Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Perhaps you’ve heard that all wild boar are inedible?

Killing wild boar in Texas is a classic hunt, and I had a good time doing it this winter. However, I continually hear from many people who insist that wild boar is inedible. I shouldn’t be surprised, though: I’ve been told that all the other “boars” are inedible, too.

Not only are wild hogs called boars, but so are bears and raccoons. This may be why some people have spread the rumor that bears are related to pigs (which is absolutely not true). Still, all these boars make a good burrito.

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
There are a whole lot of meals hanging here.

I’ve been asking around lately to determine what makes the perfect burrito. It needs to be hearty, tasty, cheesy, and tangy. This burrito build fits the bill, and I’ll show you a great way to roll your burritos, too.

I used this Silax knife from CJRB Cutlery to gut, skin, and butcher this entire pig. It’s a good steel that stays sharp and is easy to sharpen, but I think it is an excellent shape. Every time I use it, I think to myself that if I had to use only one knife for everything from hunting to cooking, this would be it. There are better specialty knives, but this one is exceptionally useful for everything. Check it out.

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
The Silax knife from CJRB Cutlery is surprisingly useful.

It’s essential to cook the meat from bears, hogs, and raccoons to 160° F. A great way to prepare a roast from any of them is using a slow cooker and a can of rootbeer. This will make a tender pull-apart roast.

What You Need

  • Meat: Hog, black bear, raccoon, rock chuck, deer, elk, etc. Shoulders and Rumps are a good choice.
  • Rootbeer
  • Onion
  • Rice
  • Beans: Black, pinto, or refried
  • Avacado
  • Shredded cheese
  • Pickled red onion
  • Taco sauce
  • Flour tortillas

What You Do

Start by slow-cooking the meat. I used an Instapot, but a crockpot works as well. I sliced an onion and put it in the pot with the meat on top, but the onion is optional. Season the meat and add it (this shows a sirloin from a black bear) and add about 12 oz of rootbeer (or Dr. Pepper) to the pot. Even though there is a lot of silver skin, the slow cooker will render it into moist gelatin that makes the meat more tender. Because the bear meat was so lean, I also added a pat of raccoon grease on top — coconut oil or lard would also be good.

Slow cook for 6 to 8 hours until pull-apart tender.

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)

Before you remove the meat from the pot, prepare your other ingredients so they are ready to go while the meat is still hot.

Open cans, make portions of cheese, slice your avocado, etc.

Next, remove the meat from the pot and shred it with forks or those neat meat pullers that came free with your latest kitchen doo-dad. Add the meat back to the juice in the pot for moisture and flavor.

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Bear (shown here) and raccoon are darker meat than pork.

Immediately after shredding the meat, warm a tortilla on a griddle or in the microwave for a few seconds. Then add all your ingredients in lines to one half of the burrito. It’s important to place the avocado with the meat so they are mixed together on your tongue. Place the pickled onions near the meat, too, for a tangy and sweet flavor. Add sauce near the rice so the rice doesn’t feel dry in your mouth.

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Place the ingredients purposefully so they mix properly in your mouth. Here, I’ve got hog meat on the left and bear meat on the right half.

I used to place all my fillings in the center of the tortilla, but I could never get it to roll well — it would always drip and I’d get too much tortilla in some bites. When I learned this method for rolling a burrito, it changed my life 😀

Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Start with the ingredients filling half the tortilla.
Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Fold the bottom two “corners” toward the center.
Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Start rolling from the bottom, and fold the sides in as you go.
Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
Pull the sides in as you roll up and try to make it tight.
Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)
No drips or spills.
Simple Gourmet: Wild Boar Burritos (Yes, Really!)

Serve the burrito hot with a glass of cold horchata.

Any of the boars we hunt — pigs, bears, raccoons (rock chucks?) — are good candidates for a pulled meat burrito. The slow cooker tenderizes anything. I think I’ll try it with jackrabbits next time, too. You don’t even have to remove the meat from the bones before cooking.

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About the author: Levi Sim Levi is an avid hunter, and an increasingly avid shooter. He strives to make delicious and simple recipes from the game he kills. He makes a living as a professional photographer and writer. Check out his work and he’d love to connect on Instagram: @outdoorslevi

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  • Colin Gallagher April 18, 2023, 9:06 pm

    I feel like we are brethren somehow! I also do this. You can look up pictures of my “Boar Tacos Extraordinaire” if you go on Quora and look up my answer to the question, “What are your favorite places you’ve experienced during a California wild pig hunt?”

    • Levi Sim May 1, 2023, 5:43 pm

      Awesome! I’ll check it out. Thanks — I love tacos, too.

  • Danbee April 18, 2023, 10:13 am

    Many years ago I played with cooking jackrabbit. In my opinion, you need to cook with something fatty like pork. I cooked mine with pork, and served jackrabbit burritos. Even in a pressure cooker, (didn’t have crock pots then) the meat reminded me of sawdust. With fat from pork, it was pretty good.

    • Levi Sim May 1, 2023, 5:44 pm

      That’s a great idea! I’ll cut some jacks into my hog sausage.

  • TUSK April 18, 2023, 9:09 am

    LOL, for some of us, the avocado is the inedible thing.

  • Terry Gawryk April 14, 2023, 4:32 pm

    Hey Levi, In Italy and other countries with a wild boar population the hind quarters are routinely dry cured like Italian proscuitto hams and then sliced tissue thin, and served the same way.
    I’ve been in Florence and in Tuscan towns with butcher shops that hang their boar hams with the outer skin and fur (cleaned and combed) to prove that they’re wild, and not domestic pig masquerading as the real deal. Had a butcher in Orvieto make me a wild-boar ham sub on real bread: Sublime.

    • Levi Sim May 1, 2023, 5:48 pm

      That sounds like a blast. I’ve been planning to do some cured meats this next year. I did bison pastrami one year for a ranch I worked with and it sold out immediately.

  • Alexander Pape April 4, 2023, 12:48 pm

    One more roll on the hot grill to get the outside of the tortilla crispy, then you’re perfect!!

    • Levi Sim May 1, 2023, 5:48 pm

      You’re right! That crispiness really tops it off.

  • patrick diamond April 4, 2023, 8:22 am

    I don’t know if you like liver and onions. But when we were in Canada bear hunting and I killed my first bear, that next night we had fresh liver and onions, ( and heart) in the cast iron skillet. To say it was beyond delicious is an understatement. There were people in camp, who said yuck we don’t like liver. There was nothing for leftovers. It was totally gone. These guys devoured every last piece. They went back to the pan pick tiny scraps. If memory serves me correctly we had another meal of liver and onions later in the week.

    • Levi Sim May 1, 2023, 5:49 pm

      Yes! I’m doing this if I can get a bear killed next month.

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