Wild Boar Frenched Ribs - Sous Vide Taste Test

I got a wild boar frenched rib rack from Exotic Meat Market and decided to do a taste taste using three different mixes of ingredients in the sous vide preparation and then comparing those sous vided ribs, as-is, with the same ribs then fried in butter. A "frenched" rib is a rib where the meat and fat have been cut off the bone so that it is exposed. I had my friend Jerry with me who hunts wild boar and his given me wild boar meat in the past. 

This is Jerry with a wild boar he shot in Central California. However, he was not the source of this meat. 

The frenched rib chops

It was an absolutely beautiful piece of meat. I used a large knife to cut the rack into individual chops. I did not marinade or brine the meat, it didn't need it.

The ribs sliced into chops and stacked on a plate.

My first packet of ribs was coated in olive oil, salt and black pepper, with added rosemary, oregano and minced garlic. I put it in the sous vide for 2 1/4 hours at 56 degrees centigrade. We ate one chop directly out of the sous vide. The sauce was nice tasting and the chop was good. I heated up a frying pan quite hot and added butter until it was getting dark, then added chops for about 30 seconds on each side. It was amazing what the frying did. The texture was more firm, but incredibly, the chop was more tender, easier to cut into and to chew. It was also juicier and had more flavor. Jerry and I both agreed that the fried chop was superior. It appears that frying causes several changes in the meat. First, if fried at a hot enough temperature (about 154 degrees), a chemical reaction between the amino acids in the protein and some sugars, called the maillard reaction, or caramelization, creates a crispy brown surface on the meat. Second, the frying melts the fat, beginning at about 130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The sous vide was at 56 degrees Centigrade which is 132 degrees Fahrenheit, so the frying melted more of the fat.

These chops are just out of the sous vide.

Several of them were then fried in butter at a very hot temperature.

The fried chop is to the right.

A look inside each.

The second packet was cooked at the same temperature and the same length of time. The meat was coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, then Mirin sweetened saki, ginger and garlic sauce and chopped ginger were added. The resulting broth was very sweet. Again, we both liked the fried version best, but I fried this batch a little longer and did not like it as well as the first batch. The meat was a little less juicy.

The fried chop is below.

A look inside each (fried to the right).

The third packet was cooked at the same temperature, but 25 minutes longer. Olive oil, salt and pepper were added to the meat as well as cayenne pepper, Heinz 57 and Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que Sauce. Again, the fried meat was best and this was actually both of our favorite of the three batches, a surprise for me. I made sure not to fry it as long and the sauces worked real well with the meat.

Fried is above.

The inside (fried is to the right).

These were wonderful chops and I would love to have them again. The taste comparison was very helpful in terms of my better understanding how the frying changes the meat.