INGREDIANTS

for Marinating:

1 garlic clove

1 sprig of rosemary

3 sage leaves, mint leaves and bay leaves

1 tablespoon of dry juniper berries

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 medium size white onion, diced (50 gr.)

3 carrots, cut into diced (50 gr.)

1 celery stalk, cut into small pieces (50 gr.)

1 lemon

 ½ liter of dry red wine, Montepulciano kind OR

½ liter of beer

 1 small bunch of wild fennel

 salt and freshly ground black pepper  as needed

 For the sauté:

 2 o 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil  (30 gr.)

 2 carrots cut into cubes i (30 gr.)

 ½ medium size white onion, diced (50 gr.)

 1 celery stalk, cut into small pieces (50 gr.)

  ½ glass of dry red wine or beer

  red chili pepper as needed

 For the sauce:

 1 kg. wild boar

 ½ kg. tomato sauce

 ½ kg. tomato pulp

 Salt as needed

Preliminaries

         For a good wild boar ragù, we can choose to use the belly, the ribs, or the shin of the animal. Anyway, even the thigh or the shoulder can be used.   

         The first thing to do, using a sharp knife, is remove the animal’s hair from the surface of the meat’s skin. Then it should be washed well and kept overnight under a trickle of running water in order to remove blood residues of the animal.          If the meat contains bones they should also be removed to make cooking easier.

         Next important step, for a tender meat, is the maturation process. It can be done by freezing the meat for a few days after blood residues have been removed.

         After that, in order to reduce the wild taste that distinguishes wild boars meat, our secret is in the marinating.

         Unless dealing with a young six-month boar, in such case the meat doesn’t need any treatment, every other older boar meat needs special treatment before its cooking.

         For young (6 months-1 year) and mature (1-2 year old) boars the meat is still tender and the flavor is not very pronounced so just a light cold marinade before being cooked is needed.

        The preparation procedure changes for the adult boars (up to 5-6 year old) with their tough, but very tasty, meat require a much longer marinade before preparation.

Preparation

         The wild boar meat of our recipe is one year old and we need decide for a twelve- hour marinade.

         This will be done after cutting the boar into chunks of about the same size or making larger pieces and beating them on a cutting board with a half moon knife or a kitchen ax.

         We dip in a bowl the meat adding sliced onion, a garlic cut in half, dried juniper berries, a sprig of rosemary, the bay leaves, mint, and wild fennel.

         Last we add the red wine or beer into until it covers all the meat so as not to let it in contact with the air.

         Next step is to cover the bowl with transparent film and let it sit in the refrigerator for the twelve hours schedule.

         Now let's move on to cooking the meat. Start by chopping the carrots, onion, and celery on a chopping board.

         Take preferably a thick bottom heavy pot, place it on a stove over medium heat and prepare the base of the sauce by putting the carrots, onion and celery well chopped and adding half a glass of water and a little extra virgin olive oil.

         Add a peeled crushed clove of garlic and sauté for about ten minutes.

         At this point remove the boar from the marinade and place it in the pot.               Mix for about ten minutes until the meat turns golden brown on all sides.

         Then blend it with red wine or, if you prefer, you can add a glass of beer.

         When the alcoholic part of the wine has evaporated, remove the garlic and add the tomato sauce, the pulp, a pinch of salt and pepper.

         Cook at minimum heat with a gentle bubbling covering the pot with a lid for at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally, and in any case, until the meat starts to fry and to disperse in the sauce. After this time, remove the lid and continue cooking for half an hour and until the sauce congeals.

         Now the wild boar sauce will be ready for use in the most varied recipes.

         Great for polenta (cornmeal mush) and homemade pasta like the Italian Pappardelle.

BUON APPETITO!

UNDERNEATH YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE RECIPE STEP BY STEP IN PDF FORMAT AND THE SUMMARY CARD RESERVED FOR ALL FRIENDS OF OUR SITE “THE SECRETS OF ABRUZZO”.