Smoking wild boar ribs on Friday. Would you change anything?

AquaVitae

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My friend shot the hog- not sure if it's an actual boar though- on a bow hunting trip, and recruited me to cook the ribs. I've never cooked wild hog before.

It's thawing now. I was planning on brining all Thursday, rubbing Friday AM, injecting with apple juice and a little rub, then popping onto my WSM (22.5) at 225 with 2:1 oak:hickory. I'm going to squish in a pan of Alton Brown-ish beans on the bottom, plus a fatty left over from a pig I bought last fall, and a 6 lb Boston butt slice from the same pig. If it won't all fit, I'll do 2 rounds and finish the butt in the oven.

For the ribs, was going to smoke 2 hrs, wrap for 2 or till tender, smoke 30. I was going to fridge it all until dinner on Saturday, since kid-stuff prevents Saturday smoking, then sauce it and grill it.

Does that all make sense? Or would you recommend any changes?

Am planning on collard greens, salad to be determined, banana-cream pie, and Pinot Noir to accompany, just to include the color. We're paleo, but I may take pity on our guests and make some cornbread too.

Thanks for your thoughts!!
 
I'm not sure how it was handled immediately after it was killed. I would try to let it soak in ice water for a few days before to help get rid of the "game" taste. Everything else sounds good. Let us know how it turns out.
I think two hours wrapped is a little long, don't know how big the ribs are. I would do maybe 1hr or 30mins.
 
Soaking in water doesn't remove wild taste but will remove blood and water log the meat,it will also change texture,it's good eating if not a real big boar and was taken care of properly. Good luck on the cook
 
Ok, cool. Will proceed as planned then, but might trim the foil time a bit. Thanks for the help!!

I'll try to remember to snap pics so I can post an update with visuals. I'm bad about remembering to shoot while I cook.
 
Down here in S. FL we typically let the meat rest in ice for a few days before further processing. All the wild hog ribs I've ever seen were pretty lean on the meat side and rarely kept.

Good luck,
 
Here are some pics and an update.
Smoke went well overall other than my failure to limit myself to a single variable. I teflon-taped the WSM (love the motivation y'all provide- that's been on my list of should-do's all season) and added an extra terra cotta planter base to my water pan. As a result, I can guess, but don't definitively know how much each was responsible for the changes in the settle-temp i had to work thru. It cooked way cooler than before.

I ended up rolling the ribs to fit and sticking the beans directly under the butt and and fattie. It took me way longer for me to be comfy with the temp though, and put on the meat, since the profile was so different. As a result, even though I wrapped the butt after 5 hrs I ran out of time before it hit 195. I had a kid-event to attend, so I insulated it at 175 and hoped for the he best. In short, texture wasn't as good as I like it.

I did the ribs at 225 for 2/1.5 and then cooled em quickly and refrigerated. Thanks MIke243, COS for the good info. COS- that thread was very helpful! I found out last night that the hog was 230 and that my friend snuck up on it and got it with a double-lung puncture arrow. It made it less than 30 ft, so not much time for it to have stressed.

I finished the ribs on the grill. They were super tender, but still had nice texture. They tasted wonderful- the brine was definitely the right thing to do. I'll put up pics in a minute.
 
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I would say it was a success... nice job :thumb: it can be a bit nerve racking cooking something for the first time.
 
Ribs were great! Long commentary a couple posts up- I had to set up the Imgur to have a place to put pics, but didn't realize it until I'd already written a novella, so I posted them separately. In short, glad I brined and followed good feedback from COS and Mike243 from the original request for info. Will just say, am now getting a couple of venison shoulders from my friend to play with, thanks to cowgirl's inspirational post and everyone's satisfaction with the meal.
 
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