Pappardelle al Cinghiale
Wild boar marinated in red wine and stewed for three hours, on wide ribbons. Tuscany, and juniper is what makes it taste of the animal rather than of stew.
Photograph credit: Delicious Pappardelle al Cinghiale 042920116179 by roland · CC BY 2.0 · Flickr
Boar is strongly flavoured and can be muddy, and the overnight marinade in red wine with juniper and bay is what draws that off — the marinade is then discarded rather than used, which surprises people but is the point of it. Juniper goes back in fresh for the cooking. If using farmed boar or pork shoulder instead, keep the juniper and shorten the marinade, since the muddiness is not there to remove.
What People Ask
How long does Pappardelle al Cinghiale take to make?
35 minutes of preparation and 3 hours of cooking, plus 12 hours of marinating overnight, so allow 15 hours 35 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Photograph credit: Pappardelle Funghi Freschi e Prosciutto di Cinghiale by marco.ziero · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Flickr · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Pappardelle al Cinghiale: Step by Step
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Combine the boar with all the marinade ingredients, cover, and refrigerate at least 720 minutes.
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Drain the meat, discard the marinade entirely, and pat the pieces thoroughly dry.
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Brown the boar hard in the oil in batches, 10 minutes. Lift out.
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Soften the chopped onion, carrot and celery in the same pan 12 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato purée and cook 2 minutes.
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Return the meat, add the fresh wine, stock, juniper and salt, and bring to a bare simmer.
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Cook covered 180 minutes, until the boar shreds under a fork. Break it up in the sauce and reduce uncovered if loose.
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Boil the pappardelle, drain, and toss through the ragù with a splash of the pasta water.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips That Matter
- Throw the marinade away. Its job was to draw the muddiness out.
- Fresh juniper for the cooking.
- Dry the meat properly or it will not brown.
If You're Missing Something
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
What to Serve With It
A glass of Brunello · Grilled bread · Green salad
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Rosemary Focaccia, Creamy Parmesan Polenta, Cauliflower Risotto.
Storage
Refrigerated for 4 days and better on day two. The ragù freezes for 3 months.
The Numbers per Serving
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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