sanglier

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!