Those of you who have spent any amount of time reading the posts on this site have probably figured out that we are very much into wild foods. When we can, Chele and I are always on the lookout for foraging opportunities and new ways to cook with what we haul home. One wild ingredient that you may have noticed finding its way into our recipes on multiple occasions is wild bergamot (also known as bee balm). I have become a huge fan of using the leaves both dried and fresh, as they have a unique resin-y, oregano-like flavor. Chele and I have also used the flowers to make a fantastic floral jelly, which we posted about last summer.
But foraged foods aren’t the only wild foods that make their way into our kitchens. After stocking up on a wide array of meats from the fine people at Fossil Farms, we have both been eating quite a bit of wild boar lately. If you have never eaten wild boar, you are probably under the impression that it is the same thing as pork. Not quite. Most of the wild boar terrorizing roaming the US currently are hybrids of introduced true Eurasian boar and feral hogs, with variable percentages of either animal making up their lineage (Since this makes it nearly impossible to discern their exact breed, the USDA dictates that all wild boar meat originating from the US be labeled as “feral swine” when offered for sale). Compared to the domestic pork you are accustomed to buying from your local grocery store, wild boar is considerably leaner, with a darker color and stronger flavor. It cooks much the same as pork, though, so it can be used in the same way, leading to some interesting possibilities for shaking up familiar recipes.
So, when deciding what to do with a small boar shoulder roast that I had been sitting on, I recalled that I was also still sitting on a few of jars of that wild bergamot jelly that I mentioned earlier. An idea was hatched. Why not take a classic jelly-glazed pork roast and turn it into something completely WILD? Wild bergamot? Wild boar? It sounded too good to pass up.
To kick up the wild bergamot flavor even further, I started by making a simple rub for the meat using crushed bergamot leaves, some Penzeys Roasted Garlic powder, and a little salt. For the glaze, I wanted the flavor of the jelly to be the focal point, so I kept the other ingredients limited to just a little maple syrup and Dijon mustard to accent the wild bergamot.
Did it work? Oh my, yes it certainly did. I can guarantee that this will be getting made again as soon as I get a hold of another boar shoulder. In fact, the glaze was so good that I would be happy to just eat it with a spoon. I am dying to try it on some other things. Duck? Pheasant? Lamb? Hell, I think it would even be good over ice cream!
Wild Boar Shoulder Roast with Wild Bergamot Glaze
Ingredients
- 1 wild boar shoulder roast (boneless, 2-4 lbs)
- ½ tsp roasted garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried wild bergamot leaves crushed
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup wild bergamot flower jelly
- 3 Tbs maple syrup
- 1 Tbs Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove skin from boar shoulder (if present), but leave most of the layer of fat beneath it.
- Combine roasted garlic powder, wild bergamot leaves, and salt. Rub generously over entire surface of boar roast.
- Heat jelly in a small bowl in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove just to the point of melting (it does not need to be hot). Remove from heat. Whisk in maple syrup and Dijon mustard until thoroughly combined.
- Set up roasting pan or casserole dish with a roasting rack. Place the roast on the rack, fat side facing up. (If you do not have a rack, a couple of celery stalks laid on the bottom of the pan work just as well).
- Roast boar shoulder in oven for about 30 minutes per pound. 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove from the oven and brush or spoon the glaze over the roast until well covered. Return to the oven to finishing roasting for the remaining 15 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 140°-150°F is reached.
- Allow to rest for 20 minutes after removing from oven before slicing (meat should still be pink inside, but not bloody. Do not undercook wild meats!). Serve with any remaining glaze, if desired.
Notes
- Wild bergamot jelly is not something you are liable to find for sale, well… pretty much anywhere. You will need to make it yourself, and will most likely need to forage for the plant first. You can find all of the info you’ll need for that in our post here.
- Ideally, you will have saved and dried some wild bergamot leaves when you collected the flowers for jelly. If you didn’t (or ran out before deciding to make this recipe), oregano is an acceptable substitute.
- For those of us who are not up to the task of hunting them ourselves, wild boar is available from a variety of specialty/exotic meat suppliers and farms (the roast used in our photo came from Fossil Farms). Regular domesticated pork shoulder could be used in this recipe instead, but it does have a little different flavor and texture.
- Wild boar is best cooked to medium – pink, but not bloody (140°-150°F at the center). Overcooking can make the meat tough. Eating boar rare (or even domestic pork, for that matter) can expose you to pathogens such as Trichinella.
- The cooking time listed in this recipe assumes a 4 lb boneless shoulder is being used. Actual time will be more or less depending on the size of your roast. A bone-in roast will require significantly longer.
