How do Wild Pigs Eat

[augnmike]

OK thanks to you guys getting me hooked on this sport I now have two hogs being proccessed by Ralphs Meats in the Paso Robles area. I haven't eaten it before so I was curious about the flavor and toughness. My wife is really picky about food (obviously not about men) so ideas on recipes would be helpful. I had hams smoked as well as some linguisa and southern sausage. He said the ribs were good but don't overcook them. I will also get chops and tenderloins. As usual any advice or experience you can share would be appreciated.

 

[1Irishguy]

Two hogs?!?! you must have had some nice area to hunt!
How big were they? Older tougher ones are better left to sausage and the like. From younger animals or fatter sows there are some great cuts. As a general note I slow cook or braise most of my larger boar cuts such as roasts. If you do a search in the recipe forum you'll find a good bourbon based recipe that works great on the chops. Just remember that most of the cuts have little fat, so they dry out quick if you are q'n them.
Its good eating and most people seem to like it if you don't tell them what it is before you serve it!

 

[Rancho Loco]

If you get sausage links made, have 10% domestic pork fat added...Wild pigs are lean to start out with, any any fat is trimmed in the processing. Adding the fat makes for some juicy links.

 

[Speckmisser]

Augnmike,

Check out the recipes forum (scroll way down on the main forum page) for a TON of recipes and suggestions.

The flavor is excellent, not really gamy at all. It's similar to domestic pork, but there's something about it (maybe the leanness) that makes it stand way out and above the stuff from the store. It's one of the few game meats my wife actually encourages me to bring home.

If I remember your success story, the hogs you and your boy shot were big, but not huge, so you should be in good shape... especially with all the water and quality feed this year. There's a "common knowledge" that the big boars are tough and rank, and I'm sure there's some truth to it, but two of the best tasting hogs I've ever shot were hefty... a big, fat sow and the big boar I killed at Tejon last year. One of the nastiest, rankest hogs I ever killed (I actually threw some of the meat away) was a little 100lb calico hog. So there's an exception to every rule.

 

[wmidbrook]

I think the best eating wild pigs are sows that have been eating grain for a month or more--very similar to finished cows.

 

[Franklin3]

I served my family up some hams from a couple hogs taken at Wild Hog adventures this past christmas. 3 wild hams ands a store bought virginia smoked ham. there were asbout 30 folks present for the dinnner.
at the end of the meal i noted that there wasn't even a single piece of the wild hams left from three of them and the store bought ham was barely touched. could be that Choppers pigs taste better than others for some reason but I figure it's just that wild pork overall simply has more flavor than domestic and it's better for you also.

 

[easymoney]

Good points all,
And, I would try the jalapeno cheese sausage from Ralphs...
As far as wild meats go, it is very lean and tender, especially dry sows under 200lbs. My wife is very picky about eating wild meat as well, but loves my homemade wild pork sausage.

 

[augnmike]

Good to hear that for the most part it's good meat. One pig was a male about 135 lbs and the other a dry sow about 180 lbs. Sounds like I might be in luck with some good eating.

 

[One Track]

Dang good!!! I like some of it better than store-bought. The old boars can be a bit chewy. But, that's what grinders and chorizo mix is for. You'll be in good shape with them thar hogs. Enjoy!

 

[Gyopo]

Wild boar is some good eating stuff.

Organic and free ranging.
As long as Ass shooter don't shoot it first, cruelty free.

Do you like spicy food?

My wife made up some spicy, thin sliced meat from a hog I killed at Choppers.
My friends liked it.

She also made up some milder Korean BBQ stuff for the kids.
The kids liked it.

My buddy cooked it up and we ate it wrapped in lettuce w/rice and hot paste.

It was like living an old Michelob commercial
"Here's to good friends, tonight is kinda special, the beer will pour......"

Yummy Yummy!

 

[larrysogla]

This thread is making me very hungry.....man!!!! 'Nuff said.

