Although we can hear every night (in France) wild
boar descending the mountain in search for water and though
shooting them seems to be the only (male) social activity in Sablieres
this time of year, it is much easier to prepare a wild boar stew in
Belgium than in the Ardeche-
Cevenole. The reason being that it is impossible to find wild boar
meat in a supermarket or butcher in the region. A few years ago we
went there in the winter and I wanted to prepare wild boar for
new-year's eve but every butcher we approached for meat replied
with a fairly angry 'ne fais pas!' as if we asked him to
perform some illegal act (which probably, unknowingly, we did…).
In contrast, supermarkets and butchers are flooded with duck
('fillet de canard', 'cuisse de canard', 'confit
de canard', you name it) but I've never spotted a living duck
in the entire region! It turned out that, in order to prevent people
from shooting boar to make a living, it is not allowed to sell wild
boar meat. The only possibility to get it is either to shoot one
yourself or to have a friend in the local hunting society (les
chasseurs, omnipresent and rather political influencial in France).
Once you managed the latter, you have to master the basics of the
exchange-trade (you always have to give one commodity to get another).
The first time we offered a bottle of Pastis (Ricard) which was
flatly rejected because to them the value of Pastis is much higher
than that of boar meat, but they would accept a bottle of wine
instead…
Anyway, here is a fairly erratic recipe for wild
boar (serves 4 to 6) as I made it on thursday : get 1kg to 1.5kg of
wild boar meat, defrost if necessary and slice it into 1-2-3cm
cubicles (don't take this too strict). Meanwhile, heat up plenty
of olive oil, slice up two fairly large onions and as much garlic as
you (and your dinner partners) can master and fry this in the oil. Add
the sliced up meat and let it fry until all pieces are nicely brown.
Add pepper and your favourite herb (which is Thyme in my case, but
Oregano or Rosemary might be other choices). Add half of bottle (or
more) of red wine and some water (change percentages if you have
younger children) and heat it up. Have a look in the refrigerator for
vegatables that would go well with the meat. This time I used carrots,
mushroom and courgettes as they were available but use your own taste
to change this. Slice up 6 big carrots and add them (in general :
slice up the harder vegetables and add them now, keep the softer
vegetables for later) and let all of this stew for 2 hrs or more on a
moderate fire (stir every 10 minutes and add wine/water when needed).
Half an hour before serving add the courgettes (or any other softer
vegetable) and 15minutes later the mushrooms. Should be accompanied
with a proper 'gratin' but as I cannot approximate the one
made by Michel, chef of camping la drobie and part-time mayor of the local
village, I went for Rosti on thursday. Enjoy!
