Wild Boar Competition...Advice?

[Frankenstein]

My fiance's work is having a cook-off, the owner is providing "one quartered wild boar" to each entrant. That's a quote from their e-mail so I'm assuming I get the whole boar cut up rather than just a single quarter. I don't have any experience with wild boar, have done some research but hoping to get some additional advice. I'm open to doing more than one dish if I have enough meat.

I understand boar is leaner than pork. I try really, really hard not to use bacon as I think it masks the meat's flavor and tends to be used way too often. What are your thoughts on larding with pork fat and making pulled pork?

I really like a modified version of a wild game rub I found in Field & Stream, but I've only used it on venison and beef. It's very different from what I normally would put on pork, would this be too "beefy" or overpowering? It's just the right amount of flavor on the sirloin tip roast I smoked on Memorial Day, but that's a relatively low surface area cut.
1/4 c kosher salt
1/4 c black pepper
1/4 c paprika
2 Tb garlic powder
2 Tb onion powder
2 Tb sugar (50/50 brown and white)
2 Tb ground thyme
1 Tb cayenne
3 Tb rosemary
3 Tb crushed juniper berries
I apply liberally and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Finally, whats a good sauce to go with boar? Anybody can do traditional barbeque sauce, but I'm not neccessarily trying to imitate traditional barbeque. Wine based? Mustard based? Drippings based? Again, I'm trying to compliment the boar rather than mask it as something its not.

[Jerod Broussard]

I would mop with this stuff.

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/BBQ_sauces/east_carolina_BBQ_sauce.html

[Frankenstein]

I grew up in the SC Low Country, at one point worked in downtown Lexington for the good ole boys, and later lived in Eastern NC. The majority of transplants turned their nose up at our BBQ, though Eastern was more palatable to them (and me) than Lexington. Since moving to MO, I have served Eastern, Lexington, and Midlands style sauces with KC-style rubbed butts with great success but have never gone full-blown Carolina on them. Would you go 100% on that mop sauce, smoking skin on with no rub? About 1/3 of the crowd will be from KC and STL metros. I personally like it, but not sure if the audience's palate would. People either love it or hate it.

[Henrik]

Nice! Wild boar is good meat. It is a bit leaner than regular pork, but the difference isn't that large. Basically the wild boar move around a bit more (the 'wild' part), as opposed to pigs standing around mostly (due to food industry).

Anyhow, it isn't that different to cook, you would do the various cuts (ribs, shoulder, ham et.c.) the same way you cook pork. The difference lies in flavoring. Wild boar can take (and needs) a bit more flavoring than pork in my opinion. I like the rub you specified, but personally I would hold back on the rosemary and thyme. I would rather have juniper berries play a more dominant part. Equal parts of thyme, rosemary and juniper seems a bit like trying to overdo it. Also, I would leave the sugar out (unless you're doing ribs). I'd rather put that on right before reverse searing, to caramelize the surface, as I'm wary of getting it too sweet. But again, these are my flavor preferences, which is just one way of doing it. So go ahead and cook up a storm, and share with us!

[Frankenstein]

I have read your posts pretty closely, our flavor preferences are fairly similar. I was hoping you would chime in on fine tuning the rub. Sugestions for a finishing sauce?

[Henrik]

Cool. It is a bit tricky, as I don't know exactly which cuts of boar you will cook, but given the above assumptions and rub I would make a rich smooth sauce. Typically one made with cooking cream and cognac. The creaminess from the cooking cream goes really well with the (leaner) boar meat, and the cognac adds a bit of perceived sweetness. This means you can leave out the sugar completely on the meat. Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, and use it a lot in cooking, I'm just striving for balance here, that's why. Let me know if you need a sauce recipe.

[Frankenstein]

I have one ham, fairly thick with decent amount of fat, and a lean shoulder. The cut I am doing Carolina style is still in the refrigerator at her work so don't know which one it is yet. I put this rub on the shoulder since the sauce will add some richness.

For the rub, I skipped the sugar, upped the juniper berries, only a dash of rosemary, and I was out of thyme. Used a dash of marjoram as an experiment....I really like that stuff.

[R2-Meat2]

I've never BBQ'd boar, but I do a delicious italian boar ragu using shaved bitter chocolate. The ragu is red wine and tomato base, using chopped onions, carrots and celery that have been caramalized for at least 30 minutes, a lot of reduction with the wine and tomato, then finish with the chocolate. The chocolate plays a great balance to the sweetness of the meat. It could be fun adapting this technique to the BBQ, particularly if you are looking to get away from the traditional BBQ sauce.

[Frankenstein]

This sounds good and would like to try it some day, but too far out of my realm of expertise to know if I did it well. Would like to try it at a restaurant, etc. for a reference point before attempting for an audience. I've never even been brave enough to try Mole' yet.

[Henrik]

That sounds great! I've used shaved bitter chocolate as a rub, and it turned out really good. Like you say, it balances well. The red wine/tomato/onion reduction sounds superb.

[Frankenstein]

Update...they are giving out one whole quarter hog, not one quartered whole hog. Funny how much of a difference word placement makes.

However, since I cooked for their employee appreciation day and 100 lbs of cooked meat was gone within an hour, the owner approached my fiance before official sign up with 2 quarters and asked that I do the cooking for her dept's entry. He said to let him know if I want more, which I think I might so I can do multiple recipes and I have an easier time with a full smoker.

Having the option to do multipe recipes means I don't really have to worry about personal allegiances as much. So right now I am thinking:

• Jerod's suggestion for Eastern.
• Henrik's suggestion for tweaking the rub, and possibly a finishing sauce
• KC rub and finishing sauce.

Edit: This is the plan, just sent a text and got a 3rd quarter.

Next question: I haven't checked to see if the whole quarters will fit in my uprights yet, but I'm thinking they won't. How much processing would you guys do here?

[Frankenstein]

I have the closest version of Henrik's beer sauce from his luxury deer post simmering right now. Living where I live,
some ingredients are impossible to find.

I used Mexican Crema (a bit more than he called for), vegetable broth, white onion, Granny Smith apple, and Guiness extra stout. Skipped tomato puree and will probably skip the sugar as the apple has it sweet enough. This kitchen smells amazing I wonder if I can make this into a candle or something.

http://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/wild-game/30056-luxury-deer-with-a-beer-sauce

[Frankenstein]

Reverse searing now, packing up, judging in 45 minutes across town.

[Henrik]

Let us know how it went, and if you have any pictures, upload 'em!