wild_boar
Wild Boar Tenderloin
Wild boar is pork with the fat taken out — darker, denser and nuttier, from an animal that forages instead of being fed. The tenderloin is its most tender muscle and its least forgiving. Cook it to 145°F with a three-minute rest: safe, faintly pink, and the only temperature at which it is not dry.
In one line
145°F, not 160°F — that guidance changed in 2011, and pork got a lot better.
Buy it if
You like pork tenderloin but find it bland, and you own a thermometer.
It is a pig, but not that pig. Wild boar is the same species as domestic pork; the difference is diet and exercise. An animal that ranges and forages builds dark, dense muscle and lays down very little intramuscular fat, so the meat comes out leaner, firmer and more distinctly flavored — nutty, faintly sweet, closer to a lean beef than to supermarket pork.
The number is 145°F. In 2011 the USDA lowered its guidance for whole cuts of pork from 160°F to 145°F with a three-minute rest, and 145°F is comfortably above the temperature at which trichinae are destroyed. At 145°F the center is faintly pink and the meat is still juicy. At 160°F — the number most people still cook to out of habit — a boar tenderloin with no fat in it is finished.
Trim the silverskin. Like any tenderloin it is sheathed in a membrane that will not render. Take it off, or the piece curls in the pan and leaves a tough seam down one side.
Sear, then finish gently. Get colour on all sides in a hot pan, move it to a 375°F oven or drop the heat and cover, and take it out at 145°F. Rest three to five minutes. One end tapers thin, so tuck it under and tie it, or that end is grey before the middle is done.
Where it comes from on the animal
| Species | wild_boar |
|---|---|
| Subprimal | psoas major, from inside the cavity beneath the spine |
What else it’s called
How to cook Wild Boar Tenderloin
| Best methods | Pan sear Roast Grill Sous vide |
|---|---|
| Skip | Braise |
| Cook to | 145°F with a 3-minute rest — faintly pink. Past 150°F there is no fat left to keep it from drying out. |
If Wild Boar Tenderloin is sold out
Cooks like
Pork Tenderloin
The same muscle on a farmed pig — larger, milder and fattier. Same pan, same method, cooked to 145°F.
Common questions
Is wild boar safe to eat pink?
At 145°F with a three-minute rest, yes — that is the USDA's own guidance for whole cuts of pork, and it exceeds the temperature that destroys trichinae. The 160°F rule people remember was retired in 2011. Ground boar is a different question and still wants 160°F.
Does wild boar taste gamey?
It tastes stronger than pork rather than gamey in the way people mean about venison — nutty and slightly sweet, from a forage diet of acorns, roots and mast. It takes assertive company well: juniper, fennel, apple, black pepper, red wine.
Is it actually wild?
It varies by supplier. Some is genuinely free-ranging feral hog, trapped and processed; some is farm-raised Eurasian boar or a boar-domestic cross. Both are far leaner than commodity pork, and the free-ranging animal is the more variable of the two.
How is it different from a pork tenderloin?
Leaner, darker, firmer, and usually a smaller piece. Everything you would do to a pork tenderloin works here, but the margin is narrower — the fat that keeps a pork tenderloin edible at 155°F is not there.
More game meat
Ground Wild Boar
There is a reason nearly all of it gets turned into sausage.
Venison Tenderloin
Two per deer, under a pound together — most people have never actuall...
Venison Medallion
Trim the silverskin, or the pan will explain why you should have.
Ground Elk
Four ounces of pork fat per pound is the difference between a burger ...
Elk Stew Meat
The one elk cut where “don't overcook it” is wrong advice.
Elk Medallion
Beef flavor without the fat that forgives you.