How to Butcher a Farm Pig
Please see my related blogs on “How to Cut Up a Slaughtered Pig” and “Growing Livestock at the Fish Farm” by clicking this and this.
Two weeks ago, we decided to dispose one of our three sows. We have the original backyard sow and two younger sows that are ready to mate (both are the sow’s offspring).
Originally, we planned to keep all the sows and raise piglets for sale. But due to the upcoming maternity leave of one of my keepers, we chose to keep only two sows to reduce workload. We decided to slaughter one of the younger sows, weighing about 65 kilos.
We called in two of my pond workers to do the butchering. The plan is to sell the meat to neighbors and also leave some for us in the bangus farm for use during the holidays.
A day before, my farm overseer and her sister got meat orders from friends and neighbors. They came up with a list - by type of meat and number of kilos for each customer.
A backyard pig owner can sell it live or butcher it for sale of cut meats.
A villager buys an entire live pig (a) to slaughter it for pork cuts to cook for a special event – such as wedding, etc. (b) to roast the entire pig (“lechon baboy”) (c) resell it to another customer or (d) keep the pig as future sow or boar.
For household orders, the housewife specifies any of the following pork meat types:
1. “Laman” (Meat) – a generic term that refers to a part consisting of meat with some skin, and fat. This type of meat usually comes from the front part of the pig i.e, pork shoulders (“kasim” in Tagalog) (Boston butt or picnic ham), or from the rear part of the pig, i.e., hips (“pata” or “pigue” in Tagalog) (ham roast or top round).
2. “Ribs” - meat that can be found in the loin/rib part of the pig’s upper midsection. This part can come from the (a) baby back ribs near the spine or (b) the spareribs (side ribs) farther away from the spine toward the belly.
3. "Pork chop" – the back part of the pig with the spine, meat and skin, cut into pieces
4. "Llempo" (pork belly) – from the belly or lower part of the pig’s midsection.
5. "Buto-buto" (bones with some meat morsels attached) – refers to the shoulder blade bone, upper foreleg bone, rump bone, upper backleg bone. Also refers to rib bones sliced off the loin (leaving the meat, fat, and skin).
This is popular among housewives for cooking “nilagang baboy” (boiled pork soup dish with vegetables) or “sinigang na baboy” (local dish with sour soup with pork and vegetables) since price of “buto-buto” is much cheaper compared to regular pork meat.
6. "Paa" (foot) – any of the four legs or hocks, front or rear.
7. "Ulo" (Pig head) – entire portion of the head is usually ordered or sold.
8. "Igado" (Internal organs) – internal organs such as lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidney, etc.
9. "Lomo" (in our village refers to the pork tenderloin located in the loin portion of the pig’s midsection; in some regions, this may refer to the entire loin section).
Note: This is usually taken by the owner due to its extra tenderness and premium quality; for other backyard raisers, this part is mixed and sold with “igado”.
10. "Kaleskes" (Intestines) – thoroughly cleaned and boiled small intestines; usually mixed with “igado” above.
11. "Bagesen" (intestines) – large intestines, cleaned up and boiled.
12. "Dugo" – blood – used to make “dinuguan” or pork blood stew. No price, but given away or used by the owner himself to make “dinuguan”.
The local butcher, therefore, keeps the above meat parts in mind when he cuts up the whole pig.
Butchering Procedures
Below are the procedures on how to butcher a farm pig:
1. Bring along butchering tools – cutting knife, long knife, meat cleaver or heavy knife, sharpening stone, chopping board, large cooking vat.
2. Set up the large cooking vat near the butchering area. Get firewood and place under the vat. Put water in cooking vat until almost full. Set the wood on fire and let the water heat up inside the vat until it boils.
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| A large cooking vat with water starting to boil |
3. Take out a large table or an old bamboo bench where butchering and cutting of meat will be done. Sharpen the knives.
4. Take out the pig to be butchered from its pig sty.
5. Kill the pig using a long knife by making a stab on its neck toward the heart.
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| A freshly killed pig on a bench (method of kill is shown here for instruction purposes only, actual killing was done earlier) |
6. Let the blood come out and gather in a pan.
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| Pig blood in a pan (our apologies to readers who may be averse to or squeamish of sight of blood) |
7. When the pig is dead, put the body on the butchering table (in our case, it was an old bamboo bench) for dehairing of the skin.
