In my four trips to Namibia, I've been fortunate to shoot a couple of really nice, mature boar Warthogs. Their tusks mounted on a wooden plaque make a real nice and compact trophy. When I asked my PH how they taste, he told me that the white ranchers rarely eat them, but the native workers on his ranch LOVE them. Anybody else that hunts in Namibia run into this phenomenon?

Here's a Warthog I shot in 2015- a fun hunt.

Bud,

I've eaten warthog in a number of countries. I've never heard that white folks have any prejudice against eating them. When I've been asked to shoot one specifically to be eaten they always wanted a younger animal though.

Mark

Am in Namibia every year, Bud, and always shoot at least one warthog. Tried one year for suckling pig, but the very young warthog had no taste 'tho was very tender. Better are the two or three year-olds for a better-than-pork meal braai or baked if you have a big enough oven. The old guys with the big tusks are tough and best done as a stew in a potjie.

Regards, Tim

I asked about eating them last year in SA. I kind of got the same answer. Most whites don't eat them but the blacks really enjoy them. We had a couple guests one evening, in the lodge that were SA natives and were on a freezer filler hunt. They shared some Warthog sausage one evening around the braai and I thought is was really good. The whiskey might have helped, but I would definitely eat it again. Then again, everything with Monkey Gland Sauce tastes good.

All of the warthog that I have eaten has been thoroughly enjoyed.

I like shooting and eating warthog! We often go for processed warthog - salami, cabanossi, cheese grillers or peppadew sausages.
I have done them both in the pot and as a roast but then you have to give some attention to adding some taste.

My personal favourite trophy is a tuskless (as in no tusks at all) boar I shot on the Sand River north of the Soutpansberg in Limpopo.

Do that again

We ate some grilled warthog tenderloin in Tanzania once. Don't think I'd do it again, unless I was really hungry.

My PH marinated it for an hour or so in orange juice, lemons, pepper and garlic, then grilled it.

This was only one day after I had shot it. An old boar.

It was tough as nails but tasted pretty good.

Northern Boers won't eat them -- maybe it's because warthog doesn't make into biltong well. Marinated backstrap (at our request) was fine, but the PH's family avoided it. He also said zebra was nasty due to the yellow fat. On the other hand, Southern Baptist missionaries in Kenya claimed warthog made the best sausage and ate zebra in place of the far more expensive beef available. (General license was the way to go.)

Barry

That’s kind of strange to me.

I’ve eaten some of every warthog I’ve shot. Like any game, sometimes it’s tougher than others, but the flavor is always good. In fact, after a while you miss some of the fat in other game, and warthog is really nice then.

As to zebra, I had a prejudice against eating “horse” and refused to until my last Tanzania hunt... it was very good. Yes the yellow fat is rancid (or so I was told), but that is trimmed off.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
That’s kind of strange to me.

I’ve eaten some of every warthog I’ve shot. Like any game, sometimes it’s tougher than others, but the flavor is always good. In fact, after a while you miss some of the fat in other game, and warthog is really nice then.

As to zebra, I had a prejudice against eating “horse” and refused to until my last Tanzania hunt... it was very good. Yes the yellow fat is rancid (or so I was told), but that is trimmed off.

I really like zebra meat, and even its yellow fat, but it may be because we ate a lot of horse meat when I was a boy during WWII. Virtually every butcher shop sold it. it was not rationed and when my mother had ration stamps for "regular" meat she traded them for other things she needed, such as gasoline, tires for our bikes, etc.

As for warthog, I've eaten it twice. A backstrap I barbecued myself on a grill over open coals was tough and barely edible, but a pot roast prepared by a camp's cook was very good.

Bill Quimby

There is no such thing as tough meat, only improperly cooked meat... ;-)

quote:

Originally posted by BNagel:
Northern Boers won't eat them -- maybe it's because warthog doesn't make into biltong well. Marinated backstrap (at our request) was fine, but the PH's family avoided it. He also said zebra was nasty due to the yellow fat. On the other hand, Southern Baptist missionaries in Kenya claimed warthog made the best sausage and ate zebra in place of the far more expensive beef available. (General license was the way to go.)

Barry

Many years ago I guided a VERY well known chef on a hunt & he looked at the meat of a zebra he'd taken & REALLY wanted to cook some of it....... I watched his preparation & he meticulously trimmed off every speck of that yellow fat & the result was simply fantastic.

