Cutting pork carcass: scheme, description and features

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Perhaps the most popular meat in the world is pork. Only Muslims and Jews do not eat it, and then for religious reasons, and not because the product is tasteless. It is not difficult to breed pigs, since these animals are the most unpretentious in both care and nutrition. Many refrain from buying pork just because they think it is too fatty, but in fact, some parts of the carcass contain only 3% fat, which makes it even more dietary than chicken.

In general, to cook any delicious pork dish, you need to choose the right part of the carcass for this. If you want to feed the animal yourself and get a guaranteed environmentally friendly product, you will also need to master the cutting of a pork carcass. In the future, this will make it possible to save on the work of a specialist.

Cutting Features

Pork is very tender compared to beef, so the meat does not need to ripen in limbo. If desired, you canhang a slaughtered animal to facilitate the process of butchering a pork carcass, but you can perform similar actions with high quality by placing a piglet on a regular table or even leaving it on the ground.

The main rule when butchering is that the muscles of the upper body in pigs during life work the least. This also includes the neck, since the pigs hardly twirl it. This way, the meat from these areas will be the most tender and therefore the most expensive and ideal for chops, roasts or roasts.

Meat from the bottom is suitable for stewing, frying in small pieces, cooking minced meat. The lowest grade parts - hooves, tails or ears will go to hell.

There are 4 patterns for cutting pork carcasses:

• German;
• English;
• American;
• Russian (Moscow).

The choice of a specific option depends on the further purpose of the meat.

The skin can be removed completely or partially from the carcass. This action also depends on the further purpose of the cutting parts:

• if the carcass goes for sausage or sale, the skin is completely removed;
• if for smoking or pickling - partially;
• when removing fat, it is often cut off along with the skin, and they are sold;
• The skin is often left on at home butchering.

Slaughter options

Before you master the correct cutting of a pork carcass at home, you should invite a specialist who can slaughter the animal. The piglet itself is forbidden to feed the day before slaughter,you can only give water and it is advisable to wash it well before the procedure itself.

The most popular slaughter options are a puncture in the neck or heart. The latter has the disadvantage that blood can collect in the chest and spoil the quality of the meat. A neck piercing involves cutting an artery. At the same time, the blood drains quickly, and the animal falls asleep.

You can also use weapons and electricity.

In any case, it is important to first immobilize the pig by tying its legs, and do everything as quickly as possible so that the pig does not have time to get scared. Otherwise, the meat will be tough and take on a characteristic odor.

Timing

When talking about the age of the animal, the basic rule for pigs is to slaughter not during the hunt. Boars are not suitable for meat at all, since their meat contains the hormone androsterone, which makes the product unsuitable for food. When slaughtering a castrated boar, age does not matter.

Culinary cutting of pork carcasses in the future will also depend on the degree of fatness of the pig during slaughter. So, piglets are isolated (they are usually cooked whole), fatty pork (weight >90 kg), meat (weight 40-90 kg) and bacon (special breed and method of feeding).

Speaking about the time of day suitable for slaughter, you should rely on the season. There are no restrictions in winter, but in summer you should choose a time with a minimum number of insects in the air and a low temperature so that the meat cannot spoil quickly.

Early morning dry andwindless day.

Description of cutting patterns

The English scheme for cutting pork carcasses is considered the simplest, since it only provides for dividing the carcass across into 4 parts:

• head (in Fig. 4);
• front (3);
• middle part (2);
• back (1).

You can see how it looks in the figure presented in the text.

The American way begins by dividing the carcass into two parts along the spine, after which each is divided:

• on the head (in Fig. 6);
• shoulder blade (in Fig. 1);
• front ham (5);
• brisket (in Fig. 4);
• back ham (3);
• loin (2) - back and tenderloin.

The brisket is divided into ribs and bacon, and the fat is removed from the sides of the carcass in a whole piece.

German cutting of pork carcasses is carried out according to the same principle, in order to immediately separate the pieces of meat by grade, but we are talking about 8 parts:

• I grade - back leg and carbonade (in Fig. 1, 2);
• II grade – front leg, loin front and brisket (in Fig. 3, 4, 5);
• III grade - abdominal part (in Fig. 6);
• IV grade - legs and head (in Fig. 8 and 7).