8. Pour hot water on one side of the pig, and using knife, shave off the hair from the skin. Do the dehairing by portions from head to tail, back to foot, until the white dehaired skin appears.
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| Pouring hot water on unshaved portion and dehairing using knife |
9. After finishing one side of the body, dehair the other side.
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| Dehairing the other side |
11. After dehairing and thorough rinse, put the body in a supine position (that is, its back on the surface, head and legs facing up).
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| Dehaired pig in supine position for slicing of tummy |
12, Using a cutting knife, slit the tummy lengthwise from the neck down to the rump, to expose the innards or entrails of the pig (“laman loob”) consisting mainly of the intestines and internal organs.
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| Pig innards exposed |
13. When the guts are exposed, cut off the internal organs and place in plastic basin. These consist of the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidney, etc. Note: most of these parts (except liver) are boiled in the large cooking vat before being cut into smaller pieces to meet the customer order for “igado”.
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| Internal organs cut off in a plastic basin |
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| Liver cut off, sold fresh not boiled |
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| Lungs and other internal organs being boiled in a large cooking vat |
14. Cut off the intestines – small ones first, then the large intestines and place in a basin. Note: these intestines will be thoroughly cleaned separately later.
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| Small and large intestines cut off |
15. Scoop off the blood from inside the carcass and put in the blood pan. Note: blood is not thrown away in the village but can be used to make “dinuguan” (pig blood stew), a local dish. The blood is also not sold but normally given away, unless kept by the owner himself to make the stew.
16. After taking out the entrails, with the pig still on supine position, complete the cutting of the remaining body (still with the head) lengthwise up to the neck from the midsection.
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| Slicing lengthwise being continued from tummy up to neck |
Result is the sliced pig with two identical halves of the body opened up like a butterfly.
Note: Notice that each half will have three sections: shoulder/foreleg, midsection, and ham/back leg.
17. Cut off the entire ham/back leg section from the pig’s midsection crosswise.
Where to cut? By measuring three fingers from the aitch bone (rump bone connected to the hip or pelvis) toward the pig’s midsection.
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| Pig's rear section (upper part of photo) |
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| Pig's rear section cut off (see the ham portions and back legs) |
18. Weigh the entire piece in #17 above (in kilos). Note: owner is interested in getting weight of each major portion of the pig to establish gross body weight.
19. Cut off the pig’s head and set aside.The entire pig head is sold separately.
They are chopped into pieces to make "sisig" (in Tagalog) "dinakdakan" in (Pangasinense and Ilokano), a popular local delicacy (seasoned with calamansi, onions, chilis, salt, ground pepper, mayonnaise or coconut cream, etc).
The skull is split to extract the brain and the bones are chopped and boiled for stock used for cooking soup or stew with vegetables.
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| Pig's head cut off |
21. Weigh the remaining part of the pig (minus the head and rear section) (in kilos).
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| Weighing the shoulder/front leg and midsection |
22. Cut the shoulder/front leg and midsection in #21 lengthwise into two identical pieces.
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| Shoulder/front leg and midsection being sliced crosswise into two |
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| One side of the shoulder/front leg and midsection |
23. Cut off the shoulder/front leg in #22 to separate it from the midsection. Do the same for the other half.
Midsection
24. For the midsection, slice lengthwise to divide it into two: loin section with ribs (upper part near the spine) and the belly section (the fatty part below).
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| Cutting the pig's midsection into the loin portion (on the chopping block) and belly portion (being held by hand) |
In cutting, follow the curve of the spine so that the belly section is wider than the loin section.
Do the same for the other identical half of the midsection.
25. As for the loin section, slice further lengthwise to separate the ribs from the loin part near the spine.
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| Cutting the belly portion into pieces; loin portion waiting to be sliced |
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| Loin being sliced cross wise for baby back rib pieces (recognized as pork chop locally) |
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| Pork chop pieces |
27. As to the ribs part of the loin, cut crosswise into pieces to get spare ribs.Note: Sometimes if there are “buto-buto” orders, part of the rib bone layer may be sliced off. This rib bone layer is cut into small pieces and sold as “buto-buto” to the customer.