Put a young warthog in a plastic bag with some lemons, oranges and garlic for a few days. Keep cool and spit roast it.

Another is to peel open a fillet and stuff it with pork sausage and bacon. Smother the whole thing with apricot jam and braai it.

Had some BBQ warthog ribs in Vic falls in 2015. They were excellent. Had them again on a later trip and they were mediocre. Whether it was in the cooking or the age of the animal I can't say.
Bruce

quote:

Originally posted by Bud Meadows:
In my four trips to Namibia, I've been fortunate to shoot a couple of really nice, mature boar Warthogs. Their tusks mounted on a wooden plaque make a real nice and compact trophy. When I asked my PH how they taste, he told me that the white ranchers rarely eat them, but the native workers on his ranch LOVE them. Anybody else that hunts in Namibia run into this phenomenon?

Bud:
On my last hunt with Jan driving on one of those river beds we smelled something nasty...we got out to look. I was a dead kudu bull that Jan said died of rabies. It was really stinky and badly decayed.

A day or two later we were driving on the same river bed and a couple of warthogs dashed in front of us as we neared that kudu - they had been feeding on it.

Kinda killed any desire I had to eat warthogs.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Put a young warthog in a plastic bag with some lemons, oranges and garlic for a few days. Keep cool and spit roast it.

Another is to peel open a fillet and stuff it with pork sausage and bacon. Smother the whole thing with apricot jam and braai it.

Plus, you make a delicious zebra back strap BBQ!

Best regards, D. Nelson

I shot a warthog while in Namibia. I asked if were could do some ribs on the braie. I got the 'we' don't eat that but the guys love it. Couldn't convince them to try it. I even offered to cut it up for them and cook it. Still no go. The only thing other than a jackal that I didn't get to try.
Bfly

quote:

Originally posted by Black Fly:
I shot a warthog while in Namibia. I asked if were could do some ribs on the braie. I got the 'we' don't eat that but the guys love it. Couldn't convince them to try it. I even offered to cut it up for them and cook it. Still no go. The only thing other than a jackal that I didn't get to try.
Bfly

Who they working for?

The reason why Warthog was never popular is because it was against the law to transport Warthog meat. This was a veterinary rule because of African swine fever. Further this under RSA law Warthog was not classified as game and thus was not subject to the hunting rules of game.

Naaah,warthog is poor table fare. Carbonossi,salami and cheese grillers can be made.This meat is expensive to make. Old boars, their meat has a fishy taste. Bushpig however, is good table fare.

There is nothing wrong with warthog, I have eaten it a couple of times. My wife turned it into goulash and served it with mash and vegetables. It was very tender and tasted great. Once in Namibia I shot a v e r y old boar, not even the employees would eat it. It was just bone and skin, the tusks completely worn down.

Excellent is bushpig.

I had warthog sausage for breakfast several days in South Africa. Casing was the intestine.
It was good.

Dave

In the South African venison lexicon game meat is never simply hacked off the hind end of whatever was shot a tossed on the fire or worse a pot or pan with just water !

Venison preparation is very much part of a art! Preparation often would involve spicing, aging and ways to remove or mask the "wild or strong taste" from the meat.

Much of this art handed down as family recipes. Over time many of this art was preserved in books which became very popular.
Typically this was historically "women's work" and many women attained fame for their skills in the kitchen.

In my own family my mother was known for her Guinea fowl pie which she would typically prepare for sit down dinners for large parties of people on special occasions. Dinner on game ranches in some circles became show pieces in the demonstration of this art.

Whereas the "braai" was "mans work" the actual prep and cooking of venison and side dishes was left to the matriarch's of the family !

As such the Warthog is also featured. The meat is basically pork albeit wild pork typically "sweet" in taste and as with other species there are preferred cuts and ways to prepare it. Warthog Gammon a example.

The problem though was that you could not legally transport Warthog meat from the hunting fields to your home.

Meat is meat if you know what you doing
Kinda like bear meat up here
Most people won’t eat it because of prejudice until they taste it at Milan’s house
What can I tell you... same with warthog
Love them things

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
There is no such thing as tough meat, only improperly cooked meat... ;-)

You've apparently never eaten a really old animal. I love elk meat, but three of the elk I've shot have been ancient and their meat was all tough and didn't taste as good. One was an old cow that was skinny and had lots of white hair on her face and legs. Terrible eating, so tough most of it went to my Black Lab. That was a New Mexico elk, so she may have been over 15 years old.

