.
Herewith my Dad's Cinghiale dish:
"Italian sweet-and-sour and sweet-and-pungent recipes tend to be quite old, deriving from the aristocratic Middle Eastern custom of using sugar as a sort of "sweet salt," which the Crusaders discovered and brought home with them.
They're no longer as popular as they once were, tastes have changed, and now Italians prefer more savory dishes but they still offer a delightful change of pace. The recipe will serve 4."
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs
Ingredients:
1 kg of wild boar
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 1/2 ounces (45 g) sultana raisins, plumped in warm water
2 cloves
4/5 cup (200 ml) red wine vinegar
4 onions, peeled, and two of which chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 pound apples (sweet)
1/4 pound (100 g) dried prunes, plumped in warm water
A bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 ounce (30 g) bitter baking chocolate, shaved
2 tablespoons sugar
2 sprigs of thyme
1/4 pound (100 g) lean prosciutto, cut in a single thick slice and diced
1 pint (500 ml) dry white wine
1/2 pint (250ml) of Calvados
Salt and pepper to taste
Butcher's twine
Preparation:
Combine the two chopped onions, the chopped carrot and celery, the bay leaf, the thyme, the garlic, the cloves, half the vinegar, and the wine in a pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it cool, transfer it to a bowl, and marinate the meat in it for 24 hours.
Drain the meat and discard the chopped vegetables. Filter the marinade.
Tie the meat with the twine so it keeps its shape. Heat the olive oil in a pot and brown the meat in it, together with the prosciutto seasoning all with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the filtered marinade over the meat and simmer until it has evaporated; add cold water to cover and simmer, covered, for another 2 1/2 hours.
When the time is up drain the meat, untie it, slice it, and put it in a bowl. Filter the pan drippings and set them aside.
While the meat is cooking, prepare the sweet and sour, timing things so you will have the pan drippings when you need them: finely slice the remaining onion. Put the sugar, onion, and 1 tablespoon of water in a small pot and cook gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the chocolate shavings and stir gently until they have melted. Add the vinegar and continue to cook until the liquid's volume is reduced by half.
Add the pan drippings from the boar, as well as the raisins, prunes, apples, and pine nuts. Mix well, and spoon the sauce over the boar. Serve at once.
One of the main variations my Dad introduced to this dish was the substitution of apples instead of cherries and the addition of Calvados (which he never used to measure!). I think he also added a small amount of cinnamon.
