Rotisserie Wild Boar Shoulder Roast

*Meat from feral swine

The fine print on the wild boar package feels so medieval. A bristly, snorting, tusked beast bearing down on me while I draw back my bow and take aim. You want paleo? I'll give you paleo…

Ahem…sorry.

Wild boar are, unfortunately, not a relic of our hunter-gatherer past. They're a nuisance animal, if you consider 800 pounds of bad attitude and sharp tusks a "nuisance." Wild boar are found in most states in the continental US, though they're a particular problem in California, Texas, and the Southeast. Don't believe me? Check out this map at the National Feral Swine Mapping System.
For more on Wild Boar, see my Pressure Coker Wild Boar Stew recipe. It has lots of fun feral swine facts.

Time to get medieval on my wild boar, and spit roast it on my rotisserie. I dry brined the shoulder roast with an overnight salting. Then I trussed it - which was the hard part, becuase the roast was in a couple of big floppy pieces. Once I had it shaped back into an (admittedly lumpy) cylinder, I ran it through with the spit, and cooked it medium-low and slow until it hit 195°F in the thickest part, about four hours. Then I ran the infrared rotisserie burner on high for fifteen mintues to crisp up the outside of the roast.

The result? Strong pork flavor, but not "piggy" if that makes any sense. It's a little on the dry side - wild boar has a lot less fat than domesticated pork - but the extra porky flavor makes up for it.

Ready to make a meal fit for the lord of the manor? Try a spit-roast wild boar.

Recipe: Rotisserie Wild Boar Shoulder Roast

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours

Equipment

• Grill with rotisserie attachment (I love my massive Weber Summit)
• Drip pan (9x13, grill safe material like aluminum foil or enameled steel)
• Butcher's twine

Ingredients

• 5 pound boneless wild boar shoulder roast (I got mine online from D'artagnan)
• 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Dry brine the wild boar

Spread open the wild boar shoulder roast on a large sheet pan, and sprinkle evenly with the salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least four hours, preferably overnight.

2. Truss and spit the wild boar

When it is time to cook, remove the boar from the refrigerator. Fold the roast back as best you can into its original shape, and truss it, tying the roast every inch and a half to two inches. Skewer the wild boar roast on the rotisserie spit, securing it with the spit forks. Let the boar rest at room temperature until the grill is ready.

3. Set up the grill for indirect medium-low heat

Set the grill up for indirect medium-low heat (300°F) with the drip pan in the middle of the grill. On my Weber Summit, I remove the grill grates, turn all the burners to high, and preheat the grill for ten minutes. Then I turn off all but the two outer burners (burners 1 and 6); those two burners I turn down to medium, and adjust as necessary to get the heat to stabilize at 300°F. (I do not use the infrared burner on my grill yet - I want low and slow heat.)

4. Rotisserie cook the wild boar

Put the spit on the grill, start the motor spinning, and make sure the drip pan is centered beneath the boar. Close the lid and cook the boar until it reaches 195°F in its thickest part, about 4 hours. At that point the boar is cooked through. If the roast does not have a good, browned crust, turn your burners to high (or light the infrared rotisserie burner and turn it to high), and cook the roast on high until it has a dark browned crust, about 15 minutes.

5. Carve and serve

Remove the wild boar roast from the rotisserie spit and remove the twine trussing the roast. Be careful - the spit and forks are blazing hot. Let the roast rest for 15 minutes, then carve and serve.

Notes

• Make wild boar dripping potatoes. You have to. HAVE TO. See the recipe here: Rotisserie Pan Potatoes.
• Can't find wild boar? Substitute a boneless pork shoulder roast. Swine, feral swine…close enough.
• I cooked the boar without any glazes or sauces, because I wanted to find out what wild boar tastes like without anything in the way. That said, a sweet mustard glaze or lemon, garlic, and olive oil paste would go great with this.
• Oh no, they say he's got to go. Go go Hogzilla!

What do you think?

Questions? Other ideas? Feral swine jokes? Leave them in the comments section below.

Related Posts

Rotisserie Pork Shoulder
Rotisserie Drip Pan Potatoes
Pressure Cooker Wild Boar Stew
Not really related. But… There goes Tokyo. Go go Godzilla!

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