Home Recipes Marinated roast wild boar with baked creamy parsnips

Marinated roast wild boar with baked creamy parsnips

The dark, herby flavours of wild boar are brought out with a simple marinade, which also works with rare-breed pork, says Rose Prince

Sliced roast wild boar on a wooden board beside a dish of baked creamy parsnips and half a lemon — Gently roasted wild boar with a gratin of thinly sliced parsnips. Credit: Andrew Sydenham

I have been fascinated by wild boar since the late 1990s, when – on one of my very first food writing assignments – the national newspaper Daily Express sent me to deepest Dorset with a stalker to look for them in some woodland. I only saw – or think I saw – the rear end of a wild pig dashing away from us, but I wrote up the story nonetheless.

Wild boar or rare-breed pork for this marinade

Local farmers convinced me of the necessity to cull these highly successful, naturalised wild animals, whose beauty I also appreciate greatly, so I have always sought out their meat when possible. When I cannot find real wild boar, I enjoy mimicking the dark, herby flavours of the meat using a traditional breed of pork – Tamworth or Oxford sandy and black, for example. If you can find a source of mangalitsa pork, it is possibly the closest that a domesticated pig gets to its wild and distant cousin.

The marinade in this recipe will give pork a similar flavour to wild boar – it is all in the juniper berries and lemon.

Prep time: 40 minutes (plus marinating)
Cook time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 55 minutes (plus marinating)
Serves: 4
Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

1kg boneless wild boar leg, shoulder or loin
1tsp sea salt
1tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon
10 juniper berries, crushed
1 bay leaf, torn in two
2tsp dried oregano
4tbsp virgin olive oil

For the baked creamy parsnips

3 parsnips
50g butter
Leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, or 2 pinches dried thyme
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with salt
300ml whole milk
300ml single cream
1tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated

How to make marinated roast wild boar with baked creamy parsnips – step by step

Step 1. Place the meat in a non-corrosive dish, such as ceramic, and rub with the salt and pepper. Pare the rind from the lemon, then squeeze out the juice. Add to the meat with the juniper berries, bay leaf, oregano and olive oil. Turn the meat in the marinade then place in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
Step 2. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Lift the meat out of the marinade and put it in a roasting tin. Place it in the oven and roast for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Wild boar contains very little fat so it needs quite gentle cooking or it can be tough and dry. You can cook the parsnip dish in the same oven but it may need to go under the grill at the end. If you have a double oven, preheat the second oven to 190°C/Gas Mark 5 for the parsnips.
Step 3. To prepare the parsnips, peel them then slice very thinly on a mandolin or by hand. They must be less than 2mm thick if possible. Use the butter to grease an ovenproof round dish (about 20cm). Place a layer of the sliced parsnips on the base of the dish. Sprinkle over a few thyme leaves and salt and pepper. Repeat until you have used all the sliced parsnips. If the dish is a little full, don’t worry – the contents will level during cooking.
Step 4. Put the garlic in a pan, add the milk and cream and heat gently, almost to boiling point. Remove from the heat then strain through a sieve. Pour the garlic-infused liquid over the parsnips in the dish. Make sure the whole surface is covered. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, until the parsnips are tender when pierced with a knife and the top is bubbling and golden brown – you may need to finish under the grill if the oven is low (see point 2).
Step 5. Remove the wild boar roast from the oven, cover with foil and rest for 5 minutes before carving. Serve with the parsnip gratin and perhaps some steamed, heavily buttered kale.

Tips for roasting wild boar

Wild boar carries very little fat, so roast it gently at 160°C/Gas Mark 3 or it can turn tough and dry. Marinate it for several hours or overnight. Slice the parsnips less than 2mm thick so the gratin cooks through, and if both dishes share one oven, finish the parsnips under the grill. A traditional breed of pork, such as Tamworth or Oxford sandy and black, takes the same marinade well.

Frequently asked questions

How do you stop wild boar going tough?

Wild boar contains very little fat, so it needs gentle cooking. Rose Prince roasts it at 160°C/Gas Mark 3 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes after marinating, then rests it for 5 minutes before carving.

How long should wild boar marinate?

Several hours or overnight in the fridge, in lemon rind and juice, crushed juniper, bay, dried oregano and olive oil.

Can I use pork instead of wild boar?

Yes. The marinade gives pork a similar flavour to wild boar; Rose Prince suggests a traditional breed such as Tamworth or Oxford sandy and black, or mangalitsa if you can find it.

How thin should the parsnips be for the gratin?

Less than 2mm thick if possible, sliced on a mandolin or by hand, then layered with thyme, salt and pepper and baked in garlic-infused milk and cream for about 45 minutes.

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