Girl Hunter
Page 18
I reach out my hand and take Lonny’s red-stained knife and kneel on the grass beside the boar. I grasp the bone handle tightly in my leather glove until I can feel the blood in my hand pulsing. I look down at the skin above the heart and point the tip of the knife toward it. And with all of the weight and strength of my body I push the knife in, and feel Lonny grab my wrist and pull me forward, too, my body moving forward with it all, until I am draped over the boar. When I pull back, and watch the river of blood come with me, it is quite simply all over. I have, for the first time, channeled the primitive woman, and for a few fleeting moments recognized what it was once like to be a human—I recognize the casual way in which nature treats life and death.
When I stand and step back, Lonny and Jack begin to field dress the boar on the forest floor, removing all of the insides until he is much less heavy, yet still too heavy to carry. We tie a rope from the four-wheeler to his front hooves and pull him out of the woods. After skinning and power washing, the large boar becomes a pièce de résistance, marinated and smoked whole for a day, dripping in molasses, oozing in crisp fat. If I were living thousands of years ago, my status within the community would have been greatly improved with this wild hog. Although even now, as I watch a table of people lick molasses from their fingers, I think perhaps it still has.
Boar Loin in Sherry Marinade
Serves 4 to 6
The loin is also referred to as the backstrap and is the long, thick portion of boneless, tender meat that runs on either side of the spine on the exterior of the rib cage. The tenderloin is the most tender part of the animal and is smaller. It is located on either side of the spine on the interior of the rib cage. These cuts of meat are extremely lean, and are best eaten rare in the case of antlered game. But in the case of wild boar, they must be cooked through to 160°F, which means they will benefit from a marinade or brine first, to retain moisture.
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 tablespoon lightly crushed juniper berries
2 teaspoons coarsely cracked pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
6 whole cloves
3 cups Amontillado or other sweet sherry, cooked for several minutes to burn off the alcohol, then cooled
2 wild boar tenderloins or backstraps (see Note)
1. Combine all the ingredients and pour over the tenderloins in a roasting pan. Cover and let sit covered in a cool place for 4 to 6 hours, turning over periodically so it marinates evenly.
2. Preheat the oven to 475°F.
3. Tie the tenderloins with kitchen twine, the way you would a roast. Place the roasting pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to roast for about 10 minutes more, or until the internal temperature on a meat thermometer reads 160°F. Turn the meat over several times to help it cook evenly. The sherry will begin to caramelize onto the meat and separate from the butter.
4. Remove the pan from the oven, place the tenderloins on a cutting board, and cover loosely with tinfoil. Let the tenderloins rest for 20 minutes before serving so that the juices retreat back into the meat.
5. Remove the string and serve thinly sliced, drizzled with some of the flavored pan butter.
Also try: javelina, antlered game, bear, upland game birds
Note: Sometimes you’ll hear the term boar taint in discussions about wild boar. Most people don’t cook the male wild boar because they have high testosterone levels, which can give the meat an unappealing flavor. Some hunters will go so far as to trap the boar, castrate it and release it, then hunt it a year later. If given a choice, female Eurasian boar or feral hogs tend to taste better, but I’m of the mind-set that a male can be made to taste good with a clean shot, impeccable field dressing, and a good brine prior to cooking.
Braised Hog Belly
Serves 8
If you are fortunate enough to come upon a very large hog, this is the recipe I recommend for the belly. Wild hogs don’t have thick bellies the way domestic farm pigs do, but a large hog will come close enough to make this recipe worthwhile. It is tender and wonderful and any extra fat can be skimmed, trimmed, and saved to render (see page 187). If you are on a quest for a large hog, they are best found at night. The oldest and largest are also the smartest, and stick to their nocturnal routine more carefully than the rest.
1 hog belly (3 to 5 pounds)
1 (750 ml) bottle white wine
6 cups hog stock (page 213)
Zest of 2 oranges, sliced into thin strips
6 whole jarred jalapeños
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised with the back of a knife and cut into 4-inch pieces
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/4 cup salt
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.
2. Trim the belly for neat edges and remove any glands or damaged parts.
3. In a saucepan, bring the wine to a simmer and cook out the alcohol for 5 minutes.
4. In a separate saucepan, bring the stock to a boil and add the rest of the ingredients, including the wine, which all becomes the braising liquid.
5. Place the belly in a shallow, flat, ovenproof pot and cover with the braising liquid. Cover with tinfoil or a lid and place in the oven. Braise for 3 hours, until very tender.
6. Remove the belly from the liquid and slice into small, square portions. Serve with a bit of braising liquid in a shallow bowl.
7. Alternatively, heat grape seed or vegetable oil in a skillet and sear the fat side of the belly until it crisps. Serve it with leafy green vegetables such as bok choy or kale, steamed or sautéed.
