Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

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Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby cannyfradock » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:29 pm

Hello all good folk of Sausagemaking.org.

Not sure where to post this poser so I hope the chatter section will be be OK.

As an ex-butcher I never came across this in my short years in the butchery trade (1972-1978).....pork smelling of .......for the want of a better word.....urine!!

For the last 10 years I have noticed that SOME pork....and bacon absolutely stinks of ????? (urine) and tastes the same when cooked. I'd always thought that this was the bi-product of intense pork farms using palm oil based products when fattening up the stock. I have recently been told that this smell/odour/taste comes from male swine that have not been castrated. In any case i thought this belonged to intense pork farms which products only appeared on the "happy shopper" shelves of a supermarket.

Just to confuse the issue, I recently bought some decent speck/dry cured bacon ...and black pudding from a reputable butcher in my corner of the world (S.Wales).....(bloody expensive may I add).....but that smell/taste was still there........

Am I just going senile in my old age and imagining this or is there a reason why pork smells like this? I am a self confessed carnivore and love my meat.....especially pork and love keeping my hand in, in butchery and with the help of you guys on here I managed to make a Porchetta di Testa viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5561 ....but I would hate to give up on buying pork.

Can any of you guru's enlighten me on this......or am I just imaging it??

Signed....Confused

Terry xx
Honi soit qui mal y pense

UK WFO Forum http://ukwoodfiredovenforum.proboards.com

Porchetta di Testa.. viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5561
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Re: Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby crustyo44 » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:20 am

Hi Terry,
I noticed it here in Australia in some home made sausages at a BBQ once. A good friend of mine, a butcher for the last 45 years call it "boar taint"
In his butcher shops he always bought sow meat for that reason.
Cheers Mate,
Jan. Brisbane. Australia.
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Re: Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby Thewitt » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:55 am

Definitely boar taint, and it's hard to avoid if you keep non-castrated animals beyond puberty. Not all boar will have it, and not all people are sensitive to it, but when you get one and you are sensitive the meat is unpalatable as a result.

Occasionally you will even find a mature sow with the odor as the chemicals responsible are produced in the intestine as well as the testicles.

Slaughtering animals before they reach maturity is one fix - the other is castration. With animal rights groups fighting castration of the male pig, more boar taint is in the pork supply in some regions than in others. Often the "natural" farm meat products are more affected as a result of not castrating the piglets and growing the boar to maturing and breeding at least once before slaughtering.
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Re: Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby yotmon » Fri Jul 12, 2013 10:19 am

Castration allowed the pig to put on fat but fat fell out of fashion, so 'intact' boars stay leaner but are susceptible to the 'pissy pork' flavour. Not had one for a number of years but you certainly know when you have it !

Yotmon.
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Re: Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby crustyo44 » Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:10 pm

Even sow meat smells and taste different when the animal is slaughtered and she is "in season".
I prefer sow meat for sausages and cured meats any day.
Cheers,
Jan.
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Re: Fresh pork smelling like "urine"?

Postby LGSpade » Sat Aug 10, 2013 1:22 pm

crustryo44, Spot on, that's why bulls are referred to as " hamburger" meat,
But these days a lot of graziers cut them and fatten them for 12months before sale.
Boars, we used to only use them for bacon.
In one of my other posts I said we only use young wild pork, that's the reason.

Gary.
"The dog that trots about gets the bone"
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