Boar stew

The wild boar stew is simple to prepare at home, an excellent recipe from times gone by, excellent to accompany polenta on cold evenings.

When you think of stew it is impossible not to imagine a winter dinner to be enjoyed in the warmth of your home with your family. If the protagonist is the wild boar stew then the "picture" we have outlined can be enriched by an excellent homemade polenta. It's a shame that many consider wild boar stew too long and laborious and give up this delicacy with an ancient flavour.

Today we want to reveal to you how to transform wild boar morsels into something truly amazing, tender and melting like never before. Yes, because one of the risks you run into with game meat is that it turns out to be too tough or that it hasn't lost its gamey flavour. So let's see how to prepare wild boar stew quickly and easily.

How to prepare the wild boar stew recipe

1. First, cut the wild boar meat into 2cm pieces. This way you will speed up cooking and obtain very tender morsels.
2. Place it in a bowl that is not too large, pour in the vinegar and then as much water as needed to cover everything flush.
3. Let it marinate for at least 8 hours so that it loses its gamey flavour.
4. After this period of time, drain it and dry it with kitchen paper or a clean cloth.
5. Transfer it to the same bowl together with juniper, pepper and cloves, add a carrot and an onion cut into pieces and the bay leaves. Cover with wine and leave to marinate for another 12 hours.
6. In a thick-bottomed pan, preferably terracotta, brown the meat with a drizzle of oil. It will have to seal well.
7. Add the sauté prepared with the remaining vegetables, the sage, the rosemary and deglaze with a glass of red wine, of the same type as that used for the marinade.
8. Cover and leave to cook for at least an hour and a half to two hours, then season with salt . If necessary, during cooking, you can add boiling water or broth .

We also leave you a video with all the steps to prepare it. As you can see the first grind, if the meat is tender, you can safely skip it.

Following the same procedure you can also prepare wild boar stew which, essentially, differs from our recipe only in the cut of meat . In fact, you will have to leave it whole in the stew. It goes without saying that in this way cooking times become much longer: it will take about 4 hours for the meat to be very tender.

In all cases, accompany it with a good taragna polenta : with its rustic flavor it goes perfectly with the meat sauce.

How long should wild boar marinate?

Marinating times for wild boar meat vary depending on how old the animal was . In fact, wild boar meat is called black meat due to its dark colour, lean and compact as well as fibrous consistency. These characteristics are attenuated in young animals (2-3 months). In these cases the meat can be left to marinate in wine for 4-5 hours before proceeding with cooking. If the animal is more than 2 years old then the two marinades are almost obligatory and cooking times could last up to 3 hours.

How to remove the wild smell from wild boar

The first step is to remove all the fatty parts present. We then proceed with an initial marinade in water and vinegar or water and salt for at least 8-12 hours. This is followed by a second one, also lasting 12 hours, in wine flavored with carrot, onion, spices and aromatic herbs. As mentioned above, if the animal was young, it is possible to marinate the meat only in wine.

Another way is to freeze the meat for 48 hours then let it thaw at room temperature before using. If this is not enough, after marinating the meat, place it in a pan without adding anything and drain the water , cooking it over a low heat for 10 minutes. Then use it as per the recipe.

Which wine to use for marinating?

Wine in this recipe is a fundamental ingredient. Choose a full-bodied one and use the same one for marinating and cooking. Chianti, Montepulciano and in general all dry wines with an intense flavor are excellent.

Conservation

You can store the wild boar stew in the refrigerator , in an airtight container, for up to 3 days. When ready to consume it, heat it in a pan with a drizzle of water. It is also possible to freeze the stew, if prepared with fresh, unthawed meat, for up to 4 months.

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Wild boar ragout