Isnt It A Sad Refection On Today Economy That I Can Buy Pork Cheaper In Tesco Than Rearing My Own Pig And Killing And Butchering It Myself.

[RATTER15]

I have been doing some research on the cost of rearing our own meat for our own consumption, I will kill and joint the pig myself but I can still buy it cheaper at Tesco.
Clearly the meat will be tastier and better quality and we will know its history but we should still be able to save some money on it!

I will lose even more money providing my own lamb as if I slaughter it, I am the only person permitted to eat it, so I will need to get the lamb slaughtered and butchered at the slaughter house for my family to be able to eat it.

This country is bloody mad!!!

[RATTER15]

DTCwordfan, I love hogs pudding and black pudding, im not sure I would go that far though!!

[DTCwordfan]

its actually not that hard, ratter.....made it in France on a deli course one summer when Paris was away on holiday during August - I lived on the outside of the west and our local deli offered a course in sausages, rillettes, patés and terrines....a lot of fun!

[RATTER15]

^^ sausages maybe but I cant be bothered with all that blood, that I am happy to buy from a good butcher, or maybe give the blood to someone to make it for me :-)) now that would be good!!

[DTCwordfan]

Before I get accused - this a c and p job
http://www.rivercottage.net/forum/ask/processing-and-other-crafts/17067any-idea-on-how-to-make-black-pudding/

Before you start stick a large pan of water in the oven at a med. heat

1lt Blood
340g diced fat
300ml Milk
50g Oatmeal
3 Medium Onions, chopped
1 tbsp Salt
½ tsp Mixed Herbs
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
Pinch Nutmeg

Load into skins ( hog casings ) - I tend to make a 4 foot length, the solids all settle down one end so I tie off with a spare foot of skin.Then making sure both ends are secure I lie it on the work surface and give it a good massage to redistribute the contents. I then use string to tie off making sure each section as a good inch of empty casing at the end.

Lower the whole thing into the pan of hot water and given them 40-60 mins. Then into cold water until cool, hang up to dry a bit.

for variation:

This is taken from 'The Dracula cookbook of blood' - the only tome I can find about cooking with such an underrated food stuff

Boudin d'Auvergne
3 1/8 quarts blood
3/4 lb back fat
3/4 lb leaf lard - fat from the kidney and loin
2 lb onions chopped
2 1/2 cups milk
6tbsp salt & pepper
Quatre spices to taste.

[RATTER15]

DTCwordfan, actually that sounds easy, can you get the casings easily? I may be tempted!!

[DTCwordfan]

believe so, local butcher should be able to get some for you....or google hog casing..

http://www.butchers-sundries.com/product_info.php?cPath=54_4_6&products_id=15&gclid=CMPmhbaw8LYCFWLHtAodYX8AfQ

[DTCwordfan]

mate of mine has made them - same thing as you - has had pigs and used them all....he makes cakeboards and accessories of all things!

[RATTER15]

DTCwordfan, thanks, I will certainly have a goat that, I wont tell Carakeel just yet that I will be processing gallons of blood in her kitchen.

Come to that I aint even got any pigs yet!

[dancecaller]

A goat as well!?? LOL

It may sound daft but the laws about feeding scraps to livestock had reasons behind them.
Pigs were getting Swine vesicular disease from improperly cooked swill - not bad itself but easy to confuse with Foot and Mouth
So swill was banned for pigs
Cows (herbivores) were being fed remains of sheep and to make it worse the rules about cooking temperatures had been relaxed. So we had a nasty outbreak of Mad Cow disease and fears for human health. And the reaction (maybe an over reaction) was to ban all food waste to livestock.

The rules are there as the only way of regulation the commercial producers.
And even then Wiki says of the 2001 Foot & Mouth
"The epidemic was probably caused by pigs which had been fed infected garbage that had not been properly heat-sterilized. Further, the garbage is believed to have contained remains of infected meat which had been illegally imported to Britain"

Back yard hen keepers etc are caught in the net - even if they would probably only give their livestock stuff that was good (fit for human consumption even). I'm sure many do give their hens odd 'treats' and no-one the wiser.

Do you have to register with DEFRA or anyone to keep a pig? I know you don't need to for less than 50 hens.

[dancecaller]

People may have forgotten these epidemics.
I am old enough to remember all the animals being killed on The Archers in 1956, the outbreak in the late 60s closing footpaths many pigs with SVD being slaughtered in the 70's, all the fuss over BSE in the late 80s and the distress that caused to my farming friends. And then the bonfires of the 2001 foot & mouth epidemic.

The stuff that was being fed to those animals was not the same as swill collected from the neighbours for a 'pig club'.

I believe it is legal to feed pigs windfall apples (at least, a local smallholder came and cleared a load from my orchard one year - I'd put them on Freecycle)