Italian recipe: Bigoli al ragù di cinghiale

Bigoli with Wild Boar Ragù

Duration: 2 h + 12 h of maceration

Difficulty Intermediate

Region: Veneto

Bigoli with wild boar ragù are the Venetian version of a tasty wild boar-based first course that all Italians are so passionate about. In fact, wild boar meat is perhaps the most commonly consumed game meat in Italy, thanks to the abundance of these animals and the particular flavor of its meat, which is well suited to sauces and condiments obtained from long cooking and long maceration under red wine and aromas.

Ingredients

For 4 people:

• 400 g of Bigoli
• 400 g of wild boar meat
• 1 onion
• 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato
• 3 glasses of red wine
• 2 knobs of Butter
• some bay leaves
• Juniper berries
• Rosemary
• 2 cloves of garlic.
• Pepper
• salt

How to proceed

Take the wild boar meat and fillet it well, removing the bones and parts of the rind, leaving only medium-sized pieces of meat. You can leave even the smallest pieces of fat. At this point, place the pieces of wild boar meat in a bowl or container and then add some grated black pepper, some juniper berries previously crushed with the flat part of a knife blade, the bay leaves. the sprig of rosemary and a couple of cloves of garlic. Finally cover with three nice abundant glasses of red wine. Cover and leave to macerate in the fridge for at least one night (12 hours).

The next day, take the container back and drain the wild boar meat macerated in the wine. Do not throw away the maceration liquid, but leave it in the container, filtering it in order to eliminate all the solid aromas added to the wine the previous evening. The pulp, once drained, will be passed through a mincer in order to obtain a medium-grained grind (do not make it too fine). For those who have patience and want a better result, they can cut the meat with a knife tip.

Get a saucepan and add a large knob of butter. Let it melt and then add a very finely chopped onion. Let it brown and then add the ground wild boar. Brown all the meat well, crumbling as much as possible with the help of a wooden spoon. At this point, once the minced meat is well browned, add a spoonful of tomato concentrate (you can blend it with maceration wine). Add a pinch of salt and continue cooking for about a couple of minutes. At this point blend by adding the maceration liquid (red wine) used for wild boar meat. Let the wine evaporate slowly without a lid in order to let it dry. In the meantime, the wild boar ragout will cook in the evaporating liquid.

When it is almost dry, add a few ladles of water (or vegetable broth if you prefer) and continue cooking this time with the lid closed and over low heat. Continue cooking for at least another hour, adding more ladles of water or vegetable stock from time to time.

When the wild boar ragu sauce is almost ready, put a large pot of water on the fire. When it comes to a boil, add a pinch of salt and immediately after the bigoli. Let them cook for the necessary time and then once they are cooked, drain them and pour them into a pan where you have put part of the wild boar ragout. Start sautéing the bigoli with wild boar ragout in the pan, gradually adding more sauce. Then switch off and serve.