Impress your guests with wild boar - The Best from Greece

Posted on: 29/Dec/2011 They feed on acorns and other fruits of the forest, which gives their meat its delicious flavor.

Local or imported wild boar (agriogourouno) is sold throughout winter, particularly during the holiday season at many butchers. Most imports are from Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, weighing from 8-15 kilos, ideal for a party of up to 10 people.

While heavy, wild boars are not large in size; if in doubt about whether it will fit in the oven whole, get the butcher to prepare it accordingly. Some will remove all the bones, while leaving it looking intact. Piglets from smaller breeds weigh between 5 and 8 kilos.

Local breeds of boar are dying out, as most livestock breeders prefer the more profitable foreign breeds or those cross-bred with local breeds. A rare exception is Dimitris Dimos from Avra, Trikala, who has thoroughbred Greek boars.

These are a hairy variety, dark gray in color and with a long snout. Their meat is low in fat as the animals are free-range and graze on the rugged Greek landscape.

According to Dimos, there are fewer than 2,000 of these animals remaining; he himself breeds from 150 sows. They feed on acorns and other fruits of the forest, which gives their meat its delicious flavor.

As they are not intensively raised, they reach the desired weight in three to three-and-a-half months instead of just one month for those intensively raised.

Recipe

Wild boar with red wine
Ingredients (serves 8)

2 kg wild boar, cut into 4 cm chunks
3 carrots, cut into 3-4 cm rounds
3 onions, cut into large pieces
2 celery sprigs, halved
4-5 cloves
1 tsp whole allspice
750 ml red wine (Agiorgitiko or Xinomavro)
1/3 cup olive oil
2-3 tbsp flour
500 ml warm stock, if necessary
4 tbsp honey
1.5 kg small potatoes, peeled (or larger potatoes, cut in wedges)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Marinade
Put the meat pieces in a large bowl with the carrots and onions, celery, cloves and allspice. Add the wine and cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. Stir every 6-8 hours so all the meat absorbs the marinade.
The next day, drain the meat and vegetables, discard the celery and strain the juice, setting it aside.
Preheat the oven to 150C. Using a large covered pot (gastra) that will also fit on the stove (use a large saucepan with a heavy base and then transfer to a baking dish), saute the meat in oil over a high heat, together with the carrots and onions for about five minutes until the meat is evenly browned.
Dust it with the flour, season, stir with a wooden spoon and add the marinade. Add the honey and stir until absorbed. Cover the pan and place in the oven.
Bake for three hours. Every hour, remove from the oven and carefully stir, adding extra stock or water if necessary. When the three hours are up, add the potatoes and raise the oven temperature to 180C and bake for another hour until the meat is tender and the potatoes done. Again, add extra liquid if necessary.
Check the seasoning and serve.
To make the sauce more delicate, remove the meat, potatoes and carrots from the pot and put the remaining liquid into the blender together with what is left of the onions. Drain the juice and if too thin, boil until thick enough.
Alexandros Papandreou

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