You read that correctly, javelina. Contrary to what the internet says, it is edible and actually pretty good!
A good friend hunts them regularly, and instead of giving the carcass away (or just leaving it where he killed it), he decided to take the meat and try to cook it. He's been talking with me for a few months, we finally set a date to get our families together and attempt to eat some javelina.
I got the frozen meat from him, and put it into a large ziploc with a bunch of milk and about 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar. Left it in that in the fridge for 24 hours to thaw and pull out any strong flavor from the meat. I rinsed it off and put back in the fridge overnight.
Here's the meat - two backstraps and two, um, other pieces. They look kind of gnarly here, but were a bit similar to chuck eye steaks. The meat was very tender when I was handling it, kind of a surprise.
I melted a little bit of shortening in an enameled dutch oven and browned the meat. Added a diced onion, two diced tomatoes, a diced green bell pepper, a few cloves of chopped garlic, and 2 tsp of cumin.
Got it nice and hot, stirred it well and then put it on low, covered for about three hours. After three hours, I added 1/4 cup of water mixed with 1.5 T of flour to thicken it. Served it with Mexican rice, avocado and some warmed flour tortillas.
The verdict - it was pretty good! Not outstanding, but given that much of what you read says the meat will taste like a skunk smells, it was definitely good. The meat was very similar to beef in color, texture and flavor. My buddy still has two shoulders and a hind quarter in the freezer, we may attempt something else with it.
Thanks for looking!
A good friend hunts them regularly, and instead of giving the carcass away (or just leaving it where he killed it), he decided to take the meat and try to cook it. He's been talking with me for a few months, we finally set a date to get our families together and attempt to eat some javelina.
I got the frozen meat from him, and put it into a large ziploc with a bunch of milk and about 1/4 cup of distilled white vinegar. Left it in that in the fridge for 24 hours to thaw and pull out any strong flavor from the meat. I rinsed it off and put back in the fridge overnight.
Here's the meat - two backstraps and two, um, other pieces. They look kind of gnarly here, but were a bit similar to chuck eye steaks. The meat was very tender when I was handling it, kind of a surprise.
I melted a little bit of shortening in an enameled dutch oven and browned the meat. Added a diced onion, two diced tomatoes, a diced green bell pepper, a few cloves of chopped garlic, and 2 tsp of cumin.
Got it nice and hot, stirred it well and then put it on low, covered for about three hours. After three hours, I added 1/4 cup of water mixed with 1.5 T of flour to thicken it. Served it with Mexican rice, avocado and some warmed flour tortillas.
The verdict - it was pretty good! Not outstanding, but given that much of what you read says the meat will taste like a skunk smells, it was definitely good. The meat was very similar to beef in color, texture and flavor. My buddy still has two shoulders and a hind quarter in the freezer, we may attempt something else with it.
Thanks for looking!
