Bushpig on the menu

As bushpig hunting is one of our favourites here in the East Cape Valley Bushvelt region of South Africa,we often find bushpig on our plates too.

The local blacks or Xhosa people hold the bushpig meat or "Ungelupe" in the highest regard.I think it is because the fatty bushpig meat is so hard to come by that they relish it so much.They claim that it is a "special" meat that stimulates fertility.Having said this if bushpigs were easy to hunt I think they would've been on the threatened list a long time ago!However,bushpigs are far from threatened , thanks to their extremely elusive nature and the unbelievably difficult terrain they inhabit that is provided on private land and in the massive protected reserves around here.
Preparing bushpig meat just like any game meat depends a lot on the recipe and method.A big old boar or sow can have rather tough meat while a younger pig is more tender.The taste is always similar though as it gives you a hint of fatty mutton infused with the darker more regular game meat we are used to from the antelopes.
I don't even have to state that this meat like all game meat is totally free range and naturally organic, which is the fashionable marketing catch line nowadays.

As the image illustrates, simmering the bushpig as a stew in a cast iron pot is a very traditional way of preparing this unique meat.
Bon Apetite!