Cleaning a half hog?

Okay,

I'm getting my first half of a hog (it was split and I'm not going to cook it whole) tomorrow.

Unfortunately the folks who arranged it somehow didn't think it needed any packaging or protection from elements.

So my 1/2 of hog carcass has been transported in a back of van as is. I have no idea how dirty the van is, but how often they are clean...

How would you go about cleaning it before splitting into retail cuts? I plan to vac pack and freeze immediately...

Water and vinegar? Just water?

And no, tossing is not an option... :twitch:

Thanks,

Would you use a lint free cloth to wipe off the meat side or something else?

Also, my vinegar is pretty strong at 10% acetic acid content, should I buy something else in the region of 5%? Or is stronger better in this instance ;-) ?

Thanks all,

It ended up being pretty darn clean, so I did nothing to it. A guy I know, who slaughters and raises pigs, said hosing down with water is a bad idea, it just spreads bacteria around and adds to the overall number of bacteria.

The cutting went reasonably well, although I had to do it outside and it was 5 degrees cold. So the hog got really really stiff at the end, had to postpone some trimming for later day.

I wanted both ribs, if I'd do this again tomorrow I would just probably do pork chops from the loin. The ribs were pain to cut out and even my spares were really curved. Will post pics tomorrow

How do you avoid the double bones on back ribs? Need to saw a few inches off the top end?