Review: The Hog Book by Jessie Griffiths

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Living in Texas affords me the luxury of chasing hogs year round; there is no closed season (as its an invasive species), and for those willing to try it, they are delicious. That being said, I have definitely shot hogs that have an off-putting taste, most often brought to my attention by my wife.

A condition commonly referred to as “boar taint”, the working theory is its related to added hormones present in a mature boar, which is consistent with my own experience, particularly when the boar isn’t immediately downed leading to added stress.

This love of hog hunting and my quest to conquer “boar taint” has had me anticipating the release of The Hog Book by Jessie Griffiths since the Kickstarter campaign to fund it kicked off last year. I was already a big fan of Jessie’s previous wild game cookbook, Afield. I was pleasantly surprised to find both my copy and the copy I bought for my dad in the mailbox this past Friday. It’s now Saturday, and I’ve read it cover to cover.

Stop Treating All Hogs The Same

Previously, I lumped hogs into roughly three categories:

• Small shoats too small to make it worth the effort
• Off-tasting boars to gamey to make it worth the effort
• Sows

The book works to change those perceptions by devoting sections to small hogs, medium hogs, large sows and large boars, suggesting butchering techniques and recipes that match the qualities of each hog type.

The Missing Manual for Hogs?

I don’t want to spoil any of Jessie’s advice in the book (get it yourself here), but his approach to equipping readers to assess a hog and match recipes and cooking styles to the particular characteristics of that hog is amazing.

Not only did I take away some valuable advice on how to beat the dreaded “boar taint” by matching preparations and spices to the big beast, but I also found some advice that I frankly was doing the exact opposite of and I’m eager to try out the corrections: namely my previous insistence on “ice-washing” hogs to attempt to drain the blood/gaminess off the animal

New Tricks

One of the best parts of the book is that the steps, descriptions and associated pictures paint a vivid picture of every aspect of the hunt: hunting, skinning, gutting, butchering and cooking.

Though I plan to try some new things, I do plan to keep doing some things as I’ve always done, namely gutting the hog head up…its just works for me.

That being said, there are nuggets of knowledge on every single-page of this book so don’t be afraid to try some new things.

In short, if you are just starting to pursue hogs or if you have been hunting them for years, go get this book…you will learn something new.