Poacher's wild boar

Wild boars in Elba, extinct from as far back as the 1800s, was reintroduced for hunting resons in the 1950s. This wild pig has been interbred with normal pigs to increase breeding, and the fact that the meat is so readily available has made the recipes become even more popular and widespread.
Here is an old recipe from the Maremma area that is very popular in Elba too.

[img index="0" params="format=m&class=image-l[[/img]Ingredients

1,200 kg wild boar meat, 2 medium sized onions, 3 carrots, 4 celery stalks, 6 cloves of garlic, 4 laurel leaves, 8 cloves, a teaspoon of pepper corns, 12 juniper berries, orange rind, bottle of red wine, bunch of aromatic herbs (parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme), chilli peppers, 70 g of tomato pureé, 250 g of marinated olives, salt

Method

Place the wild boar in a stainless steel or terracotta bowl, add diced celery, carrots and onions, chopped garlic, whole laurel leaves, the herbs and spices (in a tied muslim cloth), and the orange rind.

Cover with the red wine and leave to marinate for about 12 hours.

Take the meat out and cut into cubes of about 2 cm then put into a pan over a low heat and leave to "sweat", removing excess liquid as necessary (adding a little salt will speed up the process).

Repeat this operation several times until no more liquid comes out.

Remove the meat and place on a baking tray. Finely chop the vegetables used for marinating and add to the meat along with the chopped herbs.

Add olive oil and put in the oven at 200°.

Add red wine from time to time and the tomato pureé diluted in a little water. While it is cooking add water or stock only if necessary. It will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

After about 45 minutes add the marinated olives. Add salt to taste.

Excellent with polenta.

Recipe taken from the book "Etologia Gastronomica delle Isole di Toscana" by Alvaro Claudi