1st javelina hunt questions.

[salthouse]

Advice- don't eat it.

 

[MCgunner]

Ain't bad eatin' if you soak it on ice water for several days before butchering. When you can open the cooler and the funk don't knock ya down, you can butcher. It's very dry, though. Crock pot is your best cooking tool. I like that "pulled pork" McCormick slow cooker mix for dry pork (as wild pork) and should work well for Javelina. Javelina makes good tamale meat, too, probably because it's shredded and, therefore, isn't tough.

 

[wankerjake]

I've eaten several javelina and they aren't bad at all. We were told to skin them immediately, which we have done and the meat is fine. We put all of it in the crock pot and all of it came out pretty well, especially the juvenile I shot. It was pretty tasty. Just like all meat, if you shoot it in the guts and don't take care of it, it will taste bad. I've had plenty of people tell me not to eat javelina and most of them haver never even tried it themselves.

 

[Thin Black Line]

Ain't bad eatin' if you soak it on ice water for several days before butchering.

On an intuitive level any kind of land animal which would require this in order
to be somewhat edible sound like something to avoid.

 

[MCgunner]

I soak venison the same way, makes it milder to the taste. What it does is soak out the blood, the meat comes out white. You don't eat venison? Suit yourself.

Ya know, there's lots of low quality cuts of beef and such that get eaten by poor folks because it's cheap. Fajitas, the darling of the in crowd, expensive, well, it's the toughest cut off the cow, skirt steak. It has to be pounded, maranated, spiced, to make it palatable. It was once thrown out by butchers in south Texas and enterprising Tejanos short on cash would talk 'em out of it. Now, it cost as much as rib eye.

And, heck, Cajuns don't bother with fish, they eat the bait. Chitterlings, tripas, menudo, need I elaborate?

 

[Art Eatman]

Javelina, like deer, are much easier to skin and butcher when they're fresh killed. There's not much meat on the shoulders, but the little hams are great when slow-cooked barbecued.

I always started with a bunch of basting, and a very high heat to sear the outside to hold the juice in. After maybe five to ten minutes at most, I'd spread the coals to the equivalent heat of maybe 300 degrees. Turn and baste frequently, using tongs, not a fork. After a couple of hours or so, they're in the vicinity of well done, but not at all dried out.

Delicate, yummy flavor.

Picking out which javelulu to shoot makes a difference. Look for Ol' Biggie, but shoot one which is maybe two inches shorter at the shoulder. Younger, less likely to be gamey.

 

[Thin Black Line]

I soak venison the same way, makes it milder to the taste. What it does is soak out the blood, the meat comes out white. You don't eat venison?

I've never had to "soak" venison to make the meat taste fine. I don't hang a
dead deer for a day to rot [aka "age"] it either. It goes from an animal with
a beating heart to completely quartered with back strips already handed off
to the wife for cooking on olive oil in an iron skillet under 2 hours.

When I catch and eat fresh fish the head is usually still twitching in the
garbage while I'm eating the fillet.

Sure, it sounds like people have to settle for a certain taste with the javelina
critter like they do with mass-produced beef, chicken, etc. I'm just wondering
if this is as good as it gets with javelina? Is there a four-star restaurant that
serves it in Scottsdale? Maybe it's not so bad if it's done well? Too many
stories make it sound like the main course at "Hotel California".

 

[hockea]

The best Javelina I've eaten...

...was after I had it smoked. There was a place On south San Francisco St, in Flagstaff that would smoke it for you, they charged by the pound. I dont know if they're still in business tho.

 

[no.5enfield]

Cubed and fried Javelina is great, a buddy of mine made jerky out of some of it that turned out really well.
+1 on the knife dulling, that hair is more like porcupine quills than hair.