I had heard horror stories down in the RGV about Javelina meat for years... finally got around to cooking the sow in my profile pic. Tasted great! The girlfriend even had some...
How could you get past the smell to even butcher one ?
The nasty scent gland comes right off with the cape. Biggest issues was fleas. I used gloves and changed them out after handling the cape... used a new pair when butchering the actual meat. I was pleasantly surprised.
Killed my first one this year. Was pleasantly surprised. The meat is a pretty light pink. I got a young boar. As others mentioned, take care with skinning it and not getting the musk from the gland/hide on the meat you’ll eat. I also left it on ice four days. That probably helped.
Front shoulder was cut off the bone and cubed up. Brined it overnight. Made a type of carne guisada with it, topped with shredded smoked cheese and fresh cilantro. Bowls and pot were licked clean
We keep a spray bottle of filled with water and Dawn dish soap to spray down anything that has fleas or ticks on it really bad, spray them down and let it set a few mins then either rinse the hide off or commence to capping.
First thing you do is cut off that musk gland on their back above the tail. Wash hands and either change knives or wash the original real good. Finish gutting, skin and quarter, then on ice.
First thing you do is cut that musk gland on their back above the tail. Wash hands and either change knives or wash the original real good. Finish gutting and quarter, then on ice.
NO, NO AND NO!!! Do not touch that gland! It is entirely contained within the skin. When you skin the javelina, it will come right off with the hide. No need to contaminate the area by whittling on it. Just leave it alone.
While skinning, keep your hands off the meat and carefully pick any hair that gets on the meat off. Do NOT use water to wash the hairs off the meat. That will just flush the meat with the oil that is on the hairs that came from the gland.
After skinning, sanitize your hands and knives and debone it while it's hanging... A full size javelina deboned will fit in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag. There is no requirement by TPWD to keep the quarters whole like a deer antelope. Works like a champ! A sow javelina is far superior in taste/texture to any venison if cared for properly. Fried javelina backstrap is better than any deer or elk backstrap ever was... there's just not as much of it...
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