Cutting according to the Russian scheme is carried out in the same way, only it provides for the separation of the head from the neck and the division of the limbs into hooves and the meat part of the leg.

Carcass prep

It is from this stage that the further quality of cutting and deboning of the pork carcass largely depends. This stageinvolves bleeding and singeing the skin of an animal. The former depends on the choice of slaughter and is often done by hanging the carcass while the blood drains naturally. If it will be used in the future, then a container for blood sampling is placed under the carcass.

Singing allows you to remove hair from the skin and is carried out with a blowtorch, gas burner or ignition of bundles of straw. If at the same time it is wet, then the fat will have a pleasant smoky aroma. Places with thin skin should be handled carefully so as not to burn it.

After singeing, the carcass must be scraped off, removing the top layer of skin and the remaining bristles. In production, special equipment is used for this - scrapers (also called scalders or scalding vats).

If the skin is not to be used along with meat, then it can not be singeed at all, but simply removed from the carcass.

Second stage

Before further cutting the pork carcass at home, it still needs to be gutted, that is, the insides must be removed. Pork is usually delivered to the production already in the form of clean carcasses or half carcasses.

At this stage, it is important to ensure cleanliness, so it is advisable to put the carcass on a platform or hang it. As tools, it is enough to prepare only a sharp knife 15-18 cm and an ax for cutting bones. Additionally, you should immediately prepare containers for internal organs and parts of the carcass.

The cutting of the pork carcass begins with the separation of the head, from which the brain and tongue are then removed. Followed bycut out the "apron", which is the abdominal part of the meat and fat. Its separation will open the internal organs that must be removed. The brisket is cut with an ax.

The first thing is the esophagus. It is advisable to bandage it before cutting it so that the contents do not enter the abdominal cavity. The heart, lungs and diaphragm are taken out, after which the esophagus is cut off and the intestines with the stomach are taken out. The gallbladder must be cut off from the liver before it is removed, and very carefully, otherwise it will become bitter and unfit for food. With the liver comes the kidneys, then the bladder.

Completes the wiping of the internal cavity of the already empty carcass with dry napkins or towels. Using wet wipes will shorten the shelf life of the meat and spoil its quality.

Third stage

Now the culinary cutting and deboning of pork carcasses is precisely the division into parts of meat.

To do this, you can divide the pig into half carcasses by cutting the sternum and spine, or simply work with the whole carcass, as is most often the case at home:

1. First, the hooves are separated along the joint, after that, the front and hind limbs are also cut off along the joint. Separately from the carcass, they are divided into shank, shoulder blade and back leg.
2. After that, the carcass is turned over and an incision is made along the ridge, removing a layer of fat from the sides and back.
3. Next, the loin is removed from the spine, the neck, tenderloin and other parts are separated, in accordance with the selected cutting pattern.

It is important to wipe each piece of meatonly with a dry cloth, and then send it to storage. When all the flesh has been removed, the separation and cutting of the ribs and spine should begin.

Helpful tips

In order for the cutting to be of high quality, it is necessary to prepare in advance all the necessary tools and containers for meat and offal.

To cut a bone without splinters, it is recommended to put a knife to it and hit its back with a hammer.

In order to get exactly on the joint when separating the limbs, you first need to feel the incision site.

Cut the belly very carefully so as not to damage the insides.

It is important to remember that the result of cutting the pork carcass into parts depends on the quality of work, so do not rush. You need to choose a convenient place to work and prepare well for the process in advance.

The right choice of meat

In order for each dish to be cooked like in a restaurant, you need to know not only the name of the parts of the pork carcass when cutting, but also for which culinary masterpieces they are best suited.

So, for frying a small and large piece in its own juice and breading, a loin is suitable, only in breading - the back. For stewing and frying in small pieces, the shoulder blade and neck are suitable, and the brisket will be ideal for boiling, stewing and stuffing. All small trimmings or parts from the belly will go to minced meat, hooves, tail and head - to jelly, and bones - to broths.

In order not to accidentally buy boar meat on the market, which emits a characteristic smell only when thermallyprocessing, it should be felt. Males always have tighter muscles.