Wild Boar Pot Roast

This meal has been months in the making. Six months to be exact. It's a good thing that vacuum sealers and freezers have a mutually beneficial relationship.

It's also not really the time of year where I want a hearty roast for lunch and dinner for a week, but I did this to myself so there's no one else to blame. I'm trying to clean out my freezer and that means a lot (like 50lbs) of meat will be consumed by me and whoever comes over for dinner. Sorry vegetarian friends.

It also takes me a long time to eat food I have because my work overfeeds me 5 days a week. Breakfast on Mondays, lunch every other day, and definitely taking leftovers home for dinner at least 3 days of the week. So why cook when I have really good food available to me?

Because it calms me down.

It's soothing to have something on the stove roasting all day. Step one - put dutch oven on the stove. Step two - turn on heat. Step three - add food and liquid. Step four - simmer. Four steps for a well rounded meal that also makes your apartment smell good? Count me in. I almost tried to make this in my multi-cooker that I've had for over a year now and have not used once. So, anybody who has tips for that send them over. There's a lot more hog to be consumed.

This pork, wild boar meat, is from the ranch trip I took back in November with friends and is the pig I shot. As a meat eater, I really want to be involved in the whole cycle of consumption. Since work feeds me, I can be a little pickier with my food selection and try to buy as responsibly as possible, but there are definitely still days of kraft macaroni and cheese or cinnamon toast crunch dinners.

The wild boar is much leaner than the pork shoulder one would normally use to make pulled pork. There wasn't a lot of fat on the pig, to begin with, and once I cleaned it up there was even less, so I really tried to pack in the flavor with herbs and spices since the fat flavor would be lacking. If you're using a traditional pork shoulder, you can omit the butter in this recipe.

Wild Boar Pot Roast
4 Tbsp salted butter
4-6 rosemary sprigs
6-8 thyme sprigs
8 cloves garlic, smashed
4 lbs pork shoulder, cut into chunks.
Pepper
Salt
4 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 small yellow onions, quartered
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups white wine

In a large dutch oven, melt the butter and add rosemary, thyme, and garlic, cooking until aromatic and butter is a golden brown. Add in the pork shoulder, and season generously with salt and pepper. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook until pork is fork-tender - about 4 hours. Enjoy!