Sanglier et Truffes

Wild Boar and Truffles

(If you’re vegetarian, vegan or just plain squeamish you might not want to read this post. You have been warned.)

Remember that list of planned posts I mentioned last week? The last day in La Ciotat, the SPECIAL one (it’s very special, I will do it next), the Pay it Forward one? Well, this isn’t one of those posts. This is the sort of post you write when you just have to blog about what’s happening right now. And it’s all because I was offered some sanglier (wild boar) meat.

Some hunters gave it to my friend MC, who texted me on Saturday night to see if I’d like some. Yes please! was my response. Real wild boar? One who lived a happy life in the forest and never saw a GM product or an antibiotic in its life? Deffo.

I was expecting a small piece. Enough to make one meal, maybe with leftovers as well.

I was not expecting a bin-bag that weighed a healthy 10kg. What is it? I asked. A shoulder and a leg, I was told. Ok, about a quarter of a sanglier?

When we started preparing the meat this evening, I realised that one shoulder (with ribs attached) and one leg (also with ribs attached) makes half a wild boar. This is what half a boar looks like.

We decided to prepare one joint for cooking immediately and to freeze the rest. We picked off any stray bristles, cut out one oddly coloured section of meat (a bruise, perhaps, or an old gunshot wound) and then the LSH set to work with our sharpest knife.

And that sucker was sharp. It sliced through bone like it was cutting cheese. In no time at all, there was a large chunk of leg marinating in our biggest pot. It will marinate for at least 24 hours, then I will cook it slowly as per the recipe MC gave me. I’ll let you know how it tastes!

Sanglier is incredibly meaty, much more than I expected. I was expecting lots of bone and gristle, but these animals are all muscle. This one joint will feed at least six people, if not eight. (Who shall we invite to dinner?)

The rest was cut up into meal-sized portions (where ‘meal-sized’ means it will feed a lot more people than the LSH and I). However, our freezer bags were too small for these portions, so there’s now four bin bags in the freezer, three with chunks for roasting and one with ribs which we will attempt to barbecue at a later stage. There’s also two normal-sized freezer bags full of chunks for stewing and there’s a pot of inedible bits stewing away happily to make stock as I type. This guy will keep us fed for quite some time.

Didn’t you mention truffles, too? I hear you say. Why yes. Yes I did.

MC’s husband had left the bin-bag containing half a sanglier in my jeep while I rode on Sunday. When I’d finished riding, I headed over and opened the door. As you do, when you’re about to drive home.

WHOA! What the f*** is that smell?

Had the sanglier gone off already?

Wait, what’s that on the driver’s seat?

A Christmas cracker shaped piece of tin-foil! Mystified, I started to unravel it – and burst out laughing (yeah, there by myself, crazy lady laughing in the car) as the pungency of the smell quadrupled.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before, but Alexandrine’s dog Chips is trained as both a hunting dog and as a truffle hound. Not only that, but Alexandrine and her copain Rémy have a small plantation of truffled oaks right beside my horses’ field. She gave me a little present of truffles to go along with the sanglier (and to add to the authentic Provençal air Ole Jeepy is rapidly acquiring).

So now there’s one of these safely stowed in the fridge…