Cotechino Sausage
Makes 5 pounds
The fresh spices in this recipe make it stand out. It is best to grind each freshly with a spice grinder, rather than use preground spices. In any recipe, drying your own herbs creates the greatest flavor and potency. This sausage is typically served poached rather than grilled. Because the meat of a wild boar has more muscle tissue, this makes it important to grind the meat finely to avoid a dense or chewy sausage, qualities that become more prominent when the sausage is poached. Having the meat and equipment very cold before putting the meat through the grinder will help achieve a fine grind.
3 pounds hog butt, cubed
2 pounds hog or domestic pig fat, cubed
3 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pink curing salt (see Note, page 164)
1 1/2 tablespoons finely ground black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon finely ground cloves
1/2 tablespoon grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup ice water
Natural pork casings
20 cups hog stock (page 213)
2 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
2 bay leaves (optional)
2 whole garlic cloves (optional)
1. In a nonreactive bowl, combine the pork, fat, salt, pink salt, black pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne. Cover and let sit overnight in the refrigerator, if possible.
2. Before you are ready to grind the meat, put it in the freezer for about 1 hour, until the meat is firm but not frozen.
3. Grind the meat and fat through a 1/8-inch die, taking care to alternate pieces of meat and fat. Gradually add the minced garlic while grinding.
4. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the meat for about 1 minute, until it is cohesive when smeared. Gradually add ice water to make the mixture uniform. You can also use your hands here, but it will take longer to get a cohesive mixture.
5. Mix until the meat pulls away from the sides of the bowl and the sausage feels somewhat tight.
6. Put the sausage casings in a bowl of warm water for at least 30 minutes, then drain out the water. Carefully run water through each casing and look for water that comes out of any holes. Cut out any portions of the casings that have
holes.
7. Bring the stock and optional thyme, bay leaf, and whole garlic to a simmer in a small saucepan and poach about 1 tablespoon of sausage to test for seasoning and texture. Adjust as necessary.
8. Stuff the mixture into the pork casings 6 to 8 inches long, pricking with a sterilized needle as you go, to prevent air bubbles. Twist off the casing into links and let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
9. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 170°F and pour the stock in a roasting pan, baking dish, or pot wide enough to hold the sausages in one layer. Pour the stock over the sausages and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160°F on a meat thermometer.
10. Take the sausage out of the liquid immediately to let cool and so that it stops cooking in the hot liquid. Let the poaching liquid cool separately to room temperature. Then, once it is room temperature, store the sausage in the poaching liquid in the refrigerator and reheat in small amounts as needed.
Chorizo Sausage
Makes 5 pounds
This chorizo can take multiple forms, and this is a good one to make if you don’t have natural pork casings to make these into fresh sausages. Chorizo can be broken up into pieces as part of a casserole or chili, or it can also be made into a patty and seared with eggs for breakfast. Chorizo can also be dried until it loses 40 to 50 percent of its weight, when it is eaten like charcuterie. But I always start with a batch of this as fresh sausage, then turn any extra meat mixture into other forms.
3 pounds hog butt, cubed
2 pounds hog or domestic pig fat, cubed
1/8 cup kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pink curing salt #1 if cooking while fresh, or pink curing salt #2 if allowing to air dry (see Note, page 164)
1/8 cup sweet paprika
1/8 cup ancho chile powder
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coarsely ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chilled red wine
1/4 cup chilled tequila
Natural pork casings
1 tablespoon grape seed oil
1. Combine the pork, fat, salt, paprika, chile powder, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne. Let sit overnight, if possible.
2. Before you are ready to grind the meat, put it in the freezer for about 1 hour, until the meat is firm but not frozen.
3. Grind the meat and fat through a 1/8-inch die, taking care to alternate pieces of meat and fat. Gradually add the minced garlic while grinding.
4. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the meat for about 1 minute, until it is cohesive when smeared. Gradually add the wine and tequila to make the mixture uniform. You can also use your hands here, but it will take longer to get a cohesive mixture.
5. Mix until the meat pulls away from the sides of the bowl and the sausage feels somewhat tight.
6. Put the sausage casings in a bowl of warm water for at least 30 minutes, then drain out the water. Carefully run water through each casing and look for water that comes out of any holes. Cut out any portions of the casings that have holes.
7. Sauté about 1 tablespoon of sausage in the oil to test for seasoning and texture. Adjust as necessary.
8. Stuff the mixture into the pork casings, pricking with a sterilized needle as you go, to prevent air bubbles. Twist off the casing into links 6 to 8 inches long, and let sit overnight in the refrigerator, after which point you can freeze them or store in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Hog Backstrap, Chops, or Tenderloin
Serves 6 to 8
This recipe is really an ode to how simply prepared game meat can be, when treated with a good brine. The leanest cuts—chops, backstraps, and tenderloins—are best seared with my favorite hog brine and finished with my silky beurre blanc (page 228). It can also be served with homemade applesauce (page 233) or mint vinaigrette (page 227). This recipe can be done at home or on a campfire with a hot skillet.
