How to brine a wild hog loin

[JamesTX]

I've been letting some guys hunt hogs on our place, so I have a freezer of pork and I want to smoke the loin this weekend (there's a joke there somewhere.......). My wife has not been a big fan of the taste of the wild hog, too gamey, so I thought I'd try brining it.

My question is -what do I brine it in and for how long?

 

[Puppyboy]

Never brined a pork loin before. Good luck with that.

 

[frognot]

I've brined wild pigs that i've killed for 24-48 hours using about a cup of salt & a cup of brown sugar per gallon of water. i'd change the water and add more ice every 12 hours until the water was clear (usually after the first 24 hours).
i've never noticed any gamey taste but i've only shot pigs less than 75 lbs and field-dressed them ASAP.
My wife really likes wild pig since the meat is so lean.

 

[Redheart]

when ever I brine game I always add about 1/2 cup of vinegar per gallon. This seems to help greatly with removing any gamy taste.

 

[Garyclaw]

^^^^Those sound like some good tips there. Also it should help keep the loin moist as I am sure it is pretty lean. I'd love to try some my self someday. Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[LJ5.0]

Sorry to answer a question you didn't ask, but I would suggest roasting versus smoking. A lean piece of meat like the loin is better suited (IMHO) to being cooked to ~145* in a 350-400* grill (indirect). I do 'em this way and they are incredible. I like to prick them all over with a paring knife and insert slivers of garlic into the slits. The garlic melts as the meat roasts.

I need to stop now -- making myself WAY too hungry....

 

[JamesTX]

Thanks for the tips. The smoke will be this weekend.

 

[JamesTX]

Sorry to answer a question you didn't ask, but I would suggest roasting versus smoking. A lean piece of meat like the loin is better suited (IMHO) to being cooked to ~145* in a 350* grill (indirect). I do 'em this way and they are incredible. I like to prick them all over with a paring knife and insert slivers of garlic into the slits. The garlic melts as the meat roasts.

I need to stop now -- making myself WAY too hungry....

I've done pork chops like this - good idea.

 

[dannypat21]

Please post pics...would love to see that wild hawg....

 

[JamesTX]

A picture of the pig? I think it was this one - I'll get some pics of the loin later.

 

[Jorge]

Nice. The 5.56 (and not .223 that I'm guessing they are not shooting looking at the weapons) should help with penetration and contribute to less lost meat. Tell them that I like "their cans".

It might help in the future if they can tell you if it was a clean kill or not. A hog that doesn't just drop, will taste more gamey in my experience. That goes for just about every game animal. What they feed on plays a huge roll as well. I suspect the diet will be about the same, unless you have somebody with deer feeders, alfalfa plots (I'm guessing lots of mesquite and cedar etc. nearby where they may feed and then wander onto your place now and then. If the kill was clean you can cut the brine time, and/or adjust the mixture as well as the seasoning.

 

[JamesTX]

The adrenaline taints the meat? I'll ask about the kill in the future. If my wife can't get used to the flavor, we may end up with a lot more sausage.

They do say that the pigs are very clean and healthy - no fleas or ticks, lots of fat - so whatever they're eating seems to agree with them. We have acorns and pecans and a lot of water. We also have a lot of pigs according to the game cameras.

I can't remember what they said about the calibers - each rifle is different I know, though. Those are thermal scopes on them.