 

[Freedivr2]

The answer for the question about flavor and toughness is pretty simple and consistent with whatever species you harvest, fish, fowl or mammal, and based on two factors; Age and how well you took care of the game.

1. In commercial fishing, they used to pay us a premium price per pound for fish under 75 lbs, then discounted that price by 50% for fish over 75 lbs. Reason; Younger fish were (and are) tastier and more tender.

2. Gut and cool down your harvested animal as quickly as possible to reduce the chance of bacteria propogating in the carcass. If an animal is left to warm up, bacteria will reproduce, multiply and sour the muscle tissue. Conversely, if you clean and cool the meat quickly, that will not be an issue.

3. I've harvested a number of hogs of different sizes, from 50 lbs. to 350 lbs. I can tell you this; the hogs under 100 lbs are the most tender. The hogs from 100 to 180 lbs. are tasty and equivalent to farm raised hogs. Critters over 200 lbs. get gamier and tougher as they get bigger. I once shot a 250 lb. boar that tasted fine, but was a bit on the chewy side.

It all depends on what you want; volume or quality. If you want volume, shoot the larger boars and sows. If you want quality meat, don't shoot a hog over 180 lbs.............

 

[Uncle Ji]

The old saying "you are what you eat" also applies to pigs as well. I have pigs just 10 minutes away up the mountain but I usually don't hunt these as they feed mostly on ferns and roots of strong smelling plants so they are very gamey no matter how you treat them. Also another few miles down the road there's alot of pigs on ranchland that feed mostly on dead cattle, and these guys smell like death so would never consider eating these. About an hours drive on a friends property forested with plentiful Mango, guava, and avocado trees now these pigs are first rate great eating with even their fat tasting great, no gaminess whatsoever. These pigs too have a larger percentage of domestic blood thus the majority not being pure black but also they get very large and fat and even the large boars are tender and tasty. My last boar over 300 pounds from there was SO delicious even making salted belly pork, and the ribs were great. I prefer to cook my pork slow, and long so it melts off the bones BBQ or Kalua style.

 

[easymoney]

Here on the central coast, most of the pigs feed on barley, oats and other grains, while on the private ranches. Acorns are always up at the top of the list.
But, wild pigs can and will eat anything they can get in their mouths...

 

[bayedsolid]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Here on the central coast, most of the pigs feed on barley, oats and other grains[/b]

That food source is not around exept for a short time. From what I've seen, most of the barley is all gone these days anyway. They will take what they can get though.

 

[larrysogla]

We are just so lucky that we have not had a bad smelling porkie yet. The San Antonio, TX pigs we harvested only had a very slight musky smell. But it still cooked well with spices and sauce. At the dinner table, that porkie was smelling good with all the spices and sauce. I don't know how bad a piggie can smell, but if SpeckM says it is bad, it must be bad, 'cause I trust his words. Well, luck of the draw I guess. The good ones are truly much better tasting than farm raised hogs. There is more and deeper flavor on a good wild hog than a fat laden, hormone injected, antibiotic laced farm factory raised hog. I really miss those Houston hogs that were so tender, tasty and smelled like fresh green grass rubbed between your fingers. Must be the local greenery that gives them such fine flavor and such sweet smell. My good buddy already sold his Houston area ranch last year. Sigh!!!! Anybody has a ranch in the Houston area that we can hunt????? 'Nuff said.

 

[baboltin]

lets see some pics.

 

[257 wby]

I think that pigs taken this time of year in California taste better, than ones shot in the summer. Although the hunting can be tougher this time of year cause of the abundance of water and good green feed. I know a couple of guys who actually take bags of ice in their rigs with them and as soon as they knock down a hog right after they gut it they will pack the chest cavity with the ice until they can skin the animal, even if they are only 30 minutes or so away from doing the skinning.

I think that throughly washing the animal and cooling it right away is the key.


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