The Very Versatile Any-Meat Soup
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke, Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
The Very Versatile Any-Meat Soup
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
It’s a soup. And, while I originally made it with wild pig meat, which is how it got its name, over the years it’s become an ‘any meat’ soup. From pheasant and turkey to antelope, elk, whitetail and mule deer, the combination of spices with pearl onions and shiitake mushrooms pairs well with anything I have tried so far.
A couple of recipe notes: I keep a separate ‘coffee’ grinder just for spices, so it’s an easy way to grind the fennel. Just measure the whole fennel before you grind it, or your flavors will be off. And if you can’t find shiitake mushrooms at Bob’s, use another variety with big mushroom flavor, like portobellas. And keep to the chicken base for the broth even when using red meat. It makes the broth sweeter than beef broth.
We’re not browning the meat in this recipe, because the caramelized onions add so much other flavor, we don’t need the browning/enriching caramelization of the meat too. And this way the meat stays moister. The other interesting thing about this recipe is that it’s basically Italian, but there’s no tomato. It makes for a different, in-your-face flavor than the usual tomato-based sauces. One other note: the best tasting pigs are smaller. One reason why John and I don’t go for the big tuskers much. It only takes a few minutes to take that trophy photo, but eating season lasts a long time.
The Pearl Piggy
Yields: about 9 cups/2 quarts plus 1 cup
Ingredients
1½ pounds wild pig, deer, elk or antelope meat
4 tablespoons oil
2 baggies frozen pearl onions, thawed & drained (14.4 ounces each)
2 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons dried leaf basil
2 teaspoons whole fennel, ground
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper
4 teaspoon BTB reduced sodium Roast Chicken Base
4 cups cold water
Red pepper flakes
Grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking
1. Dice the meat and wrap in paper towels to dry it a bit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 3½ - 5 quart Dutch oven over medium heat. When it gets hot, sauté the pearl onions until they get nicely browned, then add the mushrooms, garlic, basil, ground fennel, salt and pepper. Stir it all together.
2. Add the chopped meat and stir it into the pearl onion/mixture. The meat will cook gently among the pearl onions and spices rather than brown. When the meat is about half cooked, add the chicken base and water, and raise the heat to high until the pot comes to a low boil. Lower the heat so the stew simmers slowly, then cover and simmer about 30 minutes.
3. Serve hot, with a pinch or two of red pepper flakes and a tablespoon or so of grated Parmesan cheese on each serving.
This recipe is from Eileen’s cookbook, The Wild Bowl, one of 7 wild game cookbooks she’s published. It’s available at https://www.riflesandrecipes.com for 1/3 off now until Christmas. Just enter MT43 in the coupon box when you check out.
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PhotoCredit: Eileen Clarke
Image 1 Caption: The Pearl Piggy
Photo Credit: Eileen Clarke
