Sanglier - Wild Boar on French Menus?

from

Behind the French Menu

by

Bryan Newman

Sanglier – A wild boar; the sow is a laie.
A young boar is a marcassin.
    

In the USA, wild boar are also called razorbacks, Russian boar and wild hogs. 

  

A wild boar.

Photograph courtesy of  Hatem Riahi.

 

French diners love wild boar, and restaurants want to satisfy their customers. With great ingenuity, the French have produced a solution and for nine or ten months a year all the wild boar meat comes from farmed wild boar. Wild boars are enclosed in very large forested areas where they are fed fattened, and produce the next generations. These wild boars are being farmed even though they do not know it.   The farm-raised wild boar is far better fed, far healthier and the meat is tenderer than really wild boars; the herds are also inspected. The wild boar on many French menus, outside of the hunting season, will not have been very wild but they will be very tasty! 

 On restaurant menus and in butchers’ shops and supermarkets you will find  wild boar chops, steaks, sausages and more on sale 12 months of the year.

      

 

A herd of wild boar.

Photograph courtesy of Philippe Morant

   

Wild Boar on French menus:

   

Daube de Sanglier – Wild boar stew.

                                                                                                        

Filet Mignon de Sanglier Sauce aux Airelles, Purée de Céleri et Chou rouge. A cut from a wild boar fillet, served with a European cranberry sauce and accompanied by celery puree  and red cabbage.

  

Les Côtes de Sanglier Grillées – Grilled  wild boar chops.

   

 

  

A grilled chop.

Photograph courtesy of  Premshree Pillai

  

 Le Dos de Sanglier de Chasse Française  - A thick cut from the back of a truly wild boar from a French hunt; for game this cut is considered the choicest cut. The words sanglier de chasse mean from  wild boar from a hunt.

  

 Pavé de Sanglier Grand Veneur  - A thick cut from a wild boar; the hunter's cut. The sauce Grand Veneur is a traditional red wine and berry sauce served with wild game.

  

 Saucisse de Sanglier – Wild boar sausage.

   

 Terrine de Sanglier aux Châtaignes. – Wild boar and chestnut pate.

    

 Outside of large towns are some specialized restaurants that are only open during the hunting seasons.  In French cities and towns there are also restaurants where the whole menu or part of the menu will be dedicated to  real wild game in season.

  

The health of wild animals reaching the public.

   

The health of wild animals caught by hunters, in France, is tightly controlled and all really wild boars must, by law, have part of each animal’s meat sent for examination before being sold.  Hunting season menus will note menu de chasse, a menu from the chase, the hunt. A menu offering sanglier, wild boar or faisan, pheasant, or other game without that or another caveat will be serving farm-raised animals and birds.

     

 

   

Watch out when you are driving in the French countryside.

Photograph courtesy of Nadine.

  

Hunting is a popular French hobby and it is well supervised; each French department is responsible for setting the dates.  Endangered species may not be hunted at all. Wild boars are far from an endangered species in France and, in fact, that they are a fast growing and very serious pest in many of the farming communities of France and  so the hunting season for wild boars has been extended. 

  

Wild boar are tasty but.............

  

Outside of the hunting season French farmers are forbidden to cull wild boar populations. The farmers’ fields of corn, maize and other field crops have assisted the wild boar population to increase exponentially. The growth of the wild boar population in France is truly a serious agricultural problem.Wild boar are also coming into towns and villages and are involved in over 20,000 car accidents a year.

  

 

  

Photograph courtesy of  Teddy Llovet

Wild boar in other languages:

  

(Bulgarian - Дива свиня), (Chinese (Mandarin) 野猪 – yězhū),  (Corsican - cignale or singhjari)(Danish – vildsvin), (Dutch - wild zwijn), (German -wildschwein), (Italian - cinghiale), (Japanese -イノシシ), (Korean -  멧돼지), (Polish – dzik),   (Spanish –jabalí, jabalí euroasiático), (Hebrew – hazir bar   -  חזירי בר ), (Norwegian – villsvin), (Tagalog - ang baboy-ramo),  (Ukrainian - свиня дика), (Russian -  дикая свинья)

(Latin  - sus scrofa).

Bryan G. Newman

Copyright 2010, 2014.

For more information on the book behind this blog contact Bryan Newman

at

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com