Wild pork recipes?

[Seaweed]

We went pig hunting so i now have something like 30kgs of wild pork to eat. I am in the throes of cutting it up and putting it in the freezer. Anyone got any good recipes? it was a big boar so my $s is on it being relatively gamey.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

Nope. ....................

[Seaweed]

lol i will report back. i have some marinating in vinegar and water and juniper berries with some garlic. gonna roast it tomorrow prob.

[Seaweed]

well it was nice, not gamey really i dont think but then i like wild venison so maybe it was and i just didnt notice. i dont eat farmed pork but it prob would work with farmed pork. all you do is throw some cider vinegar and water in a plastic container. put in something to marinate it with. i used crushed juniper berries and squashed garlic cloves. you can prob add more spices such as cloves, ginger, allspice but i didnt. then leave the meat for 24 or so hours. it is cold here so i didnt worry about putting it in the fridge. you should notice blood draining out of the meat and the water becoming a bit pink. especially in the case of hunted game which hasnt been bled out. drain off the water. pat the joint dry. i then sprinkled some ginger on it which i couldnt taste so who knows. if it has any fat, you could score it and put cloves in, rub herbs on etc. then put it in a roasting dish and roast. i did 30 mins uncovered at 250degC then covered and did a few hours at 180degC. Since it was fresh pig out of the bush, i decided to make sure it was very well cooked.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

well it was nice, not gamey really i dont think but then i like wild venison so maybe it was and i just didnt notice. i dont eat farmed pork but it prob would work with farmed pork. all you do is throw some cider vinegar and water in a plastic container. put in something to marinate it with. i used crushed juniper berries and squashed garlic cloves. you can prob add more spices such as cloves, ginger, allspice but i didnt. then leave the meat for 24 or so hours. it is cold here so i didnt worry about putting it in the fridge. you should notice blood draining out of the meat and the water becoming a bit pink. especially in the case of hunted game which hasnt been bled out. drain off the water. pat the joint dry. i then sprinkled some ginger on it which i couldnt taste so who knows. if it has any fat, you could score it and put cloves in, rub herbs on etc. then put it in a roasting dish and roast. i did 30 mins uncovered at 250degC then covered and did a few hours at 180degC. Since it was fresh pig out of the bush, i decided to make sure it was very well cooked.
Um... you didn't drain it out????

:tsk:

You're braver then I would be. I've had it hammered into me to never eat non-bled meat. So you best get someone to show you how next time...

[Seaweed]

lol it had been stuck with a very big knife but hadnt had its throat cut. i just figured it left more blood in. i am very much still alive. most wild pork or game gets killed like that ime.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

That's not the point. Draining blood out is for a good reason, and it wouldn't be done for no reason. quite apart from blood bacteria, to get proper cellular death, so that the cell membranes seal, with less chance of bacterial multiplication and going "off" you need to do it. If you know the animal is clean and have the facilities, you can keep the blood and make black pudding, but in terms of meat safety and taste it's better to bleed out.

Our son has a different approach. He makes his own guns, and uses a different bullet to most hunters. He only "shoots" an animal from the front, through the heart, and out the back shoulder. That results in losing one shoulder because the damage is huge, but it's an instant kill (with no wounding which allows the animal to run away in pain) so no animal suffering, and no adrenaline released to taint meat, but a much more effective automatic bleed than cutting the throat. If he can't shoot through that way, he doesn't usually try, and if he does wound the animal he follows up very very fast and does a second one through the head. That's only happened once in his 14 years hunting...

[Seaweed]

well i asked and i also asked another guy i know who pig hunts and they said, we stick it in the throat which is why we dont cut the throat. i also did an experiment with a lump of beef i have in the fridge and left that to soak in water and vinegar. the water went pinker than it did with the pork. the dog was not impressed as it was his lump of beef lol so i still maintain it is ok to eat.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I didn't say it wasn't okay to eat. I just said, you need to expand your hunting knowledge.... and I'm glad you're alive.

Talk to some of the older hunters, who really know their stuff and develop good techniques. Some use a tube thing, which keeps the artery open. They also hang the pig head down. Many of the younger hunters think all that stuff is "old fashioned" and doesn't need to be done.

Shrug. It's your life.

[Seaweed]

well i have asked around. All the guys I know who pig hunt have been at it 20+ yrs, some even 30 odd years. Quite a few used to go hunting with their dads. They all hunt with dogs and knives. They all keep packs of pig dogs so it is not a xmas holiday once a year sort of activity. They get into it a fair bit. They all stick the pig in the throat. There is a bit of a knack to how you gut it so as not to taint the meat. I literally went coz I got invited. A pretty huge honour really.

[Seaweed]

& found an awesome recipe. wild pork and cockles. the original recipe is here
http://www.cuisine.co.nz/index.cfm?pageID=50076&1B1D6730-9F46-4B30-A6C634045D7481D8
what i did was brown diced wild pork in some butter. chop in some garlic. add in marjoram, thyme, paprika and some file. pour over some red wine. Cover and simmer till cooked. when you think it is done. fry up a chopped onion in butter, throw in some thyme and a tbsp of tomato puree. put in cockles. Cover the pot with a lid to steam the cockles open. When they have opened, throw everything in the same pot. stir it all up. serve with something like kumara chips and sour cream. or i guess if you eat it, fresh crusty bread and butter and a salad. very yummy.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

, paprika and some file. pour over some red wine


... "file"?

[Seaweed]

file should have an accent on the "e". it's a gumbo spice. sassafras. i just used it coz i had it.

[Seaweed]

adding to this : maiale al latte or pork in milk. apparently you can do this to other meats such as rabbit, veal or chicken and also use different herbs. eg sage, rosemary, oregano and coriander seeds instead of marjoram and fennel seeds. pork and fennel seeds go very nicely together tho' also bear in mind this was a nice small sow so it wasnt gamey.

what you do is sprinkle your piece of pork with vinegar and leave it to sit overnight. pat it dry. in a pan with a lid heat up some butter ( recipe says 25g butter, 2 tbsp olive oil ) brown the pork carefully on all sides. the colour of the sauce comes from this so do it well. remove the pork temporarily and then fry 6 cloves of chopped garlic till golden. add the garlic and excess fat to the pork. toast 6 sprigs of marjoram and a tbsp of fennel seeds in the pan until the aromas are released. i just used dried marjoram. put everything together back in the pan. the recipe now says add 2.4l full cream milk. i didnt have 2kgs of pork so i just improvised. i adjusted the seasonings down too. i also only had goats milk. simmer with the lid ajar for at least 1 - 1/2 hrs. the milk curdled so i just kept cooking it till it had made a decent sauce consistency.