A pig isn't all ribs and bacon - here is a quick guide to pork cuts and where they come from on a pig?

Are you confused by all the different Pork cuts?

How do you know what to order when you want to buy directly off the farmer?

You may know what you like to eat and cook but where does it come from? It’s not all bacon, ribs and chops.

A side of pork is half a pig, there is a lot you can do with it BUT there is only

• 1 loin,

• 1 shoulder,

• 1 leg and

• 1 belly on a side of pork.

  meaning you can’t get all ribs and chops.

That said a side of pork is versatile and you can grind, smoke or cure all of it if you want to.

To cut up a pig carcass we break it down into 4 Primals, then go on to break it down further into smaller pieces, like roasts and chops.

1. Shoulder

2. Loin

3. Belly

4. Leg

Shoulder

This breaks down into 2 sub-primals (and you should also get neckbones)

The Picnic and the Blade (the blade is more commonly known as the Boston butt - In colonial New England, butchers packed inexpensive cuts of meat into large barrels, called butts, for storage and transportation. The shoulder meat packed into these barrels became known as Pork butt.)

What cuts can you get from the shoulder?

• Roasts

• Steaks

• Stew

• Ground/Sausage

• Neckbones - these are great for bone broth

• Hock/Shank

Loin

The loin is the back of the pig. It’s where the tenderloin, back ribs and pork chops come from.

The tenderloin can be left in or taken out for an extra cut of pork. If you leave the tenderloin in you will get T-bone pork chops.

If you want back ribs you will have to have boneless chops or roasts.

What cuts can you get from the loin?

• Roasts

• Chops - Rib chops, t-bones, tomahawks, sirloin

• Tenderloin

• Back ribs

• Cutlets

• Stew

• Ground/sausage

• Back bacon

leg

What cuts can you get from the leg?

While roast pork leg is really popular in the UK it isn’t often seen in Canadian grocery stores. Here they are often made into hams.

• Fresh Roasts - bone in or boneless.

• Chops/steaks - bone in or boneless.

• Cutlets

• Stew

• Ground/sausage

• Ham/Gammon, bone-in/ boneless, steaks or roasts

Belly

What cuts can you get from the belly?

Bacon - in the UK we call it streaky bacon, here in Canada it’s just bacon, or side bacon.

Fresh pork belly - our Berkshire bellies are most popular fresh, wth customers either making their own bacon, pancetta or simply using them for their favourite bbq recipes.

Ground/sausage - the belly has a lot of fat so can be used to up the fat content when added to leaner cuts that have been ground.

Side ribs - St Louis, spare ribs, sweet and sour

8 tips to help you stop wasting frozen food

Are you throwing food out of your freezer? Either because it freezer burned or it got buried in the black hole known as “the freezer” and you don’t know how long it has been there.

I remember my mums’ freezer- we just threw stuff in - no organization at all! Always the freshest stuff was on the top and we couldn’t reach the bottom anyway so it was a pit full of old freezer-burnt food that was about 10 years old!

The freezer is the place where we mean to preserve our food but we can end up wasting so much if we don’t keep it organized. I know you really wish their was a freezer fairy who would do it for you.

Try some of these tips to help you get organized.

1. Have 1 person designated as “Keeper of the Freezer”

I know this sounds like the worse job ever but I spend half my time looking for things that Carl does not put back where it belongs - so not a chance I let him loose in my freezers! I have 7 and not enough time to look through all of them every time I want a tub of ice cream.

2. Keep track of inventory with a Freezer Inventory tracker.

I know this sounds soo boring but there is no freezer fairy that is going to do this for you. You have to do it yourself.

Trust me it takes less time than looking for something you think is in there.

I designed my own laminated trackers that can be stuck to a freezer with a magnet. I also use magnetic drywipe boards and sometimes I even write on my freezer with dry wipe markers.- I have a lot of freezers!

If you have it written on the outside of your freezer you as the “keeper of the freezer” have a visual reminder.

Don’t forget to cross it off your list when you take something out.

3. USE Labels

Most of us convince ourselves that we are going to remember what we threw in the freezer in a ziplock bag.

Sorry, Not gona happen!

Half the time I can’t remember why I went in the other room so not a chance I will remember what is in a container buried under 2 chickens and a leg of pork in 6 months time.

Label and date any bags or storage containers

4. FREEZE FOOD FLAT or in blocks

If you are storing leftovers freeze them flat. This will give you a lot more room - I use baking sheets to freeze things like baked beans in ziplock bags. When you take the bag out of the baking sheet they are a perfect shape for stacking.

Make sure the ziplock bag is dry or use plastic wrap to prevent it from getting stuck in the baking sheet.

I also use bread baking tins to freeze stock and lard in - then I have nice blocks.

5. iNSULATED FREEZER bags

When you bring frozen food home do you throw it in the freezer quickly to stop it from spoiling?

This is how a Freezer abyss starts - we forget about it and just keep adding to it.

I absolutely love my insulated freezer bags.

• If you like to just dump your freezer food and run then use an insulated freezer bag - you can bring your frozen food home in them, then just put the bag right in the freezer.

• They help prevent freezer burn - If you have a lot of Vaccum sealed packages store them in an insulated bag. The vacuum seal is prone to breaking when they get knocked or dropped in a freezer. Keep them in a freezer bag you will have a bit of extra protection. Remember you need to use blown bags up quickly.

• You can also store items that aren’t well wrapped in them - or you can add extra wrapping - but easier to keep in an insulated bag.

• They safeguard your food if the freezer power goes out - in the bags, it may last up to 24 hours longer - or if you need to do a quick dash to a neighbours freezer they are really easy and quick to move

Remember to mark down what is in the insulated bag on your inventory sheet.

6. Coolers & Milk crates

Coolers - These are great for stacking. You can use coolers to store large items like roasts, turkeys, etc at the bottom of your freezer. They make stacking easier and like the insulated cooler will help prevent freezer burn. They just aren’t as easy to lift out if they are heavy.

Milk Crates - We use these for items that we go through quickly like sausages and bacon. When the top crate is empty we simply switch them over. I even put insulated cooler bags in them sometimes.

7. Store THINGS VERTICALLY (chest freezers)

It’s much easier to find. We use cardboard boxes that we stand on their end. We have 1 designated for roasts and 1 for ground meat.

8. Designate areas

If you really don’t want to be the keeper of the freezer or keep an inventory then you can designate areas for meat, veg, fruit, leftovers etc.

This at least will help you know what is where. You can put a magnetic wipe board on your freezer with the designated areas/shelves marked.

If you designated an area for food that you need to use up quickly this will help cut down on freezer losses.

Hopefully these tips have given you some ideas to help you stop losing food in your freezer.

You can download a free freezer tracker to help you keep organized.

Just stick it on your freezer and fill it in when you restock or take food out.

This blog post was written in participation of a Blogging Bee-an online gathering reminiscent of the quilting bees and sewing bees of days past when women would bring their work together to create art. If you enjoyed this post about “Eight,” take a look at these posts from other farmers, small business owners, homesteaders, and creatives.

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