Another was a cow with a radio collar and ear tags that Montana FWP biologist told me was 14 1/2 years old, because they'd ear tagged her as a calf and had records on her. She was big and very healthy, pregnant and ate terrible. When I told the biologist at the check station she was pregnant and gave them the location of the gut pile, they took off with a snowmobile to go retrieve the fetus as they were amazed that such an old cow could conceive. FWP was glad to get the collar back, as the battery had died over 6 years earlier.

Finally, a giant old bull that weighed over 1,000 pounds and didn't eat worth a damn. I never knew hamburger could be tough! A tooth was sent to Mew Mexico G&F and came back as a 12 year old bull.

They were all tough as hell. And I do know how to properly cook game meat.

Its all in the preparation.

When we were in South Africa last year, we had warthog several different ways and the bushpig I shot was roasted on a spit. All were different levels of tasty: from OK to excellent. Zebra on the other had is some of the best meat I have ever eaten. Based on my constant exposure to Argentinian and Brasilian parilladas, I think that is a huge compliment to the meat as well as the chef that prepared it!

Safe travels and Good Eats!

LL

My first trip I shot male Warthog. It was either extremely old or was injured because it's hind end was nearly just skin and bones. We got back to the lodge and one of the nanny's for a another PH was getting to go away for the weekend. When she saw the pig she changed her mind. Honestly there was nothing left to the hind quarter, but that didn't dissuade her. She was butchering it within 10 minutes of seeing it.

Ate Bushpig, Zebra and Sable on my last trip. All three I thought were excellent, with the Sable being the best.

Nasty, nasty and nasty. All three places, in three separate countries, have used Warthog meat as a prank or joke sometime throughout the safari. Chewy, chewy and chewy. If I never have any again it will be to soon.

Warthog roasted on a spit or cooked in a casserole is one of the finest game animals in Africa!

Here in Zimbabwe there is a certain reticence among the white community to bushpig, but warthog is a sought-after delicacy!

Guys,

Since we are talking about other game meat the only thing Sadie and I didn't really care for was puff adder which just tasted like bad fish. Other than that we've eaten everything put in front of us including the big cats which are quite delicious. Proper preparation is the trick.

Mark

I love warthogs, bot hunting them and eating them My first hunted animal was a cull warthog that I shot for a spit braai with friends and family in South AFrica. It was amazing. I have also tasted raw warthog, carpaccio style. It was very nice

Remember once that Thor and I were hunting Luangwa during the rains and had shot a warthog and could not get back to camp due to a series of flash floods. Hours later and in the pouring rain we managed to make a fire and roast the fillets. Man those were good.

During the horrid drought of 2016 in Northern Namibia my lady whacked a warthog. It actually was not all skin and bones so we saved a hind quarter (giving the help the rest, as usual). With gemsbok and kudu to eat all of the time the farmers/outfitters never seem to ever offer us any wart hog although we hunt them every time.

I am a huge wart hog fan.

We dined on warthogs for the next couple of nights and Lady Margaret did a fabulous job. I think that the boar was about three years old..

Delicious! Schnitzel for one ..

Hey, mine tasted great!

But it was tougher than a drill sergeant’s mother.

A younger hog, with more dry or even wet aging on the meat, and more time marinating, and maybe.

Just maybe.

To chime in on the zebra, I shot a huge mountain zebra in Namibia and the steaks from the backstraps were absolutely some of the finest wild meat I've ever eaten.

I always order mtn zebra in a restaurant if they have it on the menu .. It is delicious .. Never ate the Burchells ..

My little bro managed to cook up an incredible sweet and sour warthog dish at out tent camp in Zambia. One of my favorite meals of all time.

quote:

Originally posted by scruffy:
I always order mtn zebra in a restaurant if they have it on the menu .. It is delicious .. Never ate the Burchells ..

Burchell's is nothing like Mtn Zebra. I really like Mtn Zebra but will never ever have Burchell's again.

quote:

Originally posted by LittleJoe:

quote:

Originally posted by scruffy:
I always order mtn zebra in a restaurant if they have it on the menu .. It is delicious .. Never ate the Burchells ..

Burchell's is nothing like Mtn Zebra. I really like Mtn Zebra but will never ever have Burchell's again.

I`ve had burchells and it was delicious. A lot of factors here. Maybe you got an old bugger, that had a lot of adrenaline in th meat .Tastes like shit then