Tuscany is crawling with boar, and the Apuans are no exception; this recipe is from the mountains overlooking the coastal plain to the west of Lucca. You'll need well aged meat to do it justice; either ask your butcher to age it for you, or keep the meat in your refrigerator, covered, for several days after you get it home. Come time to cook it, begin by boning it and cutting it into bite-sized pieces. Assuming you have about 2 pounds (1 k) of meat, chop three cloves of garlic, a stick of celery, a bunch of parsley, a carrot, and a red onion; combine the vegetables and the meat in a bowl and let the mixture sit, covered, for about 6 hours, stirring it about every now and again.

Remove the meat from the bowl, discarding the vegetables, and brown the meat over a very low flame in a little oil. After about an hour season it with salt and pepper, and stir in a little dry white wine and some thick tomato sauce. Continue simmering everything over a low flame until the meat is tender, about another hour, adding a little more wine if necessary so as to produce a rich, thick sauce.

You can, if you want, cook a pound of chopped mushrooms separately, