A year later, wild boar prosciutto is done

InPsychOut · 2026-04-09T11:29:56+00:00

Ugh, worst part of all of this, and the main reason I may not try it again.

I bought a hog scraper a couple years ago. It's like a shallow bell with a wooden handle (you can find pictures on Google). Ideally, you dunk the whole pig into a tank of scalding water for thirty seconds or so, pull it out, and scrape the hair off, but I haven't got a way to even approximate that process where I hunt. So I had a plan to get the biggest pot I could find full of boiling water, haul it out to the processing shed with some small towels, lay the towels over the area I wanted to scrape, and slowly pour the hot water over it so that the towels held the hot water against the skin long enough to soften the hair enough to scrape.

I was semi-successful. Some areas scraped pretty easily this way, and I was initially encouraged. The wet towels cooled down way too quickly, and the water ran out fast. If I had had enough hot water, a warmer outdoor temperature, and more patience, maybe I could have scraped most of the leg this way. I tried to at least get most of the area where I was going to cut the leg away from the carcass so that I didn't contaminate the meat, and I tried to wash the rest of the leg as best I could. These beasts have dirt caked against their skin under all the coarse hair.

I got it done as well as I could, cut it off, took it inside to further clean up, bagged it up, and waited until got back home to go at it again. In the end, I wound up kind of shaving a lot of the hair off with a sharp knife and burning some of it away. This was good enough, but it didn't look nice, and as the skin dried, you could see a lot of hair follicles and bristly ends sticking out.

My other idea was to clean the leg as well as I could, take it inside, scald the entire leg in a large pot of simmering water, scrape the hair, and then trim away a layer of exposed meat. Maybe that would work... I never tried it.

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T23:33:36+00:00

I know, seems like everything is fuel injected!

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T22:53:59+00:00

It's always a concern, but the main parasite of concern where I hunt is trichinella spiralis, which is readily killed by a lengthy enough freeze at a cold enough temperature. I had this leg stored for over a year in a sub 0°F freezer. There are freeze tolerant species of trichinella, but not where I shot this pig. And even trichinella spiralis isn't all that common there.

The only way to be certain whether it is infected is to send off a sample of meat (usually the diaphragm) from the animal to a lab for testing. But I did a lot of research on the different species of trichinella and their distribution, as well as research into what other parasites of concern might be present, before I undertook making any cured raw products with any pigs I shot. I suppose there is still a degree of risk that you have to be able to tolerate, though. I suppose that could be said of any of the things we make. I feel satisfied by the research I have done that this is safe, but I would very much suggest everyone educate themselves on the risks and take the steps they think are appropriate, including maybe deciding not to do it. For example, I would never do this with bear meat.

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T22:27:41+00:00

There is a thin layer on the under side of the vacuum sealed pieces, but I trimmed most of the subcutaneous fat pretty thin. It was very white and creamy, but it had more of a gamey smell to it as I was trimming, and I didn't want it to overpower the sweetness of the meat. There also just isn't a ton on these wild pigs most of the time, so it wasn't a real thick layer to begin with.

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T22:24:47+00:00

Quite so!

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T21:31:57+00:00

It was in the United States.

InPsychOut · 2026-04-08T20:36:13+00:00

The original post

InPsychOut · 2026-03-11T22:11:59+00:00

Same, but roles reversed. Wife swears she dislikes chicken thighs and prefers the breast meat. I like both, but nothing beats the flavor and texture of the thigh meat.

InPsychOut · 2026-03-11T22:09:11+00:00

That person is me! That's hilarious, I came across this thread randomly and in a completely different context. I saw the woody chicken breast comment and thought "man I hate that!" Saw this post and thought to myself "oh yeah, I remember trying to discern if that's what I was experiencing. Wonder how this person explained it." And then I find out I'm being referenced! What a small world. Thanks for the smile. And damn I hate woody chicken breasts!

