Wild Boar Ragù Recipe (2024)

What is the dollop on top of the pasta in the photo?

This recipe is very similar to the wild boar ragu that my husband ate plates and plates of in Tuscany. I have made several times and usually increase the recipe 2-4 times. I also double the proportions of celery, onion and carrot relative to the amount in the recipe, and take care to chop them very, very fine (sometimes I just run them through the food processor. With a quad batch, cooking takes all day and more tomatoes or broth is needed, but the resulting flavor is incredible!

In step 1 reference is made to peppercorns, but the quantity is not mentioned in the ingredients list. Thoughts?

OK- Don't have access often to wild boar- but bought these at the storehttps://www.dartagnan.com/wild-boar-sausage/product/PSAWB003-1.htmlSo- didnt marinate overnight. sauteed veg and Garlic then added 1TB Tomato paste, then squeezed sausage meat out and browned. deglazed with wine used to rehydrate a bit of Porcini. added Porcini. added 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes. cooked an hour- added some stock and kept going at least half hour more. added 1/8 cup+ cream .S&P Toss Pasta Parm

Thanks to Hannah B for excellent advice on increasing qty. Made using 5 lbs fresh wild boar stew meat from D'Artagnan. 2 cups Chianti was enough to cover. 10 x Carrots, celery, onions 2mm sliced, chopped in Cuisinart. 1 cup EVOO. Drying meat and vegetables took over an hour. Used 2 28oz cans San Marzano tomatoes, 5 cups water, simmered 2 hours. Added 2 qts vegetable stock & simmered ~ 4 hours. Served over homemade pappardelle. Yes, it's definitely an all day cook, but the flavors are worth it!

The timing in this recipe doesn’t seem accurate. Took over 4-5 hours to be able to serve

We had fresh wild boar for this recipe. I followed the directions to soak overnight in wine and I’m glad I did. The process mellowed the gaminess and made a deliciously tender ragú. Like others, I doubled the batch and I’m glad I did! It’s important to chop the veggies by hand because using a food processor can turn the veggies into pulp and make the ragú too wet.

it's a long slog cooking but entirely worth it. i omitted the chicken broth and used water instead. instead of a cup of tomatoes, i used a 14oz can. my wife loved it.

This is the type of recipe that presumes the cook has good skills and knowledge....season with salt and pepper even though it doesn't say. Pat dry the meat before it goes into dutch oven, it helps with browning and drying. Add a bayleaf to the pot. Cook longer than they say, and most importantly, don't cook with wine which you wouldn't drink.

Great recipe but agree with the others that it takes several hours for the meat to get really tender. We went 4.5 and could have used another hour. Served over homemade gnocchi.

Before you start this recipe, know that it takes much longer than indicated as the other comments suggest. I’m going on hour 4 and I would say my meat still is not tender enough. I am using a combo of venison and boar. Otherwise, it’s simple and soaking in the wine makes all the difference!!

Due to the 5 star rating from so many cooks I had higher expectations. I thought this would be more savory. I did a triple batch since the shoulder was 3.4 lb, yet I didn't even add the cup of water in step 3. I still found the end product to be too much on the watery side. However, my guests loved it and my husband said it was our best dinner party ever. One question - I trimmed a lot more fat off the meat. Was that a bad move?

Good base recipe! I should have seasoned the meat before marinating it. I used an 800 gram (~1.75 lb) fresh roast, chopped up. It took a long time to brown and needed more liquid than I expected, but it softened up well. Needed some umami but a splash of soy sauce woke it up nicely.

This is the type of recipe that presumes the cook has good skills and knowledge....season with salt and pepper even though it doesn't say. Pat dry the meat before it goes into dutch oven, it helps with browning and drying. Add a bayleaf to the pot. Cook longer than they say, and most importantly, don't cook with wine which you wouldn't drink.

I can't find a whole leg, but high end supermarkets have ground boar in the freezer section which works great. I don't see how the whole peppercorns are supposed to work; how do you get them out again? Don't discard the garlic and rosemary, instead saute them in the olive oil before the vegetables, then discard. Food processor is great for the vegtables.

Does anyone have thoughts on using ground wild boar? I haven’t been able to find actual cuts at my local stores.

I can't get pieces of wild boar, but high end grocery stores carry ground wild boar, which works great. I use coarse ground black pepper, not peppercorns, because I can't figure out how to remove them and I don't want to break a tooth. The rosemary and garlic can be sauteed in the olive oil (and then removed) for extra flavor. The timing is much too short at every step; this is an all day sauce but so worth the effort.1.5 tsp salt plus to taste at the end.

The photo looks like it shows ground meat, not shredded as the recipe suggests. Regardless, I used ground wild boar and didn't have to cook as long - let it simmer for a long time like Marcella Hazan's bolognese and it's great.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but made the following modifications for a bigger batch: I used 3 lbs of ground wild boar meat. Sauteed up about 1 to 1 1/2 cups each of carrots, onion, celery. Used 1 - 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, which I broke up before adding. I cooked the sauce all day - about 8 hours total cooking time from start to finish. I needed that long cooking time to allow the sauce to cook down and thicken a bit. It was AMAZING!

We had fresh wild boar for this recipe. I followed the directions to soak overnight in wine and I’m glad I did. The process mellowed the gaminess and made a deliciously tender ragú. Like others, I doubled the batch and I’m glad I did! It’s important to chop the veggies by hand because using a food processor can turn the veggies into pulp and make the ragú too wet.

I char the meat on the grill (broiler works too) before marinating it. I also use a lot more vegetables, but the recipe is a classic keeper.thanks

I used ground wild boar which seems easier and was. I think the amount of liquid added is off. But I feel that way about all NYT recipes -- seems to be a gas vs. electric stove thing.

How many peppercorns? Doesn’t say to take them out but also not trying to have people bite into peppercorns in the finished product please advise.

I brown the meat before marinating it. Dry it on a baking sheet in the fridge on paper towels over night first. Then overnight it in the marinate, except if I grill the stew meat, then it doesn't matter.