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glock27 wrote:Im a rookie chef and enjoy cooking as a hobby.

I am NOT a chef, but love smoked meat and bought a Bradley smoker. The rap against Bradleys is that you have to buy there wood "hocky pucks" (bisquettes) but other than that I can say the thing is fantastic i.e. the best pulled pork, and the best smoked chickens, that I have ever had are the ones that *I* have made with the Bradley.

They're not particularly "manly" i.e. they are banned from use in smoking contests, but electric smokers are wonderful things...

glock27,

I'm curious. You said: "Recently aquired a hog. Im planning on having many more."

By that, do you mean you shot and killed a hog or some kind someone is doing the killing and giving you the hog?

As to field dressing knives, have a look at Havalon knives. They use replaceable razor sharp blades.

If such isn't for you, look at Knives of Alaska. I'm partial to the Muskrat - Suregrip for skinning and fleshing.

The Bradley smoker is trivially easy to use. When I first got it I would insert a remote-monitored thermometer into the meat but now I know "a pork butt takes all day" (e.g. load it in the early morning and it's ready for dinner) and whatnot. Their bisquettes I buy from Amazon by the case e.g. 120pack for ~$36 bucks and a bisquette is used every 20 minutes, so for example if I cook something for 10 hours I might use 6-8 hours of smoke i.e. 18-24 bisquettes or about $5-7 worth of bisquettes. Given that even a cheap, small pork butt lasts us a few days, I don't worry about the bisquette cost, though others will complain about it. And I probably use more smoke than I need to anyway.

I have had this thing for a few years, still don't know anything about cooking, but now you have my mouth watering for pulled port this weekend!!!

glock27 wrote:Are you able to load all the pucks at a time or do you have to refill them every so hours?

It's got a "feed tower"; my older unit holds maybe 4-6 hours worth but as I look at pics on Amazon it seems the newer ones maybe hold even more...

I process my own pigs. I do hams, shoulder roast for pulled pork, tender loins, back straps,and grind the rest.

With the grind, I do a 70/30 blend pork to cheep ground beef and bacon ends and pieces into 1/2lb burger patties, chili grind in 1lb packs, and breakfast sausage patties using a recipe I found online.

The hams I follow any one of a couple different recipes I have. I do them in a Weber Smokey Mountain. I love my maverick remote dual probe thermometer. One probe monitors meat, the other grill temp. I try to keep it at about 250-275.

I do my pulled pork in a crockpot. The back traps I filet flat and stuff. The tenderloins I'll follow one of several recipes.

I trim as much fat and silver skin off as possible to reduce any sort of gamey taste. I also soak it in well drained ice for up to a week.

I haven't done any sausage. It's a little space intensive, but everything I have read about it, it's not that difficult. Good luck.

glock27,

What a great deal!

Good for you!

Do you have a pound limit you don't care to process?

Mine used to be about 120 lb or I'd give em away.

My next door neighbor's son killed a 250 lb. boar recently and had it professionally processed.

So, maybe I'm wrong about turning my nose up at big hogs as acceptable meat.

What say you?

Go look up uds somkers the absolute best bang for the buck. Less then $100 to diy.
Its all I use. I just did a 21lb turkey in under 7 hours.
Sorry I cant help much on the hog part of the question