Pasture-Raised Pork Available after October 15, 2007 - Our pigs are raised on pastures that provide ample room to roam, shade to enjoy during the hot summer days, and that are close enough to mountain springs to have fresh, protected water piped into their pastures continuously for drinking. Open barns are always available for shelter from the hot or cold. Madison Farms' pork is raised without the use of any medicated feeds or hormone supplements. Processing Our pigs are taken to a federally inspected butcher plant just across the mountain in Tennessee. This inspection allows us to sell our meat to individual people, restaurants, groceries, etc. The processor cuts to our specifications, vacuum seals, labels, and then freezes the product. We pick up the meat with a freezer truck and deliver it to the Madison Farms' freezer for storage and distribution. For more information, please contact us. Information on the various meat cuts: After a hog is slaughtered, it is generally split down the backbone, dividing the carcass into bilateral halves. Like the beef carcass, each side of the hog carcass is then further broken down into the primal cuts: shoulder, Boston butt, belly, loin and fresh ham. The loin contains the highest-quality meat and is the most expensive cut of pork. Pork's consistency makes it suitable for a variety of cooking styles. Chops can be prepared by pan broiling, grilling, baking, braising, or sautéing. Ribs can be braised, roasted, or grilled. Slow cooking yields the most tender and flavorful results. Tenderloins are considered to be the most tender and tasty cut of pork. Pork is divided into 5 Primary Cuts: * Shoulder (Butt) * Shoulder (Picnic) * Loin * Ham * Belly Diagram and pork cut information courtesy of www.askthemeatman.com Shoulder (Butt): The shoulder butt is the primary cut that includes the section at the top of the front leg. It contains a higher level of fat than the other cuts of pork, which provides it with a lot of flavor and tenderness, but also causes the cuts from this area to add more fat into our diets than the meat from some of the other primal cuts. The fat content in the shoulder makes this cut desirable for making sausage and when well-trimmed, it is used for lean ground pork and is also cubed or cut into strips to use for kabobs, stir-frying or stewing. The shoulder is one of the most flavorful and economical cuts. The shoulder butt is a better cut than the picnic. The blade is the upper portion of the shoulder and is tender and full of flavor. The roasts from this cut are best cooked using a moist heat method, such as braising or stewing, but they can also be roasted. The steaks, which are cut from the blade Boston roasts, are best broiled, grilled or braised. Shoulder (Picnic): The shoulder, known as the picnic ham, is the lower portion of the hog's foreleg; it accounts for approximately 20% of the carcass weight. The shoulder contains the arm and shank bones and has a relatively high ratio of bone to lean meat. The shoulder is tender enough to be cooked by any method. It is, however, one of the toughest cuts of pork.

Search this Site: powered by FreeFind Quarter-Side of Pork Approximately 35-45 lbs. of meat cut to your specifications -and packaged for $4.50/lb. Use the form below to order, or phone (828) 649-2411. Fields marked * are required. First Name: * Last Name: * Address 1: * City: * State: * Zip: * Phone: * E-mail:  * Number in family:  Pork Cutting Instructions: Hams Sliced Cut for Roasts Boned for Sausage Tenderloin Sliced Whole Pork Chops 1/4" # of Chops 1/2" # of Chops Shoulders Sliced Cut for Roasts Boned for Sausage Other: Sides Sliced Cut into Sausage Fatback Cut to cook with Cut into Sausage Backbones & Ribs Cut Regular Left Whole Sausage By the pound -- Enter .5 for half a pound. Mild # lbs. Medium # lbs. Hot # lbs. Comments (optional): :: Please Press Button Once!

Loin: The loin is cut from directly behind the Boston butt and includes the entire rib section as well as the loin and a portion of the sirloin area. The primal loin accounts for approximately 20% of the carcass weight. It contains a portion of the blade bone on the shoulder end, a portion of the hipbone on the ham end, all the ribs and most of the backbone. The loin also contains the pork tenderloin, located on the inside of the rib bones on the sirloin end of the loin. The tenderloin is the most tender cut of pork; it is very versatile and can be trimmed, cut into medallions and sautéing, or the whole, tenderloin can be roasted or braised. The most popular cut from the loin is the pork chop. Chops can be cut from the entire loin, the choicest being center cut chops from the loin after the blade bone and sirloin portions at the front and rear of the loin are removed. Ham: The fresh ham is the hog's hind leg. It is a rather large cut accounting for approximately 24% of the carcass weight. The ham contains the aitch, leg and hind shank bones. Fresh ham, like the legs of other meat animals, contains large muscles with relatively small amounts of connective tissue. Like many other cuts of pork, hams are often cured and smoked. But fresh hams also produce great roasts and can be prepared using almost any cooking method. Belly: The pork belly is located below the loin. Accounting for approximately 16% of the carcass weight, it is very fatty with only streaks of lean meat. It contains the spareribs, which are always separated from the rest of the belly before cooking. Spareribs usually are sold fresh but can also be smoked.