Someone just gave me 15 lbs of wild pig that had dining in their 400 acre pear orchard.

Would smoking be a good way of cooking it? Any suggestions as to smoking recipe or regular cooking method?

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What part of the pig? Shoulder, belly, tenderloin?

Loin roast and leg roast, marked on the packages.

Those who cook and eat more of it than I do/have can feel free to correct me, but as I understand it wild hog is prone to trichinosis and thus must be cooked well. We don't have them around here so I don't get to eat it much.

I'd be nervous about smoking it low and slow, but I suppose if you keep the temp around 150 for a couple of hours you'd kill off the little buggers.

I would recommend 24 hour soak in brine or buttermilk. Check your local store fro Tony Chacere's Cajun spices. Mix with a little apple juice and inject. Put it in the smoker and leave it alone for 3 to 4 hours. Check internal temperature until it gets to 165F.

Should come out perfect.

Wild hogs, at least around here, are way too lean to smoke on low temp. As to the parasite concern, how long has it been frozen and at what temp. 0 degrees for 20 days should make it safe. Cook to internal temp above 150 to be double sure. I like to stew the leg roast with garlic and onion on a low simmer until it is falling apart. Add some fresh or frozen veggies to the pot after the meat is fork tender and cook until the veggies are done. Serve with rice.

The loin roast would good on a BBQ grill at 350 degrees until the internal temp is in the 160 degree range.

Wild pig tends to be very lean. Barbequeing and grilling may not be ideal methods. I'd be looking at wet cooking methods like stews or braising. Brunswick stew could be awesome. Get Marzy's recipe. Or pork roast in sauerkraut.

I'm making myself hungry.

"Pork roast in sauerkraut", now I am getting hungry!

I've been wild boar hunting and the meat was great but very lean. The best I did was to add pork fat and make sausage.

I have had good luck smoking the shoulders. Would marinate heavily. Most everything else I turn the sausage adding 30 plus percent leaf lard or back fat.

Finished on pear. Nice. Only thing better would be last month of his life to be only allowed to eat acorns or walnuts.

Grill it or roast it like any other pork recipe. Brined to stay juicy wouldn't be the end of the world. I've had plenty of BBQ from buddies that hunt pigs on the central coast... ribs, roasts and sausage is all good. None of it was ever bad

My pop-pop used to soak any wild thing in buttermilk overnight; and with hogs, he would smoke them with some fat from another pig on them...he said they were too skinny and got tough...just stab em and tuck some fat right in...

the buttermilk took the gamey flavor outta them...

Slow cooker with all the fixings added for an overnight delite!

quote:

Originally posted by kcl1960:
Slow cooker with all the fixings added for an overnight delite!

Start with Dreamland Rub a day before, and then I imagine a braise on a bed of chopped sweet onions and two cups of chicken stock in a covered hotel pan at 225 for 6-8 hours, and then follow up with an hour or three (wrapped in foil with a cup of apple cider) on the BBQ of choice (indirect smoke at 225) and then finished at very high temp (out of the foil) for 15-20 mins to really crisp up the skin. Mop with Dreamland BBQ sauce from Alabama.

http://www.dreamlandbbq.com/subgrouping.htm?cat=15278

Just had some wild pig loin tonight!

Check out marxfood.com; they have a lot of recipes for wild pig, among other things.

I'd make sausage with the shoulder.

Thanks for all the replies, I am saving the recommendations on my harddrive. Apparently I will be receiving more wild pig in the future.

I am hoping for permission to hunt on this large orchard, but will have to wait and see.

24 hour marinate in cheap wine (the cheaper the better). Slow smoke in Green Egg with rub of your choice and "larding" with bacon.

I've shot a couple of little hogs (15-20 pounds after removing the skin, guts, and head) and cooked them whole somewhere between grilling and hot, fast smoking. Everyone seemed to like it.

One of them was the best (pure luck) pistol shot of my entire life. Running full tilt right to left about 40 yards away and I hit it with my .40 S&W Walther P99.

I've also shot several larger hogs (100-150 pounds). They were so nasty (filthy, covered with ticks, etc.) I didn't want to dress and clean them so I just cut the back legs off and took the hams home. It was long enough ago I can't even remember what we did with them.

Wild pigs are pretty variable in flavor and texture of meat. Up to maybe 100 pounds they are great. Then they start getting tougher and gamier. Big boars are the worst.

I've never done it, but apparently the central-to-south Texas rancher thing to do is trap a big boar, castrate it, and feed it milk and grain for a couple weeks before you slaughter it.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
I'd make sausage with the shoulder.

That's typically what I do with the hogs I shoot. I harvest the loins and the shoulders. I then cook the loins whole, but have the shoulders ground and turned into sausage.

Some/most folks add pork fat to the shoulders when making sausage, but I prefer cheese. Adds enough to keep it from being too dry, but still allows for a nice, relatively lean sausage. The processor I use makes amazing jalapeno cheddar hog sausage.