whole wild boar ham

Leif_79611

Hello,

I just received a whole wild boar ham, bone in and I have skinned it, and it is now in the freezer for a couple of weeks for safety sake. It weighs about 4 KG. 

I have a 12 litre pressure cooker where it would fit, but would like your opinion on how to proceed. 

Brine? Cook for how long? In a marinade? 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

Best regards,

Leif

Amos_Schorr_168815

Definitely brine it. Boar meat can be VERY tough and VERY gamey. It's wildly inconsistent, so plan for the worst and hope for the best.

But you can do all kinds of things with it. If it's old or ate garbage, it'll be some very strong-flavored meat and you'll need lots of flavorings to cover some of that up. You probably wouldn't want to just cook it and serve it as a straight ham. You'd probably want to braise it for a loooong time, pull it, and use it for various things. But if it's young enough and fed on some proper stuff, it'll be relatively tender and delicious and you can use it for anything you'd use ham for and you can cook it however you want.

Wild boar agnolotti/ravioli would be delicious. If you braise the meat and pull it, mix with some broccoli rabe, garlic, ricotta, lemon zest, and braising liquid, that would probably make an incredible filling and could probably mask some of the funk from a gamey piece of meat.