Armed with various firearms and my bow, we hit the road – excited beyond measure that we were returning to the massive 6500 are property where we harvested our mule deer last winter.

Once we made it past Coleman, we noticed a roadkilled animal that didn’t look like the typical coon, possum or other smaller varmint we’re accustomed to. Stricken by curiosity, I flipped my Tundra around and went back to investigate. It was a badger! This was only the second one I had ever encountered aside from one in Colorado, and it was completely undamaged aside from a little bleeding from the mouth. I tossed it in the back of the truck, since it hadn’t been there but a number of hours, with the intent of skinning and tanning the hide, and resumed the drive up. Then, as we neared Post, we noticed a huge black boar just off the highway rooting through the grasses next to the shoulder of the road. These all seemed like good omens to me, and a little while after dark, we arrived at the camp house of our host. After quickly unpacking and a celebratory whiskey night cap, it was off to bed to rest up for the day to come.

Thursday morning, we were up before the sun, chowing down on a hearty breakfast of wild hog breakfast sausage and eggs, and down in a creekbed to prepare to call turkey off the roost! Well, the morning hunt was slow….until it wasn’t. David wanted a turn on the box call, and after 20 minutes of intermittent calling – during a period of silence between calls – we were both startled by a gobble that wasn’t but 50-60 yards away! I had told David about how mature toms often come in silently and don’t make any noise until they’re right on top of you, and this was precisely what had happened. Hearts racing, we readied ourselves just in time to see a gorgeous longbeard strut out at about 45-50yds! I told David, who was armed with a Rem 850 Super Mag that the tom needed to come in to 30-35 to be harvested since he didn’t have a full choke on at the time. After strutting out parallel to our position, the tom turned away from us and walked out to about 100yds to drink from the creek. Realizing the imminent risk of this gorgeous turkey not coming all the way back to shotgun distance, I decided to claim my first rifle bird and I sniped him with my AR-15 and a 75gr Hornady Black match round – lights out!

After harvesting the meat, beard and 1 1/4″ spurs off the tom, we started stalking the creek and it was not ten minutes in that we came upon a pair of bedded boars who were intermittently fighting! David and I spread out and used our bird sounds to echolocate without spooking the animals. He always does a hoot owl, and I typically use a quail. When they finally got restless enough to move, it was too late. One ran right toward David and ate turkey shot to the face at 5yds!

After that came a hike to the top of the Caprock and a 200yd running shot on a coyote by me. It took a nose dive behind some bushes on the far side of a deep ravine, and I was unable to make it there for the recovery, but I was glad to have taken out a fawn and turkey killer! We hiked back to the truck, loaded meat, and headed back to camp for a dinner I made of jalapeno mule deer burger David prepared a few months ago. From there it was whiskey and sleep – blissfully unaware of what a big was was coming tomorrow….

When tomorrow came, we were quick getting to the action, with me spotting a group of three turkey and setting up an ambush for David, where I let them get just a tiny glimpse of me, which made them nervous and send them fast walking straight to 25yds from David, where one unlucky fellow ate some #4 shot and was doing the flop promptly! Boom – two turkey on the board, plus a yote and a hog! Then…the front arrived…

…and boy did it arrive. We were on our way back as the wind started whipping, and I had switched to my bow when I heard a rustle at my feet! From right next to me, a growling, massively pissed off badger had appeared, and was making it very clear that all the things you’ve heard about a badger’s temperament were true! Thwack! I couldn’t believe it. I had not only seen two badgers within 36 hours (my second and third ever) but had just been able to harvest one with a BOW! Stay tuned for not only the taxidermy, but the badger meat dish I will be preparing!

