The Man brought home a couple pieces of javalina gifted to him by an acquaintance. I had read that the meat smells bad and tastes worse, but fresh on my success with elk sauerbraten (same hunter gave us a roast and declared the sauerbraten quite tasty and tender) I decided to tackle this challenge.

I trimmed off a small piece and sauteed in oil just to get a sense of the taste. It didn't taste or smell bad but had a distinct indescribable aftertaste. I decided that it didn't need soaking to remove gamey taste but the extreme toughness would benefit from a low, slow recipe.

The recipe was adapted from a braised turkey recipe I love. One onion, several sliced carrots, 1/2 cup red wine, the juice of three oranges and the zest of one, about 1/2 tsp thyme and  a good dose of pepper and things were left to simmer at 200 degrees F.

The smell wasn't unpleasant but it definitely didn't smell familiar. The meat had a rather metallic flavor that lingered into an after taste; again, not unbearable but definitely like nothing I've ever had. The meat was still tough, so I left it on for another several hours, until I was able to flake the meat off the bones. I gave The Man a taste and he said it was missing something. I dug through my spice rack and decided that rosemary smelled good with the dish thus far, so I added about 1/2 tsp.

I took a bit to my mother and she declared it tasty but still missing something, maybe vinegar. I decided to add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and lo and behold, that did the trick!

Between the tenth hour and finishing time, the metallic taste disappeared, replaced by a rather sweet and succulent flavor. The dish turned out so well that I will definitely cook it again given the javelina and the opportunity!