Pork vs. Boar

[robertlf]

I've seen wild boar on a few menus recently. How does it differ in taste from pork?

[Pata_Negra]

real wild boar tastes a bit strong and the meat is red/dark. veryyyyyyy nice!

[Mr Bigglesworth]

Savenor's boar bacon is amazing. Now I must go get some. Thanks.

[jajjguy]

Savenor's sells boar bacon "from feral swine." It is extraordinarily flavorful, very strong. Great for eating straight, but too strong for many uses as an ingredient in a dish. Not mistakable for regular pig bacon.

[rlove]

Savenor's also sells boar steaks and boar shoulder. I braised the shoulder and served it with mole poblana last winter--excellent.

I'd say the boar is about what you'd expect: Similar to pork, slightly sweeter and stronger. A tad gamier, perhaps, but I wouldn't call it gamey. I enjoyed it very much.

I once asked about the provenance of the meat. It is feral, from a preserve in (I believe) southern California. Thus, like a lot of "wild" meat, I'd really call it semi-wild. It isn't in captivity or domesticated--to me, the big mark food-wise of wild versus not is whether it obtains food and feeds itself--but it is not as if some random hunter ran into the boar in some random forest.

Anyhow, it is good, so do give boar a taste. If cautious, you might want to first try a dish like boar ragu, which is usually quite mild and, as ScubaSteve noted, perhaps not boar at all. But I'd go hog wild (sorry) and braise a shoulder and make roast pork, carnitas, or whatever you fancy.

[Zatan]

I very much doubt that most of what you get here is actually "wild". If you happen upon a hunter's feast somewhere and they are having wild boar you will know the difference. Otherwise I suspect it's simply a different, farmed breed.

[ScubaSteve]

not much.
i find few places that have 'boar' on the menu and actually serve something that you can actually tell the difference.

[robertlf]

I wonder how similar it is to kurobuta (Japanese black pork)?

[laulauman]

I have had wild boar steak once. It was very strong and gamey - I could not finish it. I suspect there must be a difference between what some places call wild boar as ScubaSteve is a reliable source.

[rlove]

robertlf, they aren't related any more than domesticated pigs and boar are related. Although both are delicious!

Kurobuta is the Japanese variant of the Berkshire breed of pig--generally considered the tastiest pig breed, not engineered to be lean and tasteless like the American porkchop breed, the Yorkshire. You can find Berkshire dishes at many finer restaurants. O Ya has several dishes specifically employing kurobuta that are wonderful.

Boar, on the other hand, is the wild ancestor of the domesticated pig.