When it comes to cooking game, each hunter has their favorite recipe. But sometimes, when you’re feeling adventurous, it is good to try something new. And while there are a lot of recipes online, we believe that, when it comes to preparing wild meat, hunters are the ones who make truly trusty and delicious meals. We asked our brand ambassador from Poland, Krzysztof Turowski, to share his go-to, and boy did he deliver. So, without further ado, we invite you to make this delicious slow-cooked wild boar in a cabbage bed – a recipe adapted by Krzysztof from Grzegorz Russak’s “Wielka Kuchnia Myśliwska” (The Great Hunting Kitchen).
Ingredients
For the meat
- 1.5 kg wild boar
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves
- 3 juniper berries
- 3 garlic cloves
- 180 g curing salt
- 1 cup vinegar
- Fresh thyme
- Fresh rosemary
- Pepper
- Clarified butter for frying
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp mustard
- Olive oil
- Lemon juice
For the cabbage
- 1/4 white cabbage
- 1 cup broth (preferably homemade)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Wild sausage loop (about 100 grams)
- 20 grams smoked wild boar bacon
- 1 onion
- 2 apples
- 5 cloves of garlic
Preparation
Two days ahead of your planned meal, pickle your meat in brine. Add 2 liters of water, salt, vinegar, allspice, bay leaf, cloves, juniper berries, and 3 slightly crushed cloves of garlic to a pot. Bring everything to a boil, then take it off the heat and allow it to cool completely. Pour the brine over your meat, and let sit in the refrigerator for two days. The brine has to cover the meat completely. If you find this amount is not enough, increase the quantity of liquid by doubling the amount of water and salt.
After two days, if you’d like to test whether the meat is salty enough (or are worried it might be too salty), Krzysztof recommends cutting a slice of it, frying it in a pan, and tasting. If you find it too salty, allow it to soak in water for a couple of hours.
Meanwhile, chop the quarter of a cabbage. Add to a heavy-bottomed pot, followed by the broth and Worcestershire sauce. Stew for 30 minutes.
Thanks to the Pulsar Thermion 2 XP50 PRO, I can easily identify the animal, its size and health. Its image quality and thermal sensitivity helps me to be sure I always make the right decision before the shot, which is crucial for ethical and respectful hunting.
While the cabbage is stewing, start preparing your meat by taking it out of the brine (water) and pat-drying it.Chop the thyme and rosemary and rub the meat with the herbs and pepper.
Set the oven to 140°C.
Heat a pan with some clarified butter. Brown the meat on each side to lock the juices in. Set aside.
Chop the sausage, onion, and bacon. Add everything to the same pan and, stirring occasionally, cook until it’s nicely browned and fragrant.
Mix the contents of the pan with cabbage. If you use a large pot that can go into the oven, top the cabbage with your roasted meat. If you feel like the pot is too small, transfer the cabbage to a bigger tray, then top it with the meat.
Deseed and chop the apples and crush the remaining garlic. Add everything on top of the cabbage and cover tightly with foil.
Put the tray into the oven and cook for three hours. Increase the temperature to 180°C and keep on cooking for another hour and a half. Krzysztof suggests checking the meat every 30 minutes until it falls off the bone easily.
When the meat is cooked, prepare the glaze. Mix the honey (Krzysztof uses dandelion and canola), mustard, olive oil, and lemon juice. Brush the glaze over the meat and put it back in the oven for another 12 minutes or so until it’s nicely browned.
Serve the meat with the cabbage and some boiled potatoes.
Despite the fact that the preparation of this dish took a few days in total, and the baking itself adds a few more hours, I strongly recommend it to anyone who has such a delicacy in their pantry as a young piglet. The whole thing is really insane in taste and it is worth spending all this time preparing this phenomenal dish!
Before purchasing any night or thermal vision device, please make sure you adhere to the local legislation and only use it when it is allowed. Our ambassadors come from various countries and travel a lot, which allows them to test different devices. We do not encourage or support the illegal use of our devices in any events. If you wish to learn more about export and sales restriction policy, please visit the following link: Export and Sales Restriction Policy.