Cinghiale in umido
The Maremma is located in southern Tuscany in central Italy. It has traditionally been a hunters and shepherds land. This recipe uses wine to soften the strong flavor of the game meat.
It is not unlike other wine stews such as Beef Bourguignon or Coq au Vin. Where the wine is used to tame the strong flavor of an old rooster, or greasy beef.
Ingredients
- 1 kg wild boar cut into chunks
- 1 large onion diced into large pieces
- 750 cc (one bottle) of good dry red wine
- 4 large tomatoes diced
- 4 or 5 juniper berries ground in a mortar
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 6 medium sized wild mushrooms coarsely cut
- 2 carrots coarsely cut
- 2 stalks of celery coarsely cut
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
Put your meat on the board and sprinkle it with coarse salt. Massage the grains into the meat slowly, and set it in medium sized bowl afterwards.
To this bowl add the wine, the juniper, rosemary, oregano and bay leaves and after stirring a bit let it sit overnight in the fridge.
When you are ready to start the stew, take out the boar and shake the pieces dry. In your trusty stew pot (cast iron will do nicely) add the olive oil and at high heat seal every single chunk, giving them enough space so that each one browns nicely. You can put the sealed meat in a plate aside.
Then separate the onions from the wine and add them to the pot in the same oil. After they turn soft add the garlic and wait another few minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Finally add the meat, tomatoes, wine, one carrot and one celery stalk into the pot and cover it. Let it come to a boil and set the heat to medium or low.
After at least a few hours take out a chunk of meat and test its firmness, if it does not fall apart under the pressure of a spoon, give it another 30 minutes. When you deem the meat soft enough, add the remaining celery and carrot, and the mushrooms, finish by adding with salt and pepper as you see fit.
In about fifteen or twenty minutes your stew should be ready to serve along with some polenta or home made pasta.
This stew will serve four stew lovers.