If you’re like me, you’ve got game from a hunting trip years ago still shoved in the back of your freezer. Don’t let it go to waste.

A decade ago, I arrived home from Ungava with meat from two fine caribou.  To store it, I bought an upright freezer. In it, season after season, I deposited loins, roasts, and hams from wild game – always more than my wife and I and occasional guests could eat.

Last month, I ran out of ground venison, my favorite for making Bolognese sauce for pasta. In the back of the freezer were two whole forequarters of an embarrassingly tiny wild hog I shot down in South Carolina’s Lowcountry at Hugh Walter’s Deerfield Plantation. The date on the package said 2018.

While hunting with Chuck Wechsler, Sporting Classics founding editor last spring, I took a nice European boar at Buck and Boar in Swansea, S.C. Owner Troy Ayer tried to convince me to have some of the meat made into sausage. Rather than add fat and spices, I asked him to just grind and package it plain. I discovered that it was delicious as is, tasting like a cross between pork loin and beef steak.

While I was sure I could find a custom butcher to convert the forequarters into ground hog, I suspected the cost would be prohibitive. So I went online and found a Gourmia electric meat grinder. It cost $50 and came with fine, medium and coarse grinding plates.

“What’s to lose?” I thought. It arrived a few days later, I thawed the forequarter, cut it into six-inch chunks, installed the coarse plate, and in less than an hour produced about five pounds of ground hog. I learned that meat cuts more easily if its center is still slightly frozen.

The result with the coarse blade was a little thicker than I expected, but it proved to be just right for pasta sauce and chili because it does not tend to clump when sautéed as hamburger does. The medium blade renders meat of the consistency of lean ground chuck. As the meat comes out of the grinder, I pack it in 1-quart freezer bags which each hold about a pound.

When custom-grinding lean meat, most chefs recommend adding about 20% fat. Ask a butcher for pork fat back or trimmings from beef. Fat adds juiciness to wild game burgers and meat loafs, and helps it stay together when cooked.

I’m a huge fan of “boar” burgers cooked outdoors on a charcoal or gas grill. Take 2 lbs. of ground hog, mix in a hefty ¼ cup of seasoned bread crumbs, a raw egg, two cups of diced and sautéed onions, and several liberal dollops of Worcestershire Sauce. Kneed thoroughly with your hands. Form into 1-inch thick patties.

Searing both sides – about 10 to 15 minutes each – should yield a thoroughly cooked burger with a moist center.  Lay a thick slice of sharp cheddar on top of each, melt it under a broiler, and serve it with spicy black bean and corn salsa or side of your choice.

Have caribou in the freezer? Follow any Swedish meatball recipe to create ‘bou balls. Your guests will never know ‘til you tell ‘em.

Meat that has lived in the freezer a while tastes a little tired all by itself. The trick is preparing it with a well spiced pasta, bean, or similar flavorful dishes, and it will taste simply delicious. See recipes below.

Boar Burgers

2 lbs. ground hog

¼ cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 egg

2 cups onion, diced and sautéed

2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Sharp cheddar cheese

1. Mix ground hog with breadcrumbs, egg, onion, and Worcestershire Sauce. Kneed thoroughly with your hands. Form into 1-inch thick patties.
2. Sear both sides of patty on charcoal or gas grill for 10-15 minutes on each side until burgers are thoroughly cooked with a moist center.
3. Top each patty with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese, melt it under a broiler, and serve on a buttered, toasted bun. Pair it with spicy black bean and corn salsa or side of your choice.

‘Bou Balls

1 lb. ground Caribou

1 egg

½ cup plain Panko breadcrumbs

1 small onion, minced

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

¾ cup Swanson 50% Less Sodium Beef Broth

1 can (10 ½ oz) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 tbsp sour cream

4 cups hot cooked egg noodles (from about 8 oz dry)

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1. Thoroughly mix the Caribou, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl. Shape the Caribou mixture firmly into about 20 meatballs.
2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook until well browned on all sides (make sure the skillet and oil are hot before adding the meatballs to prevent sticking).  Pour off any fat.
3. Add the broth to the skillet and heat to a boil, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Stir in the soup and sour cream.  Reduce the heat to low.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.  Serve the meatballs and sauce over the noodles.  Sprinkle with the parsley.