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Picked bone-in over boneless for a whole hog and it was worth the extra work
I had to choose between breaking down a whole hog bone-in or having the farmer do the boneless half for me ahead of time. I went with bone-in because I wanted to practice my seam butchering on something bigger than just loins and shoulders. Took me about 4 hours from start to finish, and my knife skills were shaky at first on the ribs. But once I got into the rhythm, I ended up with some really clean cuts on the Boston butt and picnic shoulder. The backfat came off in nice slabs too, which I rendered down for lard. Has anyone else found that bone-in gives you more control over the final cuts, or do you prefer the convenience of pre-boned?
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eric_carr16d ago
Hell yeah, bone-in is the way to go for learning. I did my first whole hog last fall and getting those clean cuts off the shoulder felt way more satisfying than having someone else do the work for me.
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lucas16516d ago
Wait, you spent 4 hours on that? That's wild, I would have given up after the first hour for sure. I get wanting to learn but man, my back would be screaming by that point. Did you at least have a beer or two during the process?
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