As far as cuts of wild boar meat goes, it doesn't get much tougher than the shanks. While tough as hell, they're also dark and flavorful. This is a great way to use those cuts without just turning them into sausage filling. This recipe gives incredible rich layers of flavor, fork tender meat, and has the right amount of panache to impress any of your guests...well maybe not the vegan ones.
Shanks:
- 2 wild boar shanks
- 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2” rounds
- 1 leek, split down the middle and sliced into 1/2” wide sections
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 10 cloves of garlic, minced
- A few tablespoons chopped rosemary, stems removed
- A few tablespoons chopped thyme, stems removed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 bottle of dry red wine
- 32oz chicken broth
- 32oz beef broth
- 28oz can diced tomato
Risotto:
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 shallots finely diced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Have 64 oz of chicken stock on hand
- A few handfuls shredded parmesan cheese, 3-4oz
- Salt & pepper to taste
__________________________
Shanks:
Shoot a boar, butcher said boar, and save the shanks.
Season the shanks liberally with salt and pepper
Add a couple tablespoons of high smoke point oil to a heavy dutch oven and sear the boar shanks over medium-high heat until they are browned all over and leave a fair amount of fond in the pan
Add your carrots, onion, leeks, garlic and sauté until soft and golden brown. Add in the red wine and deglaze the pan, followed by the diced tomatoes and herbs. Add you seared shanks to the pan, followed by the beef broth and chicken broth in equal amounts until the shanks are submerged. Bring to a simmer on the stove, give it a stir, then transfer to the oven.
These things are tough as shoe leather and will most likely need to braise around 4 to 5 hours.
Once the meat is falling off the bone, I put it aside while I strain several ladles worth of the braising liquid into a sauce pan. I put the shanks back in the braising liquid and into the oven to keep warm.
Bring the strained braising liquid to a low simmer for about 30 minutes while you make the risotto, stirring occasionally. Once reduced, taste for seasoning. Don’t season before it’s reduced, as the flavors are going to get more concentrated over time, and you don’t want to over salt.
Risotto
The risotto is incredibly simple to make, but a a real time consuming endeavor.
Bring a saucepan of chicken stock to a low simmer. You’re going to need a lot of the stuff, and it’s fine if you need to add more to the pan partway through.
In a separate sauce pan, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add your finely diced shallots and sauté until tender and translucent. Add in 2 cups of arborio rice and stir to incorporate the shallot/oil mixture. Toast this in the pan for around 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add in the white wine and cook for a couple minutes. Stirring constantly.
At this point, begin adding 1 ladle of the simmering stock into the rice at a time until it’s absorbed. Stirring constantly.
Repeat this process until the rice is tender and creamy, but not mushy. Stirring constantly.
It should be al dente, and not like wallpaper paste. At this point you can mix in the parmesan and taste for seasoning. The parmesan imparts a lot of salt, so you shouldn’t really need to adjust anything. Just make sure you’re stirring constantly.
This process should probably take around 30 minutes.
Plate with a base of the risotto, a shank centered, and pour the reduced braising liquid over the shank and around the risotto. Garnish with some fresh herbs, and tuck in.
As you can imagine this pairs well with some bold dryer reds to offset the richness but stand up to the flavors. Malbec, Syrah, etc.