2 to 3 pounds hog backstrap, chops, tenderloin, brined (page 219)
2 to 4 tablespoons grape seed oil
1. For the tenderloin and backstrap, truss them as you would a roast before cooking. The chops can also be tied around the meat and secured at the bone to maintain a uniform chop when sliced.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Sear the meat in a skillet in some oil until browned on all sides. Transfer to the oven and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160°F. Remove and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes, covered in tinfoil, then serve.
Also try: javelina, antlered game (cooked rare)
Smoked Whole Hog
Serves 15 to 40
One of the questions I get most often is, “What is your favorite wild game dish?” I always describe this one. From the first moment I tasted it, it earned itself a special place in the crevices of my mind. This whole wild hog is marinated for days and then smoked for many hours. Bacon and apples and molasses are also involved. It is essential in this recipe how the animal was killed, where it was shot, how it was dressed and cleaned. All of that needs to be done in an impeccable way. Cleanliness can be helped with a good marinade that includes a lot of acid in the form of vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and orange juice, in any combination. The size of your hog will vary, and so you have to rely on intuition when it comes to how much marinade to use. You can marinate the hog for one to eight days, and the acid will clean it and also impart flavor. You can marinate it in an ice chest if your hog is up to about 80 pounds on the hoof or 45 pounds cleaned. Or you could even use a garbage bag.
The smoking time varies, depending on the size of your hog as well. It could be six hours, it could be twelve. The temperature should never go above 250°F in your smoker, and it is best to heat the coals to a uniform temperature before you put in the hog, to create an even, radiant heat. What smoker should you use? There are many large barrel smokers on the market, or if you want to be particularly traditional, you can dig a pit in the ground and smoke the hog there, in the Italian fashion.
Although you can heat with charcoal, pecan wood is best if you have it in your region of the woods, or you can use a tree indigenous to your area. In the Southwest it is mesquite, in Washington State it is apple wood, and in the Midwest it is hickory. The following instructions are guidelines more than an exact recipe. You must go with your intuition and your hog to determine the right amounts of the ingredients.
Marinade: 1 whole hog, dressed, skinned, head and hooves removed
1 to 2 cups Worcestershire sauce
1/4 to 1/2 cup Cajun salt seasoning
3 to 4 onions, peeled and cut in half
10 to 20 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
5 to 8 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 to 2 cups white vinegar
1 to 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 to 6 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
To Smoke: 6 to 10 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut in half
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
20 to 30 bacon strips
3 to 4 cups molasses
For the Marinade: 1. Combine all the marinade ingredients with the hog in a large cooler or new garbage bag and let sit for 1 to 8 days, turning the hog every 12 hours so it evenly marinates. A hog that is 80 pounds on the hoof, 45 pounds cleaned, will fit well in a standard cooler. The acid cleans it. Cleanliness is important.
To Smoke: 1. When ready to smoke, bring your wood coals of choice to no more than 250°F in a large smoker. Let the coals become nice and uniform so that you have an even, radiant heat.
2. Smoke the hog for 6 to 12 hours, depending on its size. Once the densest part of the hog reaches 140°F, add a pan of apples to the bottom of the smoker, sprinkle with the cinnamon, and let them steam up under the hog.
3. At this point, also blanket the back of the hog with bacon and pour on 3 to 4 cups of molasses. Be generous with it and pour most of it in the area where it will drip down into the pan of apple
s.
4. The hog is ready to serve when the densest, deepest part is 160°F; under the front shoulder is usually the coolest part to test. Serve immediately tableside as your pièce de résistance.
Sweet Porchetta Sausage
Makes 5 pounds
This is most like a traditional Italian-flavored sausage, thanks to the fennel seeds and hint of sweetness. It would go well with roasted red peppers and onions, or sliced thinly, with some coarse mustard. Like all sausage, it should be cooked at a low temperature for a long period of time so that the casing doesn’t burst and it is cooked through.
4 pounds hog butt, diced into 1-inch pieces
1 pound hog or domestic pork belly fat, diced into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pink curing salt #1 (see Note, page 164)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
3/4 cup ice water
1/4 cup chilled red wine vinegar
Natural pork casings
1. In a nonreactive bowl, combine all the ingredients except the water, vinegar, and casings, and toss to distribute the seasonings. Chill until ready to grind.
2. Grind the mixture through a small die into a mixing bowl set on ice.