Appreciation of the boar/wild hog for the table...?

Sharptop

Member
How do you folks value these animals as table fare? Reason I ask is that many here in the states view them as vermin, unfit to eat. I went on several bow deer hunts in Texas where you hunt in tree stands or ground blinds overlooking a corn feeder and you would have a chance at some wild hogs. Killed one and the guides didn't even want to gut it as they viewed it as trash. They told me they had an annual gun hog hunt, 34 were killed and they were all taken to the dump. I ended up taking 2 home with me and I thought the meat was superior to commercial pork, redder and richer but with less fat overall. I'm interested in discovering some new recipes for them, I have an electric smoker and smoke quite a bit of what we call boston butts (shoulder) and ribs but would like to expand the cookbook.
 
This is insane. I mean I'm sure their texture and flavour is affected by local diet and so on, but at the end of the day they're pigs, or wild boar, or a hybrid, and that meat is pork. So dumping it is a tremendous waste, not to mention the fact that as a general rule, if you're not going to eat them, don't kill them. OK, admittedly they're an invasive species in your neck of the woods, but it still doesn't feel comfortable...

Anyway, eat them! Bon appétit!
 
I had wild boar for dinner last night and very good it was too. If i have a reasonable size joint i stuff with Paxo, sage and onion stuffing.
Whilst its allways a shame to throw, dump good meat they are feral pigs and are considered vermin in the US. I've seen shot rabbits dumped when there was no market for them in the UK.
Perhaps they should encourage more hunters to come and cull them at a reasonable price?
 
How about Summer Sausage? I have an electric smoker too, and make a fair bit using pork & venison. Low & slow cooking up to an internal of 150F, then a cold water bath will give you a great result :thumb:
 
IMHO wild boar is somewhere between beef and pork. Don't use the meat blindly, compare the texture and fat content and adjust which cuts you're using for certain recipes. E.g. cooking the whole wild boar ham in the oven is difficult, not so with domestic pork.

I don't buy meat from store, I eat approx. 50% wild boar and 50% deer/moose.

I've heard some hunters give the excess feral hog meat for local charity kitchens in the US. I don't know how complicated the process is.
 
IMHO wild boar is somewhere between beef and pork. Don't use the meat blindly, compare the texture and fat content and adjust which cuts you're using for certain recipes. E.g. cooking the whole wild boar ham in the oven is difficult, not so with domestic pork..[/QUOTE.

Your right. Very little fat on boar and the grain of the meat is tighter i think . A leg of pork with crackling on is self basteing and its a job to over cook. I use a meat thermometer and as soon as the meat has reached the right temp its out of the oven.
Like you i buy very little meat from the store. Not started last years moose meat yet but running low on roe meat. Plenty of boar meat in the freezer though.
 
Only tried it couple times via sausage n burgers ....
And let's face it ..... There are so many variations / permutations for burgers n sausages .
Due to lack of rabbits last few years I haven't done much but when was lamping a lot , I kept 20-30 did a batch of burgers .... Rest to game dealer, it doesn't cover costs but I don't do it to cover costs .... It helps , but main reason I don't like waste .

Slow cooker another best invention for game

Between burger / sausage , slow cooker, steaks
Surely could put a boar to good use !
Problem is for some folk all they interested in is pulling the trigger , others realize the work starts after triggers pulled .. But that work takes time & effort


Ps.... Any body wanting to donate some wild boar for experimentation purposes & we can sample results along with a cold beer ..., donations welcomed !!!😂😂

Paul
 
I'm with Jthyttin it's between pork and beef and hasnt the "usual" venicon taste. For me and my girlfriend it's the best meat, far superrior to normal pork and we use it in all normal dishes- nothing fancy. They are the best when 0 - 2 years old. But be aware about the trichinae- we have to test every boar by law.
 
Only tried it couple times via sausage n burgers ....
And let's face it ..... There are so many variations / permutations for burgers n sausages .
Due to lack of rabbits last few years I haven't done much but when was lamping a lot , I kept 20-30 did a batch of burgers .... Rest to game dealer, it doesn't cover costs but I don't do it to cover costs .... It helps , but main reason I don't like waste .

Slow cooker another best invention for game



Between burger / sausage , slow cooker, steaks
Surely could put a boar to good use !
Problem is for some folk all they interested in is pulling the trigger , others realize the work starts after triggers pulled .. But that work takes time & effort


Ps.... Any body wanting to donate some wild boar for experimentation purposes & we can sample results along with a cold beer ..., donations welcomed !!!😂😂

Paul

A slow cooker is top of the list to buy before winter starts. Would be good for some of the moose joints as well.
 
Beware that slow cooker is not panacea. You can overcook meat also in slow cooker, just did it with moose this Sunday.

Even sous vide (vacuum packed meat submerged in temperature controlled water bath) will benefit if not overcooked. Of course most meat for sous vide would be low fat deer etc. that makes is more "vulnerable" (compared to over cooking high fat meat).

I've used one of these to convert my slow cooker for sous vide. No modifications to slow cooker, I just run the mains power through STC-1000 when I want sous vide (added male and female mains connectors to it)

stc-1000 | eBay
 
My idea of a slow cooker...
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A tornado killed my last one. I almost bit on this particular one yesterday. Nothing like smoked pork (or anything) from a smoker.~Muir
 
There's no denying the gastronomic potential of wild pigs/boar, and the preparation advice on this thread really makes one want to get one into the chiller, but I can see why attitudes in areas where they are hunted in the USA may be different.

Firstly, they are an invasive species that breeds quickly and does costly damage - they therefore need intensive control. This will produce a lot of carcases.
To reach the table these carcases need checking, cleaning, chilling and butchering, which is expensive in time and equipment.
There may not be a market for wild pork, either due to distaste arising from the pest status of wild pigs, or to a cultural preference for farmed pork, or to a cost differential arising from the greater efficiency of farmed pork production and distribution.
If the cost of harvesting the animals is already high, and the market price is uncompetitive, getting the meat to the table on a commercial (i.e. routine) basis is unlikely to be viable... so there's little option other than to dump the carcases in a pit.
We've seen that the Antipodean pest-controllers/slaughterers manage to make viable businesses using mobile butchering and refrigeration systems, and presumably these also exist in the US, but I doubt whether in either country this applies in the majority of cases.
 
A nice wild boar recipe is to marinate some leg steaks in :

onion
bay leaves
rosemary
thyme
cloves
garlic
100ml vinegar with a little sugar in it
Black pepper but no salt !

mix it all up and then cover with plastic sheet in the fridge for 4 To 24 hrs then season with a little salt and fry or BBQ.

kind regards, Olaf
 
I'm not really familiar with Boar/feral pigs other than than commercial "wild boar" sausages etc you can buy quite readily over here, but I must say the concept of shooting perfectly edible animals with no intention of putting them into the food chain is a strange one for me.
I've not been shooting very long, but one of the main appeals to me was/is the potential to kill and butcher my own meat. A similar satisfaction to growing my own little bits of veg or eating a trout I've caught. Even when not keeping the carcass I've been happy knowing thay it's going to a butcher or game dealer, etc.
 
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