# To Scald and Scrap or Not..



## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

OK.. I figured cooking would be the best forum to put this under... I guess.. 

So I got a 200 pound pig I'm gonna stick a pole in so I can hang him over a fire... 

I'm debating... do you really need to scald and scrape, or since it's going to be over a fire, just let the fire take the hair off?

Every other one I've done, I've gotten the hog already prepped and ready to skewer... They were all scraped... This will be the first one I've slaughtered for a roast, so I'm not sure what I can get away with or not in the prep... but yes, I know to take the insides out..


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Anyone?


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## wally (Oct 9, 2007)

only done it once and we skinned the hog then placed it in a pit on a rack (expanded metal) with hot ashes from a large fire we let turn to coals
then covered with dirt on metal over the hog..the meat was great. we used the front end loader to lower and raise the hog in the pit


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I'd love to put it in a pit, but I don't have the time to dig a hole, or a full day to let it cook in a hole.. I'm just gonna run a pipe through it and set a fire on each side to cook indirectly... Done it that way a few times.. Just never started with a live pig for this.. 

I can do the slaughter and cleaning, but I didn't know if it really needs to be scraped, other than for aesthetic reasons.. 

I guess though, if anyone wants to eat the skin, it really should be scraped now that I get to thinking about it.. scraping removes the roots... but burning off the hair won't.. 

hhhhmmm... Also makes me wonder about my plans a little... 

I plan to go to where the pig is, about a mile and a half, stun and bleed it, then load it up to take home and finish cleaning.. BUT, I know too if you wait too long after bleeding it, then the hair wouldn't come off as easily...


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## copperhead46 (Jan 25, 2008)

Now you're thinking, the scraping takes out the hair root. It takes longer, but theres a reason for it.


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## eruehr (Feb 22, 2007)

We alway scorch the pigs for pig roasts with a propane roofing torch and scrape scrub to get it clean. Just burning it makes a nasty burnt hair crust - plus whatever manure, etc is still on the pig!
I know I must be missing something or doing something wrong, but I could never figure out why anybody wanted to eat the pig skin/crackling....


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

We did things the ******* way.. put an old tub up on cinder blocks, lit a fire under it and got the water boiling.. then covered the pig in towels and poured boiling water on it.. Took about 2 hours of 4 or 5 of us working on it..


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