A MAKE-BELIEVE MEAL

 I am fantasizing: the Pied Piper of Pigs leads the horde of wild boar off a cliff. Or, over the edge into the deep end of the swimming pool. I select a small, dead boar, butcher it and cook it for dinner. Boar out of the way, I once again cultivate a vegetable garden and fruit trees that the wild beasts have destroyed in the past several years.

I’ve got just the recipe for that dead pig—I will marinate the meat in red wine and stew it with mushrooms and chestnuts. 

But the dead boar is make-believe. I can make the stew with pork. But I won’t be planting a garden.

Pork stew with herbs, mushrooms and chestnuts.

Red wine makes a deeply flavorful gravy.

Chestnuts add texture and a subtly sweet flavor to the stew.

Pork shoulder is tender in an hour of cooking; wild boar would need two hours.

Pork Stew with Mushrooms and Chestnuts

Cerdo Guisado con Setas y Castañas

The recipe is suitable for wild boar (jabalí), venison (carne de venado), beef or pork. Only the cooking time changes, as game meat (carne de caza) is generally tougher and requires longer cooking than butcher’s meat.

Use dried mushrooms such as boletus or shitake in the stew. Soak them in hot water and use the soaking water in the stew. Add fresh mushrooms, wild or cultivated, to the stew once the meat is tender. 

Serve the pork stew with potatoes, noodles, spaetzle, polenta or Galician cornbread. 

To prepare chestnuts:

First roast the chestnuts. Then peel outer shell and inner skin. Finally, cook the chestnuts until soft, either by simmering in salted water or by adding to the stew. 

Chestnuts can be roasted in the oven, on a grate over coals or in the microwave. Whichever method you choose, first cut a slit in the shells. This provides an escape for steam, so the chestnuts don’t explode in the oven. 

Slit chestnut shell before roasting.

Slitting the shells is the hardest part of the operation. To avoid possible injury, I found the best way was to place the chestnut, flattened side down, on a cutting board and, using the tip of a knife, cut a slit in the tip, rather than trying to cut an X in the side of the shell, as most instructions direct. 

Microwaved chestnuts.

Oven-roast the chestnuts (375ºF), turning them once, until the shell begins to open up where it has been cut, about 15 minutes. To microwave, place the chestnuts on a microwave-safe plate in a single layer and microwave on High until the shell begins to open, from 1 ½ to 3 minutes, depending on size of chestnuts and microwave watts.

Peel shell and inner skin.

Remove the chestnuts from oven or microwave and cover them in a kitchen towel. While they are still hot, peel off the shells and the inner skins (use gloves to protect hands from heat). Keep them whole, if possible. 

Meat marinates with herbs, red wine.

1 ½ cups roasted and peeled chestnuts

Salt

½ ounce dried mushrooms

Hot water

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder

Freshly ground black pepper

3 cloves garlic

¼ onion, sliced

2 bay leaves

Sprigs of fresh thyme

Sprigs of fresh rosemary

2 cloves

½ teaspoon peppercorns

5 juniper berries (optional)

1 ½ cups red wine

Flour for dusting meat

5 tablespoons rendered pork fat and/or olive oil

2 carrots, diced

1 cup chopped onion

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato flakes or 1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 ½ cups water or stock

4 ounces fresh mushrooms, quartered or sliced

1 apple, peeled and chopped (optional)

Parsley, to garnish

Cook the peeled chestnuts in salted water until soft, 15 minutes. Drain, saving the cooking liquid. Reserve the chestnuts. 

Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water to cover for 30 minutes. Drain them, adding the soaking water to the chestnut water. Chop the hydrated mushrooms.

Cut the meat into pieces. Sprinkle them generously with salt and pepper. Place the meat in a non-reactive container. Sliver one clove of garlic and tuck the slivers in the meat with the sliced onion. Add one of the bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and rosemary, cloves, peppercorns and juniper, if using. Pour over the wine and mix into the meat. Marinate the meat 1 hour at room temperature or, covered and refrigerated, up to 24 hours. 

When ready to cook the pork, set a strainer over a bowl and carefully pour the marinade through the strainer. Save the marinade liquid. Discard the sprigs of herbs and juniper berries. Any peppercorns or slivers of garlic clinging to the meat can cook with the stew. Dust the pieces of meat with flour.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the fat in a heavy skillet on medium-high. Brown the meat, turning the pieces to brown all sides. Transfer the meat to a stew pan. Scrape up browned bits on the bottom of the skillet so that they don’t burn. Add 1 tablespoon more fat to the skillet. Sauté the carrots, chopped onion and celery. Chop the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and add them to the skillet. Sauté 5 minutes. Add the tomato. Combine the mushroom-soaking water, the chestnut water and enough additional water or stock to make 1 ½ cups. Stir it into the skillet and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom. Add the vegetables and liquid from the skillet to the meat in the stew pan. Add the reserved marinade. Add salt to taste. (If stock is used, salt may not be necessary.) Add remaining bay leaf and additional sprigs of thyme and rosemary.

Bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce heat and cook 30 minutes. Stir the meat, cover and continue cooking until it is very tender, 30 to 40 minutes. 

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of fat or oil to the skillet and sauté the quartered mushrooms until they are very browned. Add the mushrooms to the stew with the reserved chestnuts and apples, if using. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer. 

Serve the stew immediately or refrigerate for another day. Garnish with chopped parsley.

More boar; Loin of Boar with Onion Sauce.

Another chestnut recipe: Roast Pork Ribs with Chestnuts.

To serve with the Pork Stew: Galician Cornbread.