Cutting up a side of pork, step by step
Interactive lesson: a chilled side of pork in five cuts — Trichinella and cold meat, tools, which cut for what, sausage meat and portions for the freezer.
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The whole lesson as text
1. Before the first cut
Cutting starts the day after slaughter, once the carcass has chilled, and only when three things have been checked.
- Trichinella result — For pig and wild boar the result must have arrived and be negative. Without a result the meat stays cold and isn't cut for processing.
- Meat below 7 °C — A probe thermometer in the thickest part of the leg reads below 7 °C (45 °F), and the room is no warmer than 12 °C (54 °F). Warm meat is hard to cut, it squashes and spoils faster.
- The plan on paper — Before you pick up a knife, you know how many legs go for ham, how much meat for sausages and how many portions into the freezer.
- Safe with a knife — Cut away from yourself, and keep the hand holding the meat behind the blade or in a cut-resistant glove. If a knife falls, don't try to catch it: step back.
Why: A whole year of meat depends on the cutting. A badly cut side means a ham that won't cure, sausages full of sinew and a freezer full of bags of “mixed meat” that nobody knows what to do with.
- If the meat is almost frozen, leave it an hour or two at the temperature of the work room. Frozen meat slips under the knife and is dangerous.
- A 120 kg pig gives roughly 90–95 kg of sides.
2. Tools and work space
Work at a table at hip height, in a cold room, in good light.
- Two knives — A narrow boning knife, 13–15 cm (5–6 in), is the main knife for taking meat off the bone. A wide butcher's knife, 20–25 cm (8–10 in), is for long cuts, back fat and steaks.
- Saw and cleaver — A hand bone saw gives a cleaner cut through the spine, ribs and pelvis. A cleaver is for ribs and joints, but it leaves bone splinters in the meat.
- Sharpening and board — Sharpen all the knives before work, at roughly 15–20°, and during work just run them over the steel every 10–15 minutes. A large plastic board goes on a wet cloth so it doesn't slip.
- Five containers — By the table stand containers for lean meat, fatty meat and back fat. The fourth is for bones and the fifth for waste: glands, blood clots, dirty edges.
Why: A blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one: it needs more force and slips more easily. Containers by the table from the start save work, because the meat is sorted as it's cut.
- A 45 kg (100 lb) side is carried by two people.
- A meat hook holds and turns the pieces and saves your hands.
3. Five cuts of the side · Locked
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4. What each cut is for · Locked
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5. Sausage meat · Locked
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6. Packing and the freezer · Locked
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