Wild Boar

[bakerestates]

I am taking my first delivery of a side of wild boar this Friday from a lady who rears them, free-range and no toxins, on a farm in Suffolk. Apparantly the great-grandfather of her current oldest 'stag, stallion, daddy, chief fertiliser?' has his DNA held by the Ministry of Agriculture to show what pure bread wild boar are. This old boy orginally came from the Polish/German border and she sells them on a very small scale.

So I am really thrilled to be getting them hoping my adventrous regulars and the colder weather will deplete it by Monday. I have talked to her at length about the make-up, densisty, fat content etc of the meat and how she has cooked it in the past. At the moment I plan very simply to....

Loin - with the bones still on, score it, make a apricot/butter/fennel/prosciutto marinade stuffing and slow roast it.

Belly - just slow-roasting without any additional flavourings.

Haunch - with bone in, wrapping it with coppa or pancetta and slow roasting it.

Shoulder - slow casseroling it.

I would be grateful for any cooking suggestions or experiences

bakerestates

www.thesuninndedham.com

[andiesenji]

Sounds good to me. I made carnitas from the hind leg of wild boar. this was part of the share I got for prepping other parts for the hunter who bagged it, because his wife does not want to learn how to cook game.

My discussion with photos begins on this page with message #74

I roasted the chunks in a 250 F oven for 7 hours, with the entire pan (that is a full-size sheet pan) wrapped in a double layer of aluminum foil and set into a second sheet pan to prevent escape of any juices.

Some of the leaner pieces were rather dense so I "larded" the meat with pork belly fat cut in strips.

Most of the belly fat cooked entirely away with the long, slow cooking.

I prepared the saddle (11 1/2 pounds) with a chestnut dressing and prepared a Cumberland sauce to serve with it.

I made a semi-wet, savory rub for the meat that included 6-7 juniper berries, one whole allspice, ground together, plus dried thyme, winter savory, dried garlic, dried shallots (also ground to powder), salt, pepper, mixed with two tablespoons of maple syrup and a couple of dashes of red wine vinegar. It should be like a paste, I think I had about 1/2 cup total. And I rubbed it into the meat the evening before it was to be cooked, then wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap.

The saddle had enough fat that it didn't need larding.

The loin roast did need larding but it was roasted with just a few slivers of garlic inserted just under the surface plus salt and pepper.

[Adam Balic]

The wild boar I have had has varied a great deal. While the hunt killed boar for Italy has variation from animal to animal, in general it has been lean and darker meat. The farmed whild boar I have had, to date in the UK, has been a pale meat and counter intuitively, quite mild with a good fat coverage. In some cases the meat was actually milder in flavour then domestic pork.

I think that it would be a good idea to wait until you see the meat, before making concrete plans as some recipes/treatments may not be appropriate?

[David Borkin]

I think you are on the right track casseroling the shoulder. I rate my attempt as one of my best ever dishes, and I have been loathe to do it again for fear of not meeting the same grade.

I casseroled it with shallots (whole) in a good heavy red wine, and then added a few stoned cherries half way through to add some sweetness. My boar was strong enough to cope with these flavours, but I agree with the other comments - check the meat first, and make sure it has been hung long enough.

[bakerestates]

Well, its all gone. I am quite amazed that it sold so quickly. And they loved it.

But I am not so sure. Not only did I find the aroma of it quite strong, the flavour did not do much for me. When raw, it looked like just very dark pork meat. When cooked, it looked like venison. In terms of flavour, I couldn't really put my finger on it, partly because the smell was on my palate. I blind tasted my milk supplier with a bit of loin and she said venison and then pork.

It took very slow, low heat cooking. I was amazed at how quickly it cooked and could dry out (I experimented with a bit of loin before going the whole hog) I think the best bit was the shoulder cooked at 150c for 4 hours in red wine, shallots & garlic). I served that with some wet polenta and pecorino which was perfect (as it was pouring with rain here yesterday) and the loin and haunch with roast pink fir apple potatoes, summer girolles and salsa verde which were suitably earthy for it.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll get some more and just keep experimenting to get the best out of it.

bakerestates

[Adam Balic]

Do you know if the animal you got was male of female? If it was the former it is possible that what you were smelling was "Boar Taint". Not very pleasant at all when you detect it.

[helenjp]

bakerestates, what you are describing sounds similar to the leg of wild boar that I received once - it still had hair on it here and there when I got it! The flavor was very full, and the meat remarkably dark. Venison would be a good guess if tasting blind.

Since I was in Japan, I simmered it in dark miso and sansho berries in the recommended way, and essentially, no seasoning is likely to overpower it. Not that the meat was rank, just that it was very lean and ...mmm...not rank, but definitely not chicken, either!

[Matthew Tomkinson]

We took delivery of four wild boar saddles yesterday to replace the Gacony pork we have had on the menu. The boar is from Normandy and looks exactly like a venison saddle, it has a slightly more porky flavour than venison and a gamier smell.

We are serving it with spinach, roasted butternut squash, parsnip puree and parsnip crisps. We will also be using a jus flavoured with the roasted rib bones.

[bakerestates]

Do you know if the animal you got was male of female? If it was the former it is possible that what you were smelling was "Boar Taint". Not very pleasant at all when you detect it.

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hmm....male....a boistours little runt by all accounts. Advice from an old Italian book I had said wash it with vinegar...which I did but still smelt during cooking.

bakerestates