Back to camp, badger in the freezer, and off to the east side of the ten square miles we were hunting. We were now on pork patrol at 100yds, so it was AR-15 for me, and 300WM for David. We have a long history of successful “1..2..BOOM”, where we each pop a hog at the same moment, and today turned out no different. After the feeder spun, the hogs were there within ten minutes. Just as we got our rifles ready and I was about to count down to the shot, we were surprised hear a very loud and deep hog groan from right behind the blind!! Another dozen big black sows joined the sounder of mostly oreo colored pigs that were already at the feeder, presenting us with a veritable shooting gallery of no less than 40 hogs! We counted down….BOOM! As they scattered, I started dumping rounds into the group, and then lead the dozen that doubled back and ran straight toward us, strafing rounds into them! When the dust cleared, last light was upon us, and we found three that I had killed right away! With freezing weather inbound on the heels of these 40mph winds, we backed out and decided to collect bodies in the morning when we had better light.

After another great meal of pan fried blue catfish, and a breakfast of sausage and egg tacos, we were back on the east side, and collected another two hogs! We had just laid the smack down on six hogs, two turkey, one badger and a coyote – all within 2 days! A few hours later, the coolers were loaded down with hog meat, camp house was cleaned, our host was profusely thanked for his wonderful hospitality, and we began the 5 hour drive home that was punctuated by DQ Heath Bar Blizzards, watching a deer get hit by the truck in front of us and get punted 80yds and across the whole highway, and lots of potty humor. I couldn’t have asked for a more insanely target-rich environment or better company.

Definitely one for the books!

Hog, Hunt

Hog in a Hurricane

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Y’all aren’t going to believe this, but last night, I killed a 180lb sow with my bow. In the middle of a strip mall parking lot, during search and rescue operations here in Houston. Yes, you read that correctly.

I had just arrived with my buddy Hector, to assist local citizens and first responders with high water rescues and general relief work. As I was sitting in my truck, waiting for my shift to begin on the jon boat we were using to extricate stranded residents from the flooded Bear Creek neighborhood, I was attempting to catch a few winks. I had barely drifted off when I was startled awake by Hector, who was urgently telling me that there was a wild hog right by us.

Groggy and disoriented, I felt the surge of adrenaline hitting my body as my mind processed what I had just been told, and I put on my release. Now, I know what you’re thinking – “Who the hell brings their bow when they drive into the immediate aftermath of a hurricane?!”. Me. I do. Because Texas.

So, I hopped out of the truck, grabbed my bow from the back seat, set my pin to 20yds, nocked an arrow, and started walking in the direction Hector had directed me. Not ten seconds later, I see this big ol’ sow splash her way out of the banks of the floodwater, and begin to trot across Highway 6, right by a group of six LEO’s. I follow the pig – arrow nocked – right on by them as I creep across the highway, where the pig has now entered a strip mall parking lot. I’m pretty sure that they were thinking “To hell with this, if I use my pistol I’ll have a hundred pages of paperwork to do…let’s just watch and see how this plays out!”

Where the hog emerged from the floodwaters.

So, now I have a crowd of a dozen people following behind me, as the pig corners itself in the parking lot of the strip mall and starts getting more agitated and aggressive. My new buddy and fellow rescue volunteer Travis is close behind me and hollers at me to draw. I come to full draw as the pig begins to trot by me nervously, follow her with my pin, and touch off the release with 18 yards between us. BOOM. The sound of the impact sounds like a 2×4 hitting a side of beef, and she instantly looks dazed. She rams the plate glass window of the bridal shop she is in front of twice, turns toward me, and — sort of like the five point palm exploding heart technique from Kill Bill — makes it about five steps before keeling over, dead.

After the heart shot, she didn’t make it but a few yards.
I made a cut in order to remove the heart and verify the shot hit home.

The best part of this story is that after staying up until 4am doing all of the processing of the meat, our evacuees at the church I’m working out of here in Cypress will have fresh carnitas to help warm their spirits after the terrible week they’ve had to endure.

Half of the carnitas, plus the back straps!

I’m so thankful that I was in the right place at the right time, to be able to serve the community, neutralize a threat, and help evangelize the virtues that we hunters hold so dear, as stewards, protectors and providers.