Surviving the Game (Meat Cooking Class)
Written By: Alexandra Perez-Urbina on Mon, Sep 22nd 2008
School has been a little hectic this semester, but I survived the game meats class... I made a chimichurri with boar tenderloin, which was actually quite good - and I was thrilled that my instructor understood my refusal to cook the species I chose for a pet. Class was still pretty hard, though... everywhere I looked, there were head-less, de-furred bunnies being carried left and right and being chopped up into pieces. Class was far from pleasant, but I survived.
As far as boar goes, it is more flavorful than pork, but it's also lower in fat so it can get a little dry and tough. My class partner and I ended up cooking it medium. The boar came out juicy and tender, both very important! The most interesting part of that class was making the black beans and rice, though. Class is a little short for some of the recipes - there's a lecture, then we cook, then we clean. With black beans taking about 90 minutes to cook, I was cutting it pretty close. The beans could have cooked a little more (they needed ten more minutes, in my opinion), but they were delicious! I used a mixture of water and brown stock (beef stock) to soften the beans - but let me tell you, beans need cumin, lime juice, and strong coffee (preferably espresso) for a good deal of depth in flavor.
In our pork and lamb class, we made pates and terrines. For those who do not know what a pate is, it is a forcemeat (a highly seasoned ground meat) wrapped in pastry. In The French Chef Cookbook, Julia Child referred to the terrine as "a luxurious cold meatloaf." Terrines are an earthenware, but also refers to forcemeat served in a terrine. The forcemeat is usually wrapped in another product—in my case, caul fat, a fatty, web-like membrane surrounding the internal organs of some animals.
The fat content in forcemeat is usually 30-40% of the lean meat. Fat is an extremely important ingredient in pates and other types of forcemeat, like sausage, because fat is a biding agent. It helps hold the mixture together and it adds moisture. The more common types of meat that go into pate are pork and veal, as beef is too lean - the most famous, or infamous, pate is pate de foie gras, which also happens to be incredibly delicious.
With the "Terrine Maison," my cooking partner and I had to make a kind of lasagna. The order was forcemeat, pork loin strips, forcemeat, cubed ham, forcemeat—with caul fat wrapped around this bizarre-looking meatloaf (bizarre because of the caul fat, spider-web-like thing the terrine had going on...). The pork loin strips were marinated in pinot noir with garlic and black pepper, and later separated from the wine marinade. The marinade was then reduced, and the reduction went into the forcemeat, for concentrated flavor.
With boar and rabbit being a little difficult to get one's hands on, pates and terrines might seem like the better alternative for your experimental pleasures - not only that, but because they are served cold, they make a great party food! You can make a pate or terrine a few days in advance; slice it up and tray with an array of fruits, cheese, and crackers. Add a few wines to the table and the party is good to go! By-the-way, acidic wines work best with the rich flavor and texture of pates. Cheers!
