Pork stew with mushrooms and chestnuts
Stephen Doyle
A slightly different approach this time. Have a look at Rick Stein cooking Wild Boar Stew. Ingredients are included in this youtube clip:
When I made this, I didn't have red vermouth or juniper berries so added Cab Franc as well as Cab Sav to the marinade, and substituted mini oyster mushrooms for chanterelles, left it to cook for hours on a low heat in the oven.
There was a large packet of dried porcini mushrooms bought from Essential Ingredients in my cupboard so I was happy about that.
Had to buy chestnuts but instead of tinned ones, I bought dried chestnuts from our Asian supermarket and reconstituted them by soaking them in water for 24 hours before adding them to the stew. Do that at the beginning instead of the end of the recipe. Keep them whole so you can identify and appreciate their flavours separately in the stew..
I did add a splash of some Cabernet vinegar to provide some extra acidity to the mix.
Lessons learned
Avoid grittiness
Don't just chuck those dried mushrooms in like Rick does as ours were a touch gritty. Rinse them in some water first and hopefully the dirt will drop to the bottom. Add the strained water to the stew.
On adding Cabernet Vinegar - maybe it wasn't necessary. Wine has enough acidity.
Avoid the flavours being too concentrated
This is a rich stew. Obviously I have plenty of wine left over from tastings and went a bit overboard on the marinade (almost a whole bottle of half Cab Sav and Cab Franc.) Half a bottle or less would have been sufficient.
Food and wine matching
Consensus was that all three of the winter new releases went well with the dish. My top two were the Shiraz and the Cab Sav followed closely by the Cab Franc. Tony Bilson always said to me to use the wine in the sauce that you are trying to match with said wine. Strange how there was no Shiraz in the stew yet it was one of the better matches. Lesser tannins in the Shiraz than the Cabernet Family perhaps?