Food I Enjoyed at My Parents' House #2

Miso Soup with Wild Boar Meat This entry may suit Esther’s Weird Food Series at her Food Mall. To be honest, I don’t think this is too weird, because to me it’s not too different from pork. It’s wild boar meat... It’s not really weird, isn’t it? People eat wild boar meat in other countries, too, right? But it is not very popular here in Japan, because here you have to have a proper license to catch wild boars. Last year my dad got the license to catch (not shoot) some wild animals, and when he catches wild boars, I think he asks someone with a proper license to kill/slaughter them. (This photo is wild boar thigh.) What’s different about the way they eat wild boar meat in my hometown is that they leave the skin on the meat, with the hair often not shaved off thoroughly. :( Though some gourmet people say that the skin is the tastiest part with an interesting texture, I can’t eat that part. But I have to admit that the fat layer right under the skin, which is not as soft as the fat of pork, is so tasty that I can’t resist. (And this kind of nutrition table makes me feel at ease ;)) The meat can be quite tough sometimes, but luckily this one was not… This must have been a younger boar. Cooked in miso soup with taro, daikon and carrots, the meat was very tasty. Old people here say that “You never burn your tongue with cooked wild boar meat,” and I guess that’s true. I wonder why… maybe it is because of the dense texture of the meat? Anyway, it was my first and last time eating wild boar meat this year, and for me once a year is pretty enough. :)