Wild Boar Porchetta

Ingredients

  • 2 lb Wild Boar Shoulder Rolled & Tied
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 0.5 onion, thinly sliced
  • 0.5 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
  • Fennel leaves, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp fennel seeds
  • 1 Tsp ground pepper
  • 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped or ½ Tbsp dried rosemary
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 cups vegetable mix, coarsely chopped (onion, celery, carrots, parsnips, etc)
  • 2 Tbsp butter, melted
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil

Wild boar will come wrapped in netting. Cut one end of netting and remove wild boar. Keep the netting to rewrap the wild boar after stuffing it. Unroll the wild boar so that you have a flat piece of meat and set aside.

Method

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion and fennel. Cook until onion is soft and translucent.  Add fennel seeds, ground pepper, rosemary, and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently so garlic does not burn. Allow mixture to cool then mix in chopped fennel leaves and eggs.

Preheat oven to 350°C. Spread mixture over one side of the wild boar then roll it up. If possible, stretch original netting back over wild boar and secure cut end with butcher’s twine. Otherwise, tie the roll with a truss of butcher’s twine. Spread a vegetable mixture on bottom of roasting pan. Use a mix of sturdy vegetables to keep wild boar off of the bottom of the pan and that will taste good when roasted. Set wild boar on top of vegetable mix. Roast in oven until internal temperature reaches 150°C, about 2 to 2 ½ hours, basting every 20-30 minutes with melted butter and olive oil mixture. Let meat rest for 15 – 20 minutes, slice thickly and serve.

Serves 3-4. Recipe can be scaled for larger or smaller roasts.