The boar bacon is the one in the center there. It isn’t a great image, I took this in someone else’s kitchen on the fly.
Given the sheer volume of bacon that Chilebrown and I have on hand, we thought maybe it would be good to sit down and have a taste. The catalyst for this particular meeting was a delivery of yet another kind of bacon, Wild Boar Bacon.
It’s just that, belly bacon taken from a wild pig. I’ve always wanted to go boar hunting with someone. George used to do that while he was still in California. I asked him about tagging along one day, I really wanted to go. He said I was welcome, but I had to have a side-arm. Those wild boards are huge and can take you down in a second. That means I had to have a good sized pistol with me, one with real bullets. There are many things I can do well and being safe with something with bullets isn’t one of them. I’d come back with a hole in my foot or without one of my digits. It doesn’t scare me, it’s just a fact. Armed with this knowledge, I let others do my wild pig killin’ for me. I needs me fangers.
The wild boar came in a slab, it needed to be sliced. The texture of this bacon was wiggly. The meat was loose, not firm like standard belly bacon. The smell was light and fresh, not heavy in cure or smoke. Not gamey. Along with the wild bacon, we did Fatted Calf’s belly bacon and Morants Canadian Bacon. 3 bacons for the 2 Meat Brothers.
Each bacon got its own pan. Since wild piggies get to run around, the bacon is quite lean with a high meat to fat ratio. We could have added a little oil to the pan. All 3 cooked up just fine. The Canadian bacon was too salty and we left it for CB’s pot of chile he was going to make that day. Fatted Calf’s bacon was a fine contender, but this was Taylor’s milder version. The smoke was light, the cure was even and the cut was a standard belly cut. There were no huge wangly country slices in there with rinds and heavy smoke action.
The boar bacon had a light smoke, light cure and had the texture of a chewy beef roast. Hence, wiggly meat. It wasn’t a bad chewy, it gave way pretty quickly. But I don’t think we expected the heavy, chewy texture of the pork belly. Both CB and I enjoyed it immensely. I would absolutely love to put slices of this in my smoker for a few hours, oh yes. All in all I’d like to see more of this Wild Boar Bacon. The possibilities for it should be quite huge. I’d like to see a far heavier smoke to it along with a cure that’s on the sweet side. Just a tad mind you, just a bit. What a way to start a Saturday morning !!!
Biggles
MeatHenge
"If it ain't pork, it ain't sausage"
Oh come on ~ you could go out there with a fire arm to protect yourself. Knowing you, your fingers and toes would be safe ~ but there are other digits that you might be concered with! My friend just got 40 acres in the Seirra foothills and there be boars up in them thar hills! I’ll let you know if he gets sme bacon stuff!
Big D
Biggs, Darlin’
I so love your sentiment about firearms! Yuck! They are for situations I care not to think about!
So, how ’bout a bow N’arrow routine! Mind you, a person would have to be “quick on the draw” and maybe quicker if those sweet little porkies are as fast as you describe.
But, you can practice!
So, back to the bacon!
Any range roving feeding bird and animal will be in natural habitat and therefore its meat surely must be most natural in taste, texture and appeal.
I would be a ready customer for Ranger Porkie Bacon! Absolutely.
The Wildebeast Porkies are smart! They know where to find the best feed and what’s more, what’s good for them.
After all, didn’t they invade the spinach fields recently? So, they know that leafy green veggies are good for them and that such veggies help them convert to decent meat!
Hooray! The wild porkies have a market at last!
Bring ’em on!
Herd ’em up!
Fire Arms! Cann’t We just get along, and cook bacon. I used to own a market called Nugget. I joined the Amish community and signed a pledge to tell the Biggles blog to tell the truth about bacon/ My FireArms is now for the pupose to vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr B
If you can handle a big old smoking rig you can handle a little pistola. Not much of a hunter myself. I do enjoy when the good ol boys I work with come back from Montana with elk salami and antelope sausages.Good eats
mmmm….bacon. boar bacon!! i had bull tail the other night. mighty good goodness!! maybe one day i can send you a care package from spain. send me your mailing address!
Yeah, boar is underrated in this touchy feely kinda world, great recipe!
Hey BB,
Ya know, many moons ago I had the archery bug in a major way. I had a very nice 43# full working recurve bow, good enough to take down a deer. With a bow, you make no sound! Silent and yet very deadly.
I miss being able to shoot and not convinced my back is up to it anymore. I tried pulling it back maybe 6 years ago and nearly caved my back in on itself. Ah, good times.
Biggles