{"id":2892,"date":"2013-05-03T03:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2013-05-02T22:03:23","modified_gmt":"2013-05-03T05:03:23","slug":"know-your-pork-the-front-limb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2013\/05\/03\/know-your-pork-the-front-limb\/","title":{"rendered":"Know Your Pork: The Front Limb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1322.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2935\" alt=\"Hog Front Limb Primal\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1322-e1367556796683.jpeg\" width=\"481\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Roasting a whole pig over a large outdoor grill might be all kinds of badass, but it\u2019s not practical for anyone (like myself) <a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/22\/so-i-bought-this-pig\/\">who bought a whole pig to eat <em>all by themselves<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So in <a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/19\/know-your-pork-the-four-major-cuts\/\">my last article<\/a>, I showed how hogs are typically broken down into smaller \u201cprimal\u201d cuts by butchers.<\/p>\n<p>Today, I\u2019m going to show you the way around a front limb primal, which contains the following \u201csub-primal\u201d cuts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The butt<\/li>\n<li>The picnic<\/li>\n<li>The hock<\/li>\n<li>The trotter<\/li>\n<li>Skin<\/li>\n<li>Fat<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From there, I\u2019ll give a quick overview of the most common (and simplest) methods of preparing these cuts, so you can better follow along with my quest to cook and eat an entire pig (or follow along yourself!).<\/p>\n<h2>Butt<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1352.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2928\" alt=\"IMG_1352\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1352-e1367556846226.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t be fooled by the name.<\/p>\n<p>The butt comes from the upper part of the front leg of the hog (think the shoulderblade and surrounding area) rather than the rear.<\/p>\n<p>The butt is one of the most prized cuts on the hog, and you\u2019ll often see recipes for pork products such as sausages and rillettes that call for this particular hunk of meat.<\/p>\n<p>But in the spirit of utilizing the whole hog, I\u2019ll focus instead on utilizing the many scraps you get from butchering a whole hog for those dishes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I plan on smoking the butts whole to make pulled pork.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is a classic and straightforward way to cook the butt, and can be used in countless ways. And fortunately, there is <em>plenty<\/em> of this cut to go around!<\/p>\n<h2>Picnic<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1353.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2929\" alt=\"IMG_1353\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1353-e1367556900701.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pity the poor picnic ham.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the butt, you\u2019ll find relatively few recipes that utilize this cut.<\/p>\n<p>This is too bad, as the picnic can be used for many of the same dishes that the butt can, and can generally be bought for cheaper.<\/p>\n<p>The picnic is the cut that corresponds to the upper leg of the hog, just beneath the butt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>My current plan is to use my picnic hams for grinding up for use in sausage or rillettes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is probably the best use of this cut, which doesn\u2019t seem to get a whole lot of attention otherwise.<\/p>\n<h2>Hock<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1355.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2931\" alt=\"IMG_1355\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1355-e1367556941859.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019re starting to get obscure!<\/p>\n<p>Hocks are the foreleg of the hog, and are generally neglected in the States, except for the South. (Figures, since for my money, the best food in America comes south of the Mason-Dixon.)<\/p>\n<p>It is full of tough meat, and requires long cooking at low temperatures to become tender. As such, it is best used to give added flavor to soups and stews.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hocks are also generally smoked before cooking since it adds such a great flavor to slow-cooked dishes, so I will do the same with mine.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Trotter<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1357.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2933\" alt=\"Trotter\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1357-e1367557004498.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now we\u2019re really getting to the fun bits.<\/p>\n<p>Trotters (or pig\u2019s feet, to you), are true recession food.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the whole <em>ermahgershmyfoodcamefromalivingthing!<\/em> pig\u2019s feet are pretty low in demand, and as a result mighty cheap.<\/p>\n<p>There ain\u2019t a whole lot of meat on pig\u2019s feet, but they are <em>loaded<\/em> with connective tissue which requires slow cooking, at which point it breaks down into gelatin.<\/p>\n<p>For this reason, pig\u2019s feet are best used to thicken up stocks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m going to use my trotters to make headcheese, then pick them clean to make something known as \u201ctrotter gear.\u201d Stay tuned.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Skin and Fat<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1354.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2930\" alt=\"IMG_1354\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1354-e1367557050113.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Few people would think twice about eating chicken skin, but pig skin elicits an \u201cewwwwwww\u201d from all but the heartiest of food-lovers.<\/p>\n<p>But without skin, we wouldn\u2019t have one of the most delicious pork products known to man!<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s right, with all the skin found on the front limb (and the entire hog, for that matter), I\u2019ll be making a <em>ton<\/em> of pork rinds.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While there\u2019s plenty of fat marbled into the meat of a pig, what I\u2019m more interested in here is the thick layer of fat just beneath the skin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The fat from this part of the animal doesn\u2019t seem to be too terribly prized, and I\u2019ll just plan on rendering it to make cracklin\u2019s and a low-grade form of lard called \u201cschmaltz.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The fat and skin can be removed in layers from every part of the hog that includes it with a sharp knife.<\/p>\n<h2>Notes on Butchering<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1356.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2932\" alt=\"IMG_1356\" src=\"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/IMG_1356-e1367557122618.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are, of course, a thousand and one different ways to butcher this \u201cprimal\u201d cut, but I\u2019m going to stick with the simplest and most minimalistic method, utilizing the cuts as I mentioned above.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>First, separate the trotters and hocks off the primal.<\/strong> The hog I bought had the bone cut through these areas already, so I just needed a knife to cut through the meat. If you don\u2019t have these cuts, you might need to break out the saw, or risk dulling your knife cutting through the connective tissue.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Then, separate the picnic ham and the butt.<\/strong> This is pretty straightforward. You just separate the arm bone from the shoulder blade, and cut through the meat to make two cuts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Remove the skin and fat (maybe).<\/strong> If you are going to freeze the picnic or the butt before using, keep the skin and fat on it to protect it from freezer burn. Otherwise, remove them with a knife.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I found the front limb primal to be pretty easy to butcher, particularly since I had the butcher saw through the joints where the trotters and hocks come from.<\/p>\n<p>The anatomy is close enough to your own (foot, lower limb, upper limb, shoulder blade) that finding the joints that separate the sub-primal cuts is straightforward.<\/p>\n<p>In the next article, I\u2019ll take on the rear limb, which is even easier than the front!<\/p>\n<p><em>Ham\u2019s away!<\/em><\/p>\n<span id=\"pty_trigger\"><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roasting a whole pig over a large outdoor grill might be all kinds of badass, but it\u2019s not practical for anyone (like myself) who bought a whole pig to eat all by themselves. So in my last article, I showed how hogs are typically broken down into smaller \u201cprimal\u201d cuts by butchers. Today, I\u2019m going [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-whole-hog-project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2892"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2939,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions\/2939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theguycancook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}