Salting Pork

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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
I shuck the corn, bit of a wipe wth Mazola corn oil and into the small
smoker (apple wood) with ribs or chicken or whatever. The perfect treat.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
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Florida
There are two ways, chemical or surgical. Chemical taints the meat with hormones. Surgical is done through the ribcage without anaesthesia. I don't think many people approve of that now
To be honest I doubt many people here even know what a capon really is. Most probably think it’s just a different breed or species. That said, most meat animals are castrated without anesthesia:
- Male cattle into steers
- Sheep
- Hogs

I looked it up last night and one article was interviewing a caponizer. Back in his teenage years he was doing about 300 birds per hour and getting $75/hour. That was in the 1960s. I can only imagine what the wage would be now. Hearing him describe it left a mixed reaction on the cruelty issue:
- On the positive side his description was no more cruel or risky than the other animals I mentioned once he learned.
- On the negative side it took him a while to learn and those first attempts didn’t fare as well.
 
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Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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The difference between those animals and a fowl is that the fowl testes are inside the bird.
Far more difficult.

Capons ( and other castrated male animals) used to be a much more common food in the old days. Several reasons.
They build muscle and fat more readily,
(Stronger)
Many males develop a nasty flavor
More docile against humans if an animal used within the agriculture.
No risk of impregnating females of the same genetic line ( inbreeding)
No fights between males.
The farmers could not just waste the animal, every animal born had to be eaten or used in the agriculture.


Cruel practice to castrate young cocks?
Well, the alternative is to kill them after sexing. This is done in every chicken farm in Europe, a few days after hatching. Sometimes in a very cruel way.
 

Janne

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There is a very special Salami made in Hungary, made from old, male Mangalista pigs.
You need to enjoy it from a young age to enjoy/be able to eat it. Incredibly strong piggy flavor. Not nice, not even for a pre-Millenial like me!

Pass anything except that, please.

Never tried Llama. Only shooting one, a 9mm back in the 80's. POS. Even worse than a Ruger semi auto.
 

Janne

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I dunno. I get the idea, but I eat venison from uncastrated males with no problem.
Depends on the animal. Bull ( beef) is fine too. Billy goat has a LOT of flavour
Those are eaten by Jamaican men as a delicacy. And in many Mohammedan countries male sheep (rams) are also only eaten by men.

Gives them Marital strength, they say ..
I am Ok with a Capon.
:)
 

Janne

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Mom taught me the salting of meat. She injected brine in the thickest meat parts, then always stored it during the brining in a cold fridge.

The needle and syringe she used was from my dads old personal kit. Today this stuff is in medical museums.
 

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Found a local guy making prociutto and panchetta! Might get to buy into it a little.
I've seen pictures in his smoke house, full of sausages.

Since 2001, I have eaten 6 or 7 bison (2 yr olds). No kidding. I never asked if they were males or females.
Hindsight tells me that water (rain) and sweeter grass did make a difference.

Don't eat llama, even if it's offered to you for free. Just don't.
I don't know if it was a stinky male or not but the sweet aftertaste just would not go away.

Need me some piggy. This is Pioneers Days weekend.
Good chance to schmooze and ask around about pork.

I guess that cheap pickling salt would be OK for pork slab?
Don't know if I can buy sodium nitrite for cure here.
 

Janne

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Any salt. As long it is Sodium Chloride based.
Do not use the Low sodium salts.

Seasalt, Table Salt, Koscher, Halal, Organic, Vegan, Vegetarian, Wild Caught, Faitrade, everything goes.
Same stuff, different price tags.
The cheaper the better!
 
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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
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Mercia
To be honest I doubt many people here even know what a capon really is. Most probably think it’s just a different breed or species. That said, most meat animals are castrated without anesthesia:
- Male cattle into steers
- Sheep
- Hogs

I looked it up last night and one article was interviewing a caponizer. Back in his teenage years he was doing about 300 birds per hour and getting $75/hour. That was in the 1960s. I can only imagine what the wage would be now. Hearing him describe it left a mixed reaction on the cruelty issue:
- On the positive side his description was no more cruel or risky than the other animals I mentioned once he learned.
- On the negative side it took him a while to learn and those first attempts didn’t fare as well.
The difference with poultry is that the testes are internal organs and castration requires going into the body cavity through the rib cage which is a far more invasive procedure. Far better just to raise the cockerel in my opinion.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
Cruel practice to castrate young cocks?
Well, the alternative is to kill them after sexing. This is done in every chicken farm in Europe, a few days after hatching. Sometimes in a very cruel way.
We raise a great deal of cockerels to a killing weight of 3Kg plus. The meat is superb and untainted and no castration required. Absolutely agree that killing sexed chicks is absurd, but thats normally done for egg breeds rather than broilers. The best & least wasteful solution is dual purpose birds but they are sliwer grown & people like cheap food.
 
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Janne

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The problem is that uncastrated cockerels are very aggressive. Teenage cockerels fight all the time, and do damage to each other.
Then they also try to mate with the females, sometimes more than one at a time, get aggressive and hurt her.

We have lots of feral fowl here, and we see that all the time.

Also, the cockerels do not grow as quickly as the young hens, so not commercially viable in an efficient 'chicken factory'.

In a small scale chicken growing enterprise ( like my granny had) all baby chicken are raised for food.

I think she grew them for up to a year.

A friend in Sweden used to buy Broiler chicks, and grew them for months.
Huge. Very, very nice meat. Some had problems walking though. Those got eaten first.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
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Mercia

Janne

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Yes, in a commercial setting. Absolutely no need to do it at home. Nitrite is one of the additives that are very unhealthy for us.

When doctors talk about 'processed meat products' it is usually the Nitrite containing ones.


Salt properly and you will be fine.

One of the main exports ( since 1000+ years ) from Norway is Salt Cod. (plus other cod products) .
Salt only.
 
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Janne

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Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Nothing to stop you from making your own Clostridium botulinum at home.
Very common soil bacterium. Sodium nitrite is a useful preservative.

So you buy "organic" lettuce from fields spread with crushed limestone for pH balance.
They never told you that the limestone is a fabulous source of food-borne lead (Pb).
 

Janne

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Feb 10, 2016
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Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Hoosier Farms Prague Powder, CAD24 for a 2½lb pot from Amazon.ca "contains 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium chloride as per FDA and USDA regulations"...

To include the name of the capital of Czech Republic, Prague, with that American chemical crap is an insult. Could not be done within EU.
Prager Ham is a protected product, made from brined, lightly beechwood smoked and slow cooked with spices, ham ( ham as in Gluteus Maximus muscle). Only Czech raised pigs are used,
No colouring, no Nitrite.

sorry for the rant, but I hate when the Americans steal names and products, cheapen them, add chemicals of all sorts.

Mowbray Pork Pies, any colourant or Nitrite in those?
 
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