January 07

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How to cook Javelina

Posted by on 01/07/2019 in Western Big Game, wild game recipe | Leave a comment

Javelina Hunt

How to cook Javelina

Javelina Stew, Yucatan Style

Preparing Javelina backstrap

Each January Many of us journey to the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Old Mexico to hunt javelina, one of the most fun creatures in the desert to hunt. They occupy rough terrain, are difficult to spot and offer a western experience that you just don’t get anywhere else than the desert southwest. Javelina has become one of my most popular hunts we guide for here in AZ with a long archery season in January and easy to draw rifle and muzzle loader tags in February people from all over the country come to hunt with us to enjoy an new experience and to get relief from winter temps found in the rest of the country. We get a lot of questions on how to hunt Javelina from the DIY crowd but the one question I get the most is “Are they good to eat?” Simply put.. they are excellent if done correctly. I recently tried a recipe that I modified from my good friend and game chef extraordinaire Hank Shaw. Hank is a game meat savant and has almost too many recopies for just about anything you can thing of from the most obscure game bird you can think of to that rutty old buck you shot this November. I highly recommend you take a look at his site Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

I modified Hanks recipe but if you want to check out the original… here it is Javelina Stew. Course Soup Cuisine Mexican Prep Time 20 minutes Cook Time 2 hours Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes Serves 8 people



Javelina Stew, Yucatan Style

This Is how I cook Javelina stew

Ingredients

* 4 Roma or other paste tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

Olive oil 3 tbps

1/4 cup fresh rendered lard or 3 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 small onion, minced

1 red bell pepper, minced

1/2 orange bell pepper, minced

1.5 teaspoons ground cumin

3- 4 chipotles in adobo, chopped

2 tablespoons achiote paste

1 – 1.5 pounds javelina 1/2-inch pieces

1 quart broth (chicken, pork, vegetable)

1 baking potato, peeled and diced

1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks

1 acorn squash, cut into chunks

2 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 yellow plantain, peeled and cut into chunks

Salt to taste

Cilantro and sour cream for garnish

Instructions

  1. Char the tomatoes. Set the halved tomatoes on a baking sheet with salt and black pepper and broil them until the tops are blackened. Keep an eye on them, but this should take about 8 to 10 minutes. Puree the tomatoes, char and all, in a blender or food processor and set aside.
  2. Chop all the vegetables and trim and cut your meat. .

    3. There are a lot of veggies going into this make sure you have room and a good knife

  3. Make the sofrito. heat the lard or oil in a soup pot and cook the onion and both bell peppers gently until soft, about 5 minutes. .
  4. Add the meat. Add the cumin, chipotles, achiote paste and the pureed tomatoes and mix well. Add the chunks of javelina or pork. Mix and pour in the broth.
  5. Simmer. Add about 3 more cups of water and the diced potato. Add salt to taste. Simmer gently for 1 hour.
  6. Finish. After 1 hour or so, add the remaining vegetables and keep cooking until the meat is tender, probably another hour. Taste for salt and garnish with sour cream and cilantro. Serve with flour tortilla


Javelina Stew Yucatan Style