Wild Boar Chops (With Wild Sauce)
Wild boar chops are the equivalent of a nice beef or venison steak, I.E a prime cut that you should be cooking.
This recipe will teach you everything you need to know about wild boar chops and make a fantastic sauce to accompany it.
Defining a Wild Boar Chop
Before we get into the recipe let’s decipher what a wild boar chop actually is.
Some people think a chop is a piece of meat with a bone in it while others think chops can only come from pork.
None of these answers are entirely right, or entirely wrong. For all wants and purposes a chop is a steak from pork, lamb, or in this case a wild hog.
This means that a chop may have a bone or it may be boneless.
The most familiar chop comes from the loin. A common pork or wild boar chop would be the equivalent of a tomahawk steak.
So when butchering a wild boar if you want a classic chop you would leave a little rib bone connected to the loin, also known as the backstrap.
You could make it like a rack, and slice the individual chops before cooking.
However, you can also make it boneless like I did here, and use the ribs for Korean BBQ ribs, or smoked wild boar ribs.
Wild Boar Chops Ingredients
There are very few ingredients needed to make a good wild boar chop recipe.
Once you have the cut figured out, all you need is a good sauce to pair with it and then you can spend time deciding on what sides to have with it.
For this recipe, it was easy for me to decide what sauce to pair with it. I spend a lot of time in forests and see a lot of wild hogs, but I also see a lot of porcini mushrooms.
Each year I harvest lots of these mushrooms and dry them for later use, as I write this I’m eagerly waiting for this year’s porcini mushrooms to appear.
To make this recipe you need:
- Dried porcinis
- Dijon mustard
- White wine
- Chicken bullion
- Garlic
- Heavy cream
- Fresh thyme
- Butter
- Wild hog backstrap with or without rib bone attached
Cooking Wild Boar Chops
Just as the ingredient list is simple, cooking wild boar chops is equally as simple.
There are a few methods for cooking chops, but I like to stick with the two simpler options of grilling and pan frying.
For this recipe, I pan-fried the hog chops as I also wanted to make a pan sauce and it was just easier.
I will admit that grilling wild boar chops is tastier, so you have a tough choice.
The steps are simple:
- Rehydrate the mushrooms
- Fry the garlic in butter
- Add wine and reduce
- Add all other ingredients and stir
- Simmer on low heat
- Oil and salt the chops
- Sear over high heat
- Cook the desired temperature between 145 to 160F
- Rest and serve
These instructions are the same whether you use the grill or the pan.
If you are cooking chops in the pan you will need to use a cast iron or carbon steel pan to get a good sear.
If you are a competent cook with experience you can use a stainless steel pan, but this is a little tougher and not recommended for beginners.
Serving Wild Boar Chops
I honestly found this the hardest part of making wild boar chops. Cutting the meat is easy, making the sauce is easy, but choosing a side is hard because there are so many options.
I decided on serving the chops with hassleback potatoes because I just got a new air fryer and wanted to test it out.
You could also serve with mashed potato, I didn’t because the previous day I had mashed potato with wild boar sausages.
Another great option is to have it in a sandwich like butterflied venison backstrap, or you could just have it by itself.
There is no right or wrong way of eating wild boar chops, experiment with the sides and have fun with it.
Wild Boar Chops
Ingredients
- 1 wild boar backstrap
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1.5 oz dried porcinis
- 1/2 cup chicken bullion
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1.5 oz butter
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 3 sprigs thyme
Instructions
- Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl of water to rehydrate
- Cut the wild boar backstrap, about 2-2.5 inches pieces
- Place the boar meat on its side and cover it with film. Using a meat mallet flatten the meat until it is about 1 inch thick. Set aside and rest.
- Heat the butter in a pan over low heat and add in the garlic. Cook for around 1-2 minutes
- Add the wine to the pan and reduce by about 50% (about 5 minutes)
- Add the porcini mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes
- Add the Dijon, bullion, cream, and thyme. Stir and simmer on low for 15 minutes
- Heat a pan over high heat
- Liberally rub the wild boar chops in oil and salt
- Place on the hot pan and sear each side. Reduce the heat to medium and cook to about 145F - 155F
- Remove the chops from the pan and rest on a wooden surface for 5 minutes, covered loosely with foil.
- Pour the sauce over the wild boar chops and serve
