I've got half a pig... now what.

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I've got half a pig... now what.

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Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 7:21 pm Post subject: I've got half a pig... now what.

Took delivery of a half a pig on Thursday night from local farmer, all nicely jointed and in labelled freezer bags. Have bung said beast in the old freezer and can cope with the obvious bits like chops, leg joints etc, but...

Have got half a pigs liver; since I'm the only one likely to want to try liver and bacon I thought making a paté would be nicer, but I can't find any recipes in all my books.

There is also a whole Hand of pork - a huge piece of meat. Some of my books say roast (it would feed the street) or others say casserole; what would you do with it? I'm wondering whether to thaw it, cube, casserole then re-freeze in useable portions for example.

jema
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28111
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 7:23 pm Post subject:
Do you have the "meat book" quite a lot in there on the odd cuts.

sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 7:27 pm Post subject:

Hand is shoulder, so there's a fair bit of bone. Makes an impressive roast for a meal for a few people, and tends to be nice and moist. You could cut it up and cube it for casseroles if you don't think you'll use it whole, but if it's already frozen you'll have to thaw it and cook it all won't you?
There's a pate recipe inThe Rivercottage Cookbook. If it isn't on here or NeilK's recipe thing let me know and I'll type it out.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 7:31 pm Post subject:

That may be a good excuse to buy it - I thought my cookery books covered most things, but floored by a hand as it were, and I wonder if pork liver paté may be out of fashion, all I can find is chicken liver recipes.

(The piggy is out door reared in the next village, you can see the field from the main A420 on the way to Oxford. They normally supply to Waitrose but have started supplying from the farm door as it were. Sausages are scrumptious)

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 7:39 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

Since there is a bone,can I joint it? Thaw, do one bit roast, then cube the rest for a casserole?

sean wrote:

There's a pate recipe inThe Rivercottage Cookbook. If it isn't on here or NeilK's recipe thing let me know and I'll type it out

I did check NeilK's resource 1st before posting, in case there was one, but no such luck. If you could type it out that would be great, thanks!

no rush as I've frozen that too - well it was thursday evening when this large bag of meat arrived!

How long does freshly frozen meat keep in the freezer?

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 8:58 pm Post subject:

Fiddlesticks Julie wrote:

How long does freshly frozen meat keep in the freezer?

It can keep longer, but retailers are only supposed to recommend keeping meat frozen for a year.

As for the liver, I would highly reccommend trying Hugh's Faggot recipe from the Meat book (have you got the heart too?). I did it tonight & loved it, even though I detest liver generally.

sean
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 9:56 pm Post subject:

1kg liver
500g belly pork
1 onion
4 cloves garlic, crushed
100g fresh breadcrumbs
2tbs chopped sage
wineglass of port or brandy (I used gin, because I like it)
nutmeg
S&P
Mince the first three ingredients. Add everything else and mix well. Either line a couple of loaf tins with bacon, or just butter them. Put the mixture into the tins and cover with greased foil. Place in a bain marie and cook for about 90 minutes at 170C. Allow to cool before turning out. You can put a weight on top whilst it's cooling if you like a dense pate. It'll freeze quite happily for a couple of months.

moggins

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 942
Location: Gloucester

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 05 10:05 pm Post subject:

You can keep all your expensive joints of meat, for me there is nothing better than a roast hand of pork! The meat is so succulent and the crackling you get is fantastic.

If I have the time and energy to bone and cut it up then I do a German dish called Gyros. The only trouble is that you need Gyros spice which I can only get when someone I know travels to Germany.

So it's a rare treat in our house but well worth waiting for.

sally_in_wales
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Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 6:39 am Post subject:
I think Gyros spices are mostly salt, pepper, fenugreek, cumin and a little cinnamon, though I am sure there are probably regional variations. Should be easy to make a similar mix at home.

sally_in_wales
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Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 6:43 am Post subject:

Another favourite for any large random pork pieces in my household in Jamaican Jerked pork- rubbed with really dangerous chilli spices and cooked seriously slowly, preferably with a little smoke. Its amazing how the chilis cook out leaving pork that is very fiery but not as -err damaging- to the innards as a lightly cooked chilli dish. I'll try to ask himself for the sauce recipe, but its a good way to do a big piece of pork cos it gives you cold meat for a few days afterwards too.

moggins

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 942
Location: Gloucester

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 7:46 am Post subject:
Sally you are a complete gem!! I could never work out what was in it, I will try experimenting and see what I an come up with.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 10:48 am Post subject:

you could thaw it and roast it, and then make casseroles with the leftovers (and pork and stuffing batches) then you'd know how much you'd got.

I've always fancied a cross between a toulouse sausage and beef bourgoinone (SP?) - pork in red wine with garlic and parsley, but I'm having trouble getting decent pork. The GOS from the farmers market was a bit dry and grey and not much better than the supermarket stuff.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 05 1:02 pm Post subject:
Julie, if you haven't got a copy can I reccomend now is the time to look at the Jane Grigson book "Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery"?

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