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| Ribs being sliced crosswise for spare ribs orders |
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| Part of rib bones being taken out and chopped into pieces for "buto-buto" orders |
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| A piece of rib bone with leg bone set aside for "buto-buto" orders |
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| Other half of shoulder/foreleg and midsection still intact and uncut |
28. Retrieve the belly section and cut crosswise into two to get the orders for “liempo”.
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| Cut strips of "liempo" (belly) |
Note: The belly as a whole can usually be divided crosswise into following halves: (a) bacon belly – the flatter portion and (b) fresh belly – the lumpier, uneven portion.
Shoulder/Foreleg
29. Remove rib bones, part of the spine, and feather bones.
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| Shoulder/foreleg section still uncut |
30. Cut off the foreleg (“paa”) between the upper foreleg bone and lower foreleg bone (just like at the elbow, but at point slightly higher than elbow). The detached lower leg bone with its meat plus pig’s foot is sold as the “paa” (leg).
28. At the shoulder, remove the meat part from the shoulder blade by cutting off the meat (“kasim”) lengthwise.
29. Cut the remaining meat part from the upper bone toward the shoulder blade.
30, From the remaining meat portion, remove the shoulder blade and the upper foreleg bone (humerus).
Note: All the meat parts of #28, 29, 30 are called “kasim” in Tagalog (Boston Butt or picnic in English). But in the village these are all sold as “laman” (meat).
The bones taken out from the Shoulder/Foreleg section are sold as “buto-buto”.
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| Shoulder portion being sliced (see bones at the lower left of photo, to be sold as "buto-buto") |
Ham/Back leg Section
31. Cut off the back leg (“paa”) between the upper back leg bone and lower back leg bone (just like at the elbow, but at a point higher than elbow). The detached lower back leg bone with its meat plus pig’s foot is sold as the “paa” (leg).
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| Cutting off the back leg |
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| Bones taken out (left) |
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| Aitch bone and back upper leg bone taken out |
Note: These bones with some meat morsels attached are sold as “buto-buto”.
33. Following the upper back leg bone, remove the meat part at the top of the bone.
34. Cut the remaining meat part at the left side of the upper leg bone.
35, Cut the remaining meat part at the right side of the upper leg bone.
Note: These meat parts in # 33, 34, and 35 are known by meat buyers as ham roast. But in the village they are just considered “laman” (meat). Others may call it “pata” or “pigue” which means the meat coming from the ham section of the pig.
Cleaning of Intestines
36. Clean both the small and large intestines by pouring hot water and pressing and stretching them to eject any remnants inside the digestive tract.
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| Cleaning the intestines |
37. Pour hot water inside the intestines repeatedly until clean. Note: One person holds up the intestines while the other pours the hot water.
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| Pouring hot water into insides of intestines |
38. Turn the intestines inside out, then rinse clean the exterior using hot water. Then, clean the turned out skin of the intestines using detergent bar soap and water. (This will remove the smell.) Rinse thoroughly.
Note: Intestines after being cleaned are boiled in hot water. The small intestines (“kaleskes” in Pangasinense) are chopped and included in “igado”. The large intestines (“bagesen” in Pangasinense) are sold separately and go to the making of “dinuguan” (pig blood stew).
Internal Organs
39. Boil the organs in the cooking vat, except for the liver (which are sold fresh). Chop off into pieces and set aside. Take the meat orders for “igado” from this pile.
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| Liver sold fresh not boiled |
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| Lungs and other organs being boiled |
Notes:
As mentioned in #38, the boiled small intestines ("kaleskes") are included in this pork meat ("igado") category.
Also the “lomo” although not an internal organ - but is the pork tenderloin found in the loin section - is surprisingly included by the locals in “igado”. But the more knowledgeable hog raisers keep the "lomo" for their own use.
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| "Lomo" (pork tenderloin) sold slightly boiled (not fresh) to keep in good condition before being cooked or stored in freezer |
40. For each order, pick up the item from the newly-cut meat pieces (i.e., laman, igado, ulo, paa, pork chop, ribs, liempo, buto-buto, bagesen). Weigh the item ordered, and put in a plastic bag.
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| Weighing the meat item ordered (1 kilo) |
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| Cutting a small piece from a meat part to complete the ordered weight |
41. Fill out a carton label (with customer name, meat type, number of kilos ordered) and insert in each bag.
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| Ordered meat item in a plastic bag with label ("liempo",1 kilo, for customer Lisa), ready for delivery |
The orders are thus filled out and ready for delivery.
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