Scarpetta

Adam, the way I cook boar, I first sear the marinated leg patted dry, salted, peppered on a stovetop in lard, saltpork (cubed small) two chopped onions, two/three cloves, 1 chopped carrot and one celery stalk, one bay leaf (crumbled) and two large pinches of dried thyme. When the meat is well browned all over - it should take about 30' over medium heat - I pour a mixture of water and wine (50-50) so that I have about an inch of liquid in the pan and bring it to the boil. At this stage you put the whole thing in a preheated oven at 350°F. After 20' lower the oven to 300, turn the leg and keep cooking for 3 hours, turning the piece every 30 minutes. I add some liquid if it should dry out. Insert a kitchen needle to test for doneness: it must slip in till the center effortlessly. Happy birthday!

Thanks, Shiva, you taught me something I didn't know! I'm looking forward at correcting my ignorance (hoping, of course, to have fun while learning...) Ciao.

Adam -- I agree, it seems that quite a few people in this thread have taken the term "cultural" as a synonim for educated, "classy" or such - hence as a qualitative term of paragon - instead of an adjective denoting the set of traditions and knowledge pertaining to a particular human activity. We're not discussing (at least, we shouldn't) about which is best between wine and beer, but rather which one we prefer, and why... DStone -- Moretti Sans Souci is one of the best beers in Europe and anywhere else, but I respect your tastes. Macrosan -- As I stated, I like beer and actually I've had most of those circulating in Europe. Besides -- a nose is a nose is a nose! If I can detect smells and nuances in wine, I ought to perceive them also in beer. Your Flemish friend is very impressive, though I wouldn't want to taste any vintage beer (as he does, according to you) and I may point out that my friend's truffle hound is capable of discerning even more nuances in tap water.

First of all, hi to everybody. I'm new to eGullet, which seems to be a great site. I'm Italian -- meaning that I live in Italy AND have an italian passport. I'm a professional cook which spends three months in the summer in a greek island feeding pizza and pasta to the tourists who are choking over moussaka and tzatziki. This thread is quite interesting and I'd like to contribute my views. As someone already stated, it's difficult to draw any kind of comparison between wine and beer -- since wine offers such a fantastic array of sensations and variants. If we only take into consideration the olfactory range of wine - as compared to that of beer - we realize there's a complexity ratio of about 100/1 in favor of wine. (though I love to quaff a beer or four on a hot summer day...) Let's face it, if you sniff your beer mug, you aren't exactly overwhelmed by a symphony of perfumes. Then, when we consider wine at large we have such an incredible range of different types: besides the obvious red and white there's rosè, champagne, sauterne type, port, marsala, madeira, sherry, asti spumante, passito, and I'm sure I'm leaving out a few more. Beer is practically one-dimensional, wine is like a galaxy.