Discussing culinary methods with WILD BOAR

[justjohn]

Alright folks. All the people from Europe (Across the pond) have a familiarity with wild boar. We here in New England do not. They are only hunted in Game Preserves. Sooo - - -

How do you acquire the boar there? How do you prepare it? Does it taste the same as domestic pork? Are there any good recipes for this critter?

All you folks who have some familiarity on the subject speak, and I shall learn.


Ahem

[kaima]

Yum!

I have had wild boar half a dozen times in the time I lived in Europe. In Germany they have well controlled hunts; the hunters are well schooled and tested, so the meat is handled well and taken promptly for processing & commercial resale. (in Alaska 'Market Hunting' or hunting for resale is forbidden).

The local residents know when the meat is on the market & can purchase cook it themselves, and the rest of us can go to a restaurant and order the local special of wild boar. (deer is also sold & prepared, but my experience with venison in Europe is that it is terrible compared to Ohio deer, having a strong wild taste that makes it unpalatable. My nephew was visiting once, and he grew up with deer his dad hunted. He could not stomach the extremely strong taste, served to us by a good cook, wealthy and generous people who would only have bought the best).

The wild boar I have had has been uniformly GREAT! It does not taste like conventional pork, but has a flavor of its own, one I cannot describe, but I will go for wild boar whenever the opportunity comes. Of course the typical European presentation of food, even on an everyday basis, is a work of art I do not see in America except in gourmet restaurants. So they eye is well pleased even before the palate savors the flavor.

JJ, my best wishes that you can someday experience a good wild boar dinner!

Kai