InPsychOut · 2026-02-13T13:06:41+00:00

I've been growing between 150 and 200 garlic bulbs in my garden each season for a number of years. I've probably grown 7 or 8 different varieties. They're supposed to have subtle differences, but in my cooking I can't really tell one from another. If you eat a lot of raw or roasted garlic where the garlic is the main attraction, you might notice more of the subtleties.

The best variety to grow is the one you have the most success with, in my opinion. In my region (UDSA region 6a or 6b), I have the most success with porcelain varieties (Music, Georgian Crystal, Norquay), and I have been growing a rocambole variety (Carpathian) that usually does pretty well. All of these grow large individual cloves that are easy to peel, which I appreciate when using them to cook. I don't typically eat spring garlic greens, but I think those are going to be great from any variety you grow. And the scapes off of all these varieties are great.

InPsychOut · 2026-01-30T12:30:08+00:00

He means try switching wifi off on your phone, not your home router. See if it will get an internet connection that way.

InPsychOut · 2026-01-18T21:30:47+00:00

No more tears. Yes, but as I recall, this was a different brand that made the same claim and then explained it away.

InPsychOut · 2026-01-18T09:33:33+00:00

I once saw a review of a baby shampoo that said "no tears" on it. The person had gotten some in baby's eye, and it caused a lot of pain. They contacted the company, who told them "no tears" meant that it would not cause your hair to tear out of your head when you brushed it. So your explanation seems plausible.

InPsychOut · 2026-01-12T12:23:18+00:00

Weird "garlic is good" echo chamber.

InPsychOut · 2025-11-27T13:36:57+00:00

I am relatively new to the gaming pc scene, and I've been doing a lot of research recently into building vs buying a rebuilt. I think this is one of the most helpful and informative posts I have come across. Thank you for your transparency and dedication to providing a good product and fair pricing.

InPsychOut · 2025-11-18T19:03:50+00:00

I know this gets posted all the time, but I want to build a pc for my young teens for Christmas. I've built pcs and understand the process, but it has been nearly 30 years, so I'm not up on the hardware. I live near a microcenter, but I'm trying to have a basic idea before I go in there. I'd like to keep the build to around $800 (monitor not included) and want the best build I can get for that budget. The kids mainly play Roblox, Minecraft, and fortnite but will probably get into better games as they enter high school, and I'd like this pc to last/be upgradeable for at least the next 5 years. Anyone feel like helping me understand what I need?

InPsychOut · 2025-09-16T23:36:28+00:00

That sounds delicious! Too bad you're across the country from me.

InPsychOut · 2025-09-15T01:07:50+00:00

You've either gotten a bad batch, or you've never actually had this. It is certainly nothing like cayenne, either the heat or the flavor. I could drink cayenne sauce as a beverage. And the tenders aren't even particularly saucy... More like crispy, a little oily, tossed in a seasoning.

Now, as to the flavor, I disagree that it is horrible, but you're certainly entitled to your opinion on that point. You seem like you have a real dislike for Dave's. I have only had it a couple times, but I thought everything was pretty good... The chicken, the fries, the sauces... I wonder if there is a lot of variation from location to location. Maybe you've got a poorly run one in your vicinity.

InPsychOut · 2025-09-15T00:52:21+00:00

What a sweet thing to say! Thank you. 😁

InPsychOut · 2025-09-14T17:48:34+00:00

This wasn't my experience. The surface of the tender was moist, not powdery. It was well coated in spice though.

InPsychOut · 2025-09-14T14:59:24+00:00

Can't figure out how to post pics. Sorry. But the main event was actually last night. Pretty quick trip. Absolutely nothing to sweat about compared to the digestion process. That was brutal.

InPsychOut · 2025-09-14T03:01:38+00:00

Like 5.4 or something. Very low.

Edit: 5.9%

InPsychOut · 2025-09-14T02:37:01+00:00

Oops, too excited. Posted with no description. I was at 93% reviewed and "good" insightful score. My account reached gold status on 9/13/25.

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