Everybody knows you can't eat wild hogs, especially the boars. This is how I'm not eating mine this weekend.
First, I deboned a ham from about a 60lb boar. I've done bigger, but too big is just a hassle. I ground the hams on a 250 pounder and the meat is fine, it's just a might big ham to handle. Most hogs have an exterior gland around their thigh crease that you can see, an an interior one nestled up in some intramuscular fat just like a deer. You don't HAVE to remove them, but I do just because I know they're there and they're not really appetizing. Doesn't affect the flavour and they cook down to nothing though. DO NOT remove the fat. At least not if you shot the pig in LA. I've never had one with an off-flavour, and everybody knows fat's where it's at. In fact, I took a slab of fat from another, fatter pig and draped it over this one like the fat cap on a Boston Butt.
Currently, I'm brining it in a simple brine with nothing but salt, brown sugar (how come ya taste so good?), and a couple of bay leaves. I usually use a quarter cup of salt and sugar per 4 cups of water. I'm brining this one overnight.
Tomorrow, I'll rinse, pat dry, and dust with a dry rub. Ingredients as follows:
3/4 cup brown sugar (just like a young girl should)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary (you'll probably have to grind this yourself in a mortar and pestle)
Notice no salt. The brine has the salt. If you don't want to brine, you can mix the above with an equal amount of Tony's and that's actually pretty dang good. I did it once when I ran out of my stuff and liked it. I go heavy-handed on the rub. I've experimented with slathering in yella mustard first, but now I just slap that stuff on there and roll.
You can smoke it however you want. I'm lazy and cheap, so I generally put the ham on the weber for about half an hour or so with an abundance of wood. I wanna smoke the fool out of it at a pretty low temp. Like call the fire department smokey. Under 200. After that amount of time it has absorbed the flavor and further cooking is just a needless babysitting period on my smoker. I then usually transfer it to the instant pot for the next 2-4 hours to cook until it falls off the bone and can be pulled. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you should, because something about the high heat just makes meat come apart without being mushy. You can also finish it off in the oven or a crockpot. Go where the spirit leads.
Once it's cooked and pulled, it's time to get saucy. My wife and my dad prefer that sugary Baby Rays. My sisters are an embarrassment and don't like BBQ sauce. Myself and my mother are cultured folk, and prefer a well rounded, vinegar-forward, slightly hot sauce to balance out the savory, fatty smoky flavor and the sweetness of the rub. My general recipe is:
Equal parts butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and ketchup
Half that part your favorite mustard and molasses
Cayenne pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, and tabasco to taste
Cook all that down to whatever consistency you like. I want mine to thicken up a bit.
Now, you slather you a bun in some butter and toast it good, pile that meat on there, slather it in some sauce, and eat like a fat kid. If you take too big a bite and start to choke, wash it down with The Champagne of Beers and keep going.
First, I deboned a ham from about a 60lb boar. I've done bigger, but too big is just a hassle. I ground the hams on a 250 pounder and the meat is fine, it's just a might big ham to handle. Most hogs have an exterior gland around their thigh crease that you can see, an an interior one nestled up in some intramuscular fat just like a deer. You don't HAVE to remove them, but I do just because I know they're there and they're not really appetizing. Doesn't affect the flavour and they cook down to nothing though. DO NOT remove the fat. At least not if you shot the pig in LA. I've never had one with an off-flavour, and everybody knows fat's where it's at. In fact, I took a slab of fat from another, fatter pig and draped it over this one like the fat cap on a Boston Butt.
Currently, I'm brining it in a simple brine with nothing but salt, brown sugar (how come ya taste so good?), and a couple of bay leaves. I usually use a quarter cup of salt and sugar per 4 cups of water. I'm brining this one overnight.
Tomorrow, I'll rinse, pat dry, and dust with a dry rub. Ingredients as follows:
3/4 cup brown sugar (just like a young girl should)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons ginger powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 teaspoons rosemary (you'll probably have to grind this yourself in a mortar and pestle)
Notice no salt. The brine has the salt. If you don't want to brine, you can mix the above with an equal amount of Tony's and that's actually pretty dang good. I did it once when I ran out of my stuff and liked it. I go heavy-handed on the rub. I've experimented with slathering in yella mustard first, but now I just slap that stuff on there and roll.
You can smoke it however you want. I'm lazy and cheap, so I generally put the ham on the weber for about half an hour or so with an abundance of wood. I wanna smoke the fool out of it at a pretty low temp. Like call the fire department smokey. Under 200. After that amount of time it has absorbed the flavor and further cooking is just a needless babysitting period on my smoker. I then usually transfer it to the instant pot for the next 2-4 hours to cook until it falls off the bone and can be pulled. If you don't have a pressure cooker, you should, because something about the high heat just makes meat come apart without being mushy. You can also finish it off in the oven or a crockpot. Go where the spirit leads.
Once it's cooked and pulled, it's time to get saucy. My wife and my dad prefer that sugary Baby Rays. My sisters are an embarrassment and don't like BBQ sauce. Myself and my mother are cultured folk, and prefer a well rounded, vinegar-forward, slightly hot sauce to balance out the savory, fatty smoky flavor and the sweetness of the rub. My general recipe is:
Equal parts butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and ketchup
Half that part your favorite mustard and molasses
Cayenne pepper, red pepper, garlic powder, and tabasco to taste
Cook all that down to whatever consistency you like. I want mine to thicken up a bit.
Now, you slather you a bun in some butter and toast it good, pile that meat on there, slather it in some sauce, and eat like a fat kid. If you take too big a bite and start to choke, wash it down with The Champagne of Beers and keep going.
Last edited:
