Well, the problem with the wild pig destroying my freshly planted corn and my neighbor’s yard is solved. No more piles of manure 5 feet from my pig enclosures carrying who knows what pathogens or worms with them…no more fencing being pushed down. He came too close too often and caused too much damage.
I spoke to a friend who knew someone experienced in such matters and they came out and took care of the problem, including leaving me 2 legs and a tenderloin
I have never cooked a wild pig. Heck, the last wild thing I cooked was a rabbit a couple of decades ago and that was over was over campfire! I’m pretty sure you could cook a tire over a campfire and make it taste good.
I decided to roast one of the legs in the oven. I hit up my friend the internet and got some advice (some of it,as expected, conflicting). I ended up resting the meat in the fridge 24 hours in a stainless stock pot. Then I made a salt water brine and soaked it another 3 days in the fridge.
Then I took a baking dish and lined it with enough foil to wrap the leg. I added a stick of butter (cut into pats). I then poked the meat all over with a knife, sprinkled garlic and pepper on top, and rubbed the slices and butter into the slits.
In the meantime I had the oven preheating to 400. I added some Cajun seasonings and put the leg in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes. This was to brown the top and crisp some fat.
After 30 minutes the top was brown so I pulled it out and wrapped it up tightly. I returned it back to the oven and turned the heat down to 250. I was told by several people to cook wild game to 190, so I figured 8 hours as it was about 8 pounds.
After 8 hours I pulled it out and wow! Sorry, no picture of it fresh from oven because I was too excited! There was a lot of juice, I drained that off into a small saucepan and added Wondra flour until it was gravy like, stirring the whole time.
As soon as the gravy was done , I grabbed some bread and made myself a bowl. It was delicious! To me it tasted a lot like slightly overdone roast beef. The gravy was good enough to eat on its own!
Ended up grilling/smoking smoking the second leg on a homemade smoker, wrapped and with butter. It was also very good, although I think the oven roasted was better…did I mention yummy gravy?
Next time, if there’s another leg offering, I’ll check it sooner as a small portion was dry…with the bone in I think it cooked faster than any directions or advice mentioned. 10/10 and would do again!