Wild boar stew with chocolate sauce and potatoes

We are in the middle of the hunting season, and although I do not like going to the bush to hunt, I am excited by the powerful flavor of this type of meat.

The custom of eating game meat was much more entrenched years ago, especially in the north. Quail was given to my father and I remember eating them as a child as a luxury dish where it was a sin to leave something.

My mother cooked them a little simpler than the quail with mushrooms that I presented to you a few days ago, just fried with a touch of garlic and aromatic herbs.

Although I love these little birds, the flavor power of the boar’s meat seems incredible to me. Its season lasts from mid-autumn to late winter and you can find it both in butchers and on large stores, free of diseases so common in hunting pieces.

In Galicia it is quite easy to get and is usually prepared with a garnish of chestnuts and potatoes, a success, although today’s recipe is based on the famous chocolate wild boar of “A casa rural da Feira Vella” in Entrimo (chocolate only It gives the touch in aroma, not in flavor, my next visit to Ourense I have to bring Mencia and Chaparro chocolate).

In the same town you can try the game dishes that friend Javier prepares in the Lusitano restaurant, it has everything from wild boar to broth of roe deer that takes away the hiccups, prepared in various ways. This year they also have a new menu with a game tasting menu that includes five different dishes.

In this area, in the heart of the Baixa Limia Natural Park, they hunt the game as Rosa Nora has told me  , do not forget to visit the Galician Xurés Park and the Portuguese Peneda Gerés Natural Park , they are wonderful to enjoy nature.

To complete this book fall I will have to get a partridge to eat them like stories, to lick your fingers.

Meanwhile I leave you with this autumn culinary suggestion that you must accompany with a good loaf of bread, since the sauce is great. You will soon have more typically autumn recipes with quince, chestnuts, mushrooms, grapes and walnuts.

Boar Stew Preparation

The wild boar belongs to the same family as the domestic pig although its flavor is much more powerful.

Its meat is richer in protein, it has less fat and it is harder, so, as with other game meats, to cook it we have to wait a few days after the death of the boar, freeze, marinate and use a marinade. so that it softens and is juicy.

1. We cut the meat into cubes more or less the same as for any stew. Season with salt and pepper and reserve in a large saucepan.
2. For the mash we peel the garlic, onions and apples. Chop half of the garlic cloves very finely and reserve the rest, cut the onions and apples into brunoise, that is to say into cubes of about 2-3 cm. Add everything to the casserole with the meat and add the herbs and beer until everything is covered. We leave all the mixture in a cool place for two days, the fridge is a good place.
3. After this time we remove from the fridge and strain to separate the liquid with the beer base in one place and the rest of the ingredients in another. We remove the meat.
4. We laminate the rest of the garlic and finely chop the pepper. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large saucepan, add the garlic and then add the meat. We mark the pieces of wild boar until they are well browned, the meat will begin to release part of its juice. We remove the meat and reserve.
5. In the same oil where we have passed the meat, fry the macerated onion, apple and red pepper for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spoon or spatula. Season with salt and pepper.
6. When the sauce is well browned add the wild boar pieces with the garlic and combine well with the vegetables, add the beer liquid and the aromatic herbs (thyme, bay leaf and rosemary), let it boil and taste the sauce, if it makes We need to rectify salt and pepper. Let it reduce a little, about 15 minutes over medium heat.
7. We cover everything with water, there should be a finger of liquid above all the ingredients. Add the ounces of chocolate and cook over low heat until the liquid is reduced and the boar is tender, about 1 hour and a half. It is important that you stir from time to time so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. If you prepare it the day before to heat it is best to use the same saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally.
8. We serve very hot with a garnish of freshly made potato chips and a piquillo pepper. And of course do not forget a good loaf of village bread, the sauce in this recipe is great.

Rosa Nora  tells me that she prepares it very similar to this recipe but with some variation.  “Basically I do it like you do, but macerate it in red wine instead of beer and don’t add chocolate. The potatoes are cooked together with the meat, putting them when the meat is practically done and as it is said in our land “escachadas” so that they release the starch and the sauce is consistent, well, as our mothers made potatoes stewed with meat). I can tell you that they eat the potatoes almost forgetting about the boar. ”