On the Farm Butchering with the Roberts Family

Ever wondered where bacon comes from? Or what’s actually in your sausage? Adam and Jenny Roberts of Mt. Vernon wanted to know those same things, so they decided to shoulder the responsibility of finding out where their food comes from and participating in a true nose-to-tail butchering experience on the farm where that animal lived its happy life.

We get excited to share rare experiences like this.

The second side of pork ready to be butchered into usable cuts.

This is half of one pig. It’s “live weight” was around 225 lbs. It’s “hanging weight”, the designation given after it has been killed, cleaned and hung to age was 172 lbs.

Side of Pork cut into quarters

There are many different ways to transform this carcass into familiar and exotic cuts or uses, but generally speaking the first step is to separate it into four “primal” cuts.

Taking your food this seriously can be a lot of work. But this family came prepared, and with a little instruction and guidance jumped right in!

Using the bone saw to cut off the trotter

Collin working on cutting through the leg bone to separate the “trotter” or foot.

Molly using the bone saw to cut off the “trotter” also know as pig foot.

Jenny is separating the belly quarter from the loin quarter.

It is hard to overstate the quality of this pork. Heritage breed pigs that spend their lives munching on pasture and foraging in stands of hickories and oak trees to round out their daily ration of non-genetically modified feed is hard to come by. All the flavor found in the intramuscular fat (marbling) is what dominates the marketing in the steak world. But pigs that live their lives on a concrete slab don’t have that marbling. That’s why you never hear about it, or taste it!

This is not your father’s pork.

The Roberts family has decided to change all of that! They decide what cuts of meat go into their sausage.

Pork and fat destined to become delicious sausage.

And how meaty they want their ribs.

Preparations for future rib dinners.

And cooking or baking with shortening and butter is a thing of the past when you can render lard from your own pig!

This fat will be rendered for lard and used in sausages.

The small amount of “waste” is actually used to feed the farm dog that helps manage predators on the farm.

There were many things that Adam and Jenny learned that day with us at Hand Hewn Farm. But the thing we enjoy teaching the most is empowerment. With the right context and tools, you really can take control of your food. After all of the obvious cuts of pork belly and boneless chops, and ham roasts and hunks of shoulder for pulled pork, and baby back ribs and tenderloin, we explored all of the possibilities for chicharrones, and smoked hocks, and bone broth and pounds and pounds of sausage. In fact, of the 172 lbs that we started with that morning, only three lbs went into the tub for the farm dog!