What to cook with wild boar

My girlfriend's father and his pals went hunting in the forest at the weekend and bagged a couple of wild boars. He said he'd bring us some to try (which I thought was nice) and expected a little sample. Instead, I've ended up with the following:

1. Bag of goulash/stew/casserole size chucks (enough to feed six)
2. One big thigh joint still on the bone.
3. Two racks of ribs (one with bullet hole).

I've been told that it has a strong flavour so needs to marinated in red wine and/or milk 24hrs before cooking to soften the flavour (?).

Neither of us have a clue what to do with it, other than we don't cook it as we would regular pork.

Any recipe suggestions out there?

Thanks in advance.

Try googling wild boar recipes.

Presumably he wants personal recommendations, rather than being hit in the face with a shovel load of google pages.

Anyone want deer? just hit one and it's in the trunk

I don't know about wild boar, but most wild game is really lean, so keep that in mind when cooking. Meaning it's not going to have a lot of fat to keep it moist if you roast it, something like stew or goulash will be better for it. If you decide to grind it up, you might want to throw in a pack or two of regular pork mince to add some fat. Good luck finding recipes, it sounds intriguing!

I never cooked it. But the word is in France that it should not be cooked like regular pork.

Make it marinade in red wine first is good. I had some last week end cooked like a "civé" some sort of thick wine sauce.

You serve it with potatoes and carrots.

Bonne appetit

Wild boar sausage is delicious, but I have no idea how to make it. Might take it to your local butcher and see if they will process it for you.

Wild Boar Recipes ...

Milk, definitely milk. Then cook it as you would any pig product. You will need something to counteract the gaminess of it though. That is why they invented cranberry sauces and mint jelly sauces.

Yeah, marinating the meat in buttermilk overnight gives it a milder flavour.

Wildschweingulasch is really good if it's seasoned correctly. Tons of recipes on the web.

I like the gamey taste and now really fancy boar sausages mmmm
Anyway, I remember in Tuscany that they slow cook leg joints in local red wine with sage, rosemary and garlic. It will also make great ragu for pasta. So if you are going to google, try adding the word Tuscan.

My father is a hunter, too and prepares game – but I never pay attention how he cooks it. He doesn't marinate it; but if you are not used to the flavour, it's probably a good idea to marinate.

I would perhaps try the goulash first. I found a marinade recipy that sounds good: 1 bottle of good red wine, bay leafs, juniper berries, peppercorns, 1 chopped onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1 carrot cut in small pieces, some leek and celeriac.

Put the salted meat in the marinade overnight, then take it out, let it drip and fry it with slices of bacon (durchwachsener Speck). Add the vegetables after pouring the marinade through a sieve. Fry it for a little while, then add the red wine. Let it simmer for an hour, until meat is tender. Fresh or dried mushrooms (chanterelles) can be added.

A recipy without marinade: Delikates Wildgulasch.

Ask Obelix he eats it all the time

I am disappointed, MD. I had expected you to tell him that you would gladly smoke and cure it for him.

Wild Boar is really nice marinated in the following:

Red Wine, couple squirts of Worcester sauce.

Sprinkle some pepper over the meat - No salt because it makes the surface of the meat tough.
Chop some garlic and onion and throw it on there as well.
Clove is also nice with wild boar and whole peppercorns.

I think you can find a spice in the store called wild gurwurz that adds some really nice flavor. I used it the first time I cooked boar and it has all of the stuff rainydayz mentions - but its dried and I imagine following Rainydayz recipe will be better for this - since its fresh/

Let it marinate in that mix over night.

Before you cook it allow the meat to rest in the mix and come to room temperature. If you are cooking the goulash mixture make sure you brown it in a pan first before adding any other ingredients. Just get a pan nice and hot with some olive oil in it and pan fry until the outside is cooked. Then add what you are having in your goulash. You can add salt now if you want it.

For ribs you can marinate it over night in that mixture and grill them - or you can pan fry to brown and then roast them in the oven.

as for the Joint - I would marinate it and roast it if you aren't going to take the meat off.

Boar is a really tender meat in my experience, but you have to marinade it. As for the gamey flavor - its like this for a reason because of what it eats and it's a nice flavor if you have cooked it right.

Asterix too.

I guess you've finished it by now, but next time, try WILD BOAR CURRY!!

The wild boar gulasch is marinading as we speak and will be cooked tomorrow for Sunday dinner. I've used a combination of your suggestions as I'm a fly-by-wire kinda cook, so many thanks for your input.

I've delayed cooking it because ...

< Look away now if you're easily offended >

...when the rack of ribs came to me I had to cut them in half. The (solid) spinal bone was present so I had to cut through that too. After 45mins with various tools, I went for the manual snap in half by hand. The spinal cord jumped out like a wiggly white worm and I threw up in the kitchen sink. I have no qualms about chopping up meat, the smell of blood or even being covered in blood but that one episode with the 'wiggly white worm' just blew my mind.

Anyway, the girlfriend decided that one freezer compartment shouldn't be filled with wild boar and we need to eat it. I'm totally in agreement with her so we'll see how it goes.

I'm going in.

For a second I thought you wanted to do what Martha is doing here

"bagged a couple of wild boars"
I'll bet you you have never seen a wild boar

A wild boar is not found at Tengelmann, nor does it fit into a Tengelmann plastic bag.

Johnathan - are you a native English speaker?

not really criticizing you personally, but in general aren't there sufficient variety of meat on the market? I always wonder why a Killing act is classified as a sport.

Pink la la la la Amnesty International la la la la diversity la la la world peace la la poor little piggy wiggies.

It's nice to see that you think you are funny