#1,
dunking is easier if you have hoist/tractor (something to get it in and out of the barrel). water should be 140-170 degrees. Cooler will take forever to scald and hotter will set the hair and it will never scrape. it takes 3-5minutes submersion at 140 and only one minute or less at 170. Put some dish soap and tsp in the water to help cut the fat and grease on the skin.
If you can't easily get the hog into and out of the barrel put it on a table put some towels or burlap sacs on an area and pour the water on that- keep checking and adding water until hair pulls.
#2- scald, scrape, gut,split then in the cooler is our normal procedure.
we usually hang with the skin on. Skin is then removed as the hog is butchered.
There will be fat attached to the skin no matter how tight you try and skin it- they don't skin like a deer or a rabbit...
Leave as much fat and meat attached to the skin as you like- it's your cracklins, there's really no wrong way to do it.
#3- all hogs are different for fat cover, I'm assuming your talking about a domestic hog?
You for sure don't need a 225lb hog to feed 15 people. Rule of thumb for a hog roast is 1lb per person make a big feed...
Last edited by notlim; 02/29/16.
