Wild Boar Sous Vide
2011-11-25
Chris Shenton

A friend gave us a leg of wild boar he hunted. We figured it would be
rather tough and wanted it for a ragu to put on pasta. So we cooked it
sous vide for a long time.  We started out at a rather conventional
temperature -- Heston Blumenthal did an entire pig (in a hot tub) at
145F -- but then realized this would lead to steak/chop-like
consistency at best. We figured we needed something more tender so
increased the temperature to a level others reported worked well for
fork-tender brisket and the like.

10 hours at 140F
26 hours at 176F

It did come out falling off the bone and shredded easily with
forks. The fat had melted and almost all connective tissue and tendons
had dissolved too.

Next time I think we should back out the temperature a bit. And brown
it first to get some malliard flavors -- the meat came out looking
like pulled pork, not as dark as we expected.

From the four pounds of leg and bone, we got two pounds of meat, two
cups of juices, and another cup or two of fat (chilled an skimmed from
all rendered liquid).

We added the juices back to the meat, along with onions, garlic, wine,
and some marinade, a bit of chili flakes, chocolate, and orange zest
and cooked it low for several hours.  We made a beurre manie with some
of the fat and some flour to thicken it.  It came out a little too
smooth but tasted great.