Jabalí Estofado de Sierra Morena

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Non-reactive bowl or food-safe bag, at least 3 litres
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Small saucepan
• •Heavy lidded casserole or Dutch oven, 5 to 6 litres
• •Kitchen tongs
• •Immersion blender

Instructions

1. 1

   Marinate the boar

   Put the wild boar in a non-reactive bowl or food-safe bag with the red wine, four crushed garlic cloves, two bay leaves, four thyme sprigs, the rosemary, peppercorns, and 12g of the salt. The meat should sit mostly beneath the wine. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours, turning it once if the pieces are not completely submerged. Do not leave it longer than 24 hours, because the wine begins to make the outside of the meat coarse.

   Use inspected wild boar from a game butcher or licensed processor. Hunted wild boar must be tested for Trichinella; freezing alone is not a reliable safeguard.
2. 2

   Drain and boil

   Set a sieve over a saucepan and drain the meat, reserving every drop of marinade. Discard the spent garlic, herbs, and peppercorns. Pat the meat thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. Bring the reserved marinade to a full boil, skim off the grey foam, and boil uncovered for 10 minutes. Reduce it to about 500ml, then set it aside. Never use a raw meat marinade without boiling it first.

3. 3

   Brown in batches

   Heat 45ml of the olive oil in a 5 to 6 litre heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the boar in four batches, leaving space between the pieces, for 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Turn each piece until two or three sides carry a deep brown crust. Move the browned meat to a bowl. Don't crowd the pot, or the released liquid will simmer the meat grey instead of browning it.

4. 4

   Build the sofrito

   Lower the heat and add the remaining 30ml olive oil, the onions, carrots, and remaining 3g salt. Cook gently for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is dark gold, soft, and nearly jammy. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato and cook for another 12 to 15 minutes, until its water has gone and the oil begins to show around the edges. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the pimentón for 20 seconds, and return it immediately to low heat so the spice doesn't burn.

5. 5

   Assemble the stew

   Pour in the boiled marinade and scrape the browned juices from the bottom of the pot. Simmer for 5 minutes. Return the meat and its collected juices, then add the stock, remaining bay leaf, and remaining two thyme sprigs. The liquid should reach roughly two-thirds of the way up the meat. Add only enough of the optional water to reach that level, never enough to drown it.

6. 6

   Braise barely bubbling

   Bring the stew just to a simmer, cover it, and place it in an oven heated to 150°C. Braise for 2 hours 45 minutes, turning the meat once halfway through. Begin checking at that point and continue for up to another 30 minutes if needed. It is ready when a spoon can press through a piece without force. If the meat is still tough, it needs more time, not more heat.

   For a slow cooker, complete the browning and sofrito on the stove, then transfer everything to the cooker with only 200ml stock. Cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours. Pork shoulder usually needs about 6 hours.

   Properly tender braised wild boar will be well beyond the safe internal temperature of 71°C, but temperature alone does not make it tender. The spoon test decides.
7. 7

   Finish the sauce

   Lift the tender meat into a covered bowl and discard the bay leaf and thyme stems. Blend the softened sofrito and cooking liquid until smooth, then boil it uncovered for 10 to 20 minutes, until glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the vinagre de Jerez, return the meat, and taste for salt. Take the pot off the heat and let it rest for 20 minutes before serving.

Chef Tips

• •Buy shoulder or neck from an inspected game supplier. Avoid loin for this stew; it has too little connective tissue and dries out before the sauce is ready.
• •If wild boar is unavailable, use 1.5kg boneless pork shoulder. It gives a milder, fattier stew, so begin checking it after 2 hours and skim the surface before reducing the sauce.
• •Use a dry, sturdy red wine, such as a young Tempranillo or Garnacha. An expensive bottle is unnecessary, but sweet cooking wine will make the sofrito cloying.
• •Fresh tomatoes belong here only when they are ripe. At any other time, canned whole peeled tomatoes are the honest choice and give a deeper, less watery sauce.
• •Serve with thick-cut fried potatoes, plain boiled potatoes, or country bread for the sauce. A young Tempranillo from La Mancha or a red from Sierra Norte de Sevilla suits the pot without overwhelming it.

Advance Preparation

• •Marinate the boar for 12 to 18 hours in the refrigerator. The vegetables for the sofrito can be cut while the marinade boils the following day.
• •The finished stew is better after one night in the refrigerator. Cool it within 2 hours, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat gently until bubbling throughout.
• •Freeze the finished stew and sauce together for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and loosen with a spoonful of water while reheating if the sauce has set too thick.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)