Wild boar, anyone?

Andrew came home one day with two pounds of wild boar. I doubt this is a regular occurrence for most people. It came as a surprise to me, too. I’ve never had wild boar before and I had no clue what to do with it. But now I do, and I thought maybe there are others out there with roasts in their freezers scared of tackling them.

“It’s just like a pork roast’s crazy cousin,” my mom said. “Think of it like that. It’s pork that ran away from home and has been living in another country.”

Ok. Fair enough. My mom said that I should put a rub on it, then make a marinade and baste it every 15 minutes or so, because wild boar has less fat and can get dry, fast. The idea of the rub-marinade combo is that you seal in juices and slow-cook it to get a good flavor.

The Italians, apparently eat a lot of this meat. (Maybe that’s where they run off to?), but I felt like I wanted a different flavor because I’d had Italian just the night before, so I made a rub and marinade as follows:

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbs fresh groundcoffee
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
1 tbs hot sesame oil
2 tbs olive oil
Rub the rub all over the meat, and then let it sit for an hour at least. Heat the oven to 325.

The marinade:

¼ cup soy sauce

3 cloves fresh garlic

2 shallots

2 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs ginger

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup teriyaki

I sautéed the shallots, ginger and garlic together 2 table spoons of olive oil to caramelize. I added them to the liquid.

I put the roast in the pan with the marinade and stuck it in the oven and slow cooked it. Probably 15-20 minutes per pound, but at slower heat you cook it longer. I basted every 15 minutes, which means I took a spoon and I drizzled the pan juices all over the top.

Meanwhile, I sautéed a big bunch of sliced rainbow Swiss chard and made Israeli couscous with basil and grated Parmesan cheese. (If you don’t want to make it from scratch, Near East has a fine Israeli couscous mix)

It turned out really well. Boar is a little gamier than a regular pork roast but it has a nice robust flavor and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Sooo, go get some and try it!