Wild boar

Nearly 200lbs of wild boar is about to land in my freezer. I have been designated with the task for figuring out the learning curve for preparing this mass of meat. I have a decent idea about some prep and cooking techniques required for the leanness of this meat, but does any one have any recipe suggestions, or just season as usual?

Thanks!

Gary

I season as usual (though I up the herb components a bit, especially ground bay and sage) but always make a fruit-based sauce. Every Q sauce I make has a fruit component in it, but I skew toward fruit with sauces for wild stuff and base them on it. Use a good vin in the sauce - like an unfiltered apple, an aged sherry, or a good white balsamic - and/or some verjus.

I don't know if Florida hogs are much different in taste than the Texas variety, but that's some strong tasting meat in my experience. A lot of sweetness and spice will help downplay the gaminess of it, but I don't know if brining might be a good idea, too depending on the cut. They do make good tasso since the peppery flavor masks the game taste pretty well.

Had some boar ribs this summer; wasn't very impressed. The flavor was fine, but there sure wasn't very much meat on the bone! I'd opt to grind most of it and freeze it for various dishes like chili or sausage.

Paul

Never had wild boar straight up. Sounds interesting. While in Quebec this summer, I picked up some locally made wild boar sausages, took them home and (yup)smoked them. cut up, they made for great appetizers with friends. Saucisson de sanglier!

Hmmmm "gaminess".....

I know that a lot of times, the "gamy" flavor in much wild game has to do with how the meat was handled after the kill:

Up here - most hunting is done in the fall, with better results ocurring in cool and usually crappy weather. This results in the meat being kept cool. (When we hunt rabbit, we field-dress them, pack 'em with snow, and let them sit, to assume outside-temperature for a while. This allows the fleas to croke-off before retrieving them and bringing them home.)

From what I've seen, most wild boar is hunted down South, where "cold" is highly subjective. If I were hunting down there, I would try to field-dress, quarter, and refrigerate (put on ice) as quickly as possible.

Some people believe that letting the game "hang" for a while improves the flavor. I do not buy-into that.

I will second what Kevin stated about fruit components - one of my favorites that I tried a while back was pheasant with apricots & dates. It was simple, elegant, and delicious.

Same goes for fish - don't let them sit on the stringer & die in warm water, have them soak for half a day, and expect them to taste good!

Like the Nuge says: "Before you grill it (or WSM it..), you gotta' kill it!"