Shoulder
The hardest-working muscle and the one with the most flavor. Roasts for slow cooking, or the best part of the pig to grind for sausage and mince.
You choose: roasts, steaks, or ground.
What is in half a hog
A pig is split down the backbone. Your half has one of everything: one shoulder, one loin, one belly, one leg.
Part by part
Loin
The long muscle along the back. This is where chops come from, and the tenderloin sits underneath it.
You choose: chops thick or thin, bone in or out, or the loin left whole as a roast.
Belly and ribs
The belly is the fat, layered side: Thai crispy pork and bacon both start here. The spare ribs lift off the inside of it.
You choose: belly as a slab, sliced, or cured as bacon. Ribs whole or split.
Leg
The biggest single piece. Lean roasts and steaks, and the leanest meat on the pig for grinding.
You choose: roasts, steaks, or ground.
Neck and jowl
Well marbled and made for the grill. In Thailand the neck is the cut for kho mu yang.
You choose: whole, sliced, or into the sausage.
Hocks, bones and fat
Hocks for braising, bones for broth, back fat for lard. Shops rarely sell them. They come with your half if you want them.
You choose: keep or leave.
How much pork is that?
Less than the pig weighs, and that is normal. Here is where the weight goes, using figures from American farm colleges as a guide.
About 70%
of the live weight is left as carcass once the pig is dressed.2
About 70%
of that carcass ends up as packed cuts, after the large bones and trim come out.2
27 to 32 kg
is the pork a university guide expects from half of a 113 to 122 kg pig (60 to 70 lb from a 250 to 270 lb pig).1
Boneless and closely trimmed cuts weigh less than bone-in ones from the same pig, so your cut sheet changes the number.3 Our pigs are not American pigs. We weigh yours and tell you its real weight when we quote.
Freezer space
The same guide says about 23 kg of pork (50 lb) fits in 2.25 cubic feet, about 64 liters, which is the freezer compartment of an ordinary home refrigerator when it is empty.1 A half hog wants a little more than that. A whole hog wants a chest freezer.
What each cut is called in Thai
Useful at the market, and when you tell us how to cut yours.
| English | Thai | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Loin | สันนอก | san nok |
| Tenderloin | สันใน | san nai |
| Belly | สามชั้น | sam chan |
| Neck | สันคอ | san kho |
| Ribs | ซี่โครง | si khrong |
| Shoulder | ไหล่ | lai |
| Leg | สะโพก | saphok |
| Hock | ขาหมู | kha mu |
| Ground pork | หมูสับ | mu sap |
| Fat | มันหมู | man mu |
| Bones | กระดูก | kraduk |
Ask what a half costs this week
We quote every order, because the price moves with the pig. Nothing is charged on this site.