Boar with Cameline Sauce

Seared and boiled boar with a sauce made of wine, bread, and warm spices

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City/Region: France

Time Period: 14th Century

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The diet of the Knights Templar was supposed to have helped them live for twice as long as ordinary men, but the evidence for this is flimsy. Nevertheless, the diet, eating habits, and table manners were all governed by strict rules, including only getting meat three times a week (two meat meals on Sundays).

I chose to make a meat dish because it uses a lot of spices they would have had access to on crusade, and the sauce was very popular in medieval Europe. Cameline sauce is more spiced than a modern barbecue sauce and isn’t as sweet, but the flavor profile is otherwise very similar. You can change up the quantities of spices to suit you, but cinnamon would have been the dominant flavor. You don’t have to sear the boar before boiling it, but I highly recommend it to help keep the meat from getting too dry. If you wish, take the recommendation from Le Viandier de Taillevent, and serve it forth with roasted chestnuts.

“Sanglier:
Fresh Wild Boar Venison. Cooked in wine and water and boiled again; eaten with Cameline Sauce.”

— Le Viandier de Taillevent, 14th century

“Cameline.
Note that in Tournai, to make cameline they grind ginger, cinnamon, saffron, and half a nutmeg, moistened with wine then taken out of the mortar. Then grind in a mortar untoasted white breadcrumbs that have been soaked in cold water, moisten with wine and strain. Then boil everything and finish with brown sugar, and that makes winter cameline. In the summer, they do the same but it is not boiled at all. ”

— Le Ménagier de Paris, 14th century

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Ingredients:

Boar

• Boar tenderloin
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• Wine, whatever you like, I used red
• Water

Cameline Sauce

• 1 thick slice of good white bread, no crust
• 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) white wine
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) red wine
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, optional
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• A pinch of saffron threads
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• A pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. For the boar: Season the boar with salt and pepper. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and sear the meat for a couple of minutes on each side so that it gets a nice crust.
2. Set the boar aside and add equal parts wine and water to the pot. Bring it to a boil. Put the boar into the boiling pot. Cover and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. After it’s cooked, take the meat out and set it aside to rest.
3. For the sauce: Rip the bread into small crumbs, then cover with cold water to soak for 2 hours. I did this step in a mortar, which we’ll be using in a bit.
4. Mix together the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and saffron. Stir them into the white wine.
5. Without draining the soaking water, add the red wine to the breadcrumbs, and the vinegar if you’re using it. Mash the bread up with the mortar and pestle, then strain it over a saucepan, pressing the mushed bread through the sieve. Add in the spiced wine and set it over medium heat. Bring it to a boil and let it cook for 15 minutes, or until it has reduced by half.
6. Whisk the salt and brown sugar into the reduced sauce and simmer for 5 more minutes, or until it’s as thick as you want. It won’t get as thick as ketchup, but it will be as thick as a barbecue sauce.
7. Slice the boar, drizzle the sauce on top, and serve it forth.

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