Civet de sanglier

The word 'civet' comes from the same root as the word 'cive' which is an old French word for 'spring onion' (the English word 'chives' is related). The word civet also tells you that this dish is a game stew, traditionally made with the blood of the animal. Sanglier is wild boar, so in English the dish would be called Jugged Boar I suppose. That's always assuming it's made in the old way, which it almost never is these days. Usually civets are now made using red wine and some liver or blood sausage ('boudin noir') to provide an approximation of the colour and texture of the original recipe. Often the liver is omitted and it's just red wine, which effectively makes it Boar Bourguignon. Onion of some sort is essential in a civet.

Ingredients for civet de sanglier.

 

Ingredients:
1kg wild boar meat, cut into 2cm cubes
100 g blood sausage, removed from the skin and crumbled
Olive oil
200g salt and smoke cured pork belly, cut into 2cm cubes
A large onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 carrots, cut into chunks
A bouquet garni made of parsley, celery leaves, bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and a strip of orange peel
10 juniper berries, roughly crushed
A bottle of red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp Lapsang souchong tea, ground to a fine powder
200g mushrooms (ideally wild forest mushrooms such as porcini or black trumpets)

Slow cooking on our ever reliable wood stove.

 

Method:

1. If your wild boar is genuinely wild and not farmed, put it in the freezer for 3 weeks to kill any parasites.
2. Defrost overnight in the fridge, ideally in a marinade made of the wine, some oil, the bouquet garni and juniper. 
3. Drain the meat and brown in some oil. Transfer to a casserole dish.
4. Brown the vegetables and cured pork belly and add to the casserole.
5. Deglaze the pan with the marinade and tip the hot liquid into the casserole, along with the bouquet garni, the juniper berries and blood sausage.
6. Add the tomato paste and the smoky tea powder and stir to mix all the ingredients.
7. Cook at a slow simmer for 2 hours, either on top of the stove or in the oven at 150°C.
8. Sauté the mushrooms and either add to the casserole for the last half hour of cooking, or serve them as an accompaniment.
9. Adjust the seasoning to taste by adding salt and pepper.
10. Serve the civet with mixed root vegetable mash (celeriac and swede is particularly good).

Bon appetit!

PS. This recipe will work with venison (biche or chevreuil in French) and I reckon you could do roo meat like this and it would be very good indeed.