Wild boar doesn’t taste like regular old ground pork.
Yes, it took four hours, but it was worth it. Partially it was worth it just to say I tried it. Wild boar bolognese. This was one of those serendipitous things: I found out we had frozen ground wild boar available so I started searching for recipes. I found several, but honestly this was the simplest (why make things more complicated than they need to be?).
I was worried that it would be too gamy. I worried that it would taste weird. And what the hell is the deal with putting milk in a meat sauce? But I followed the recipe. Ok, I mostly followed the recipe. It called for 2 lbs of ground boar – I only used one. Oh sure I could have halved everything, but I wanted more veggies. It called for pork broth, beef broth or water and I used water because…pork broth? Um, no. I was offered the choice of red or white wine, and I didn’t want to open a new bottle of wine, so I went with the white wine that I already had opened.
I served it on regular old spaghetti noodles, topped it with parmesan cheese and added a side of roasted brussel sprouts. It seriously did take 4 hours from prep to plate. The recipe does mention to let it cook on medium-low and to NOT raise the temp to move things along faster. It was a good excuse to hang out and watch movies on the couch, getting up only occasionally to stir.
The recipe can be made with beef, duck, elk, venison…really anything you want. It didn’t require anything fancy, so this is a good basic to have on hand.
But be adventurous – try it with boar at least once. Just to say you did.
On Aisle 6 