Wild Boar

[Steven A]

Has anyone ever done pulled pork or otherwise smoked using wild boar shoulder? I would imagine that it would be good results, but curious about the taste. Any comments/thoughts are welcome. Thanks!

 

[C. Moore]

I have tried with very frustrating results. This past autumn, a friend killed a 250 lbs. sow with a bow. He shot her through the back of the neck and she dropped dead. A perfect kill for butchering purposes. I tried it on the smoker with a store-bought Boston Butt on the top rack (boar Butt on the bottom rack). It came out awful. The results may have something to do with the animal's diet in the area (I am from Columbia, South Carolina), but it was far too lean for the emulsification process that normally occurs in a Boston Butt to have any effect. It stayed very firm and came out very "gamey".

You may hear from others who wrap it in bacon and do a lot of prep work, but I am usually not interested in having to do too much to anything other than keeping it in its normal state. I did rub it with some Dr. BBQ's Big Time BBQ Rub.

Sorry to be a buzz kill. Good luck.

 

[Steven A]

Well thanks for the tip. Think I'll just skip it and stay with pork.

 

[S Mitchell]

My son and I each killed a boar a year or so ago. We took ours to the butcher, and they let it hang for around 10 days. That helps A LOT. I smoked one with o.k. results. I put the next one in a brine, which maximized the moistness. Still very lean, but it had good taste and decent mouth feel. I agree that the pigs diet has a lot to do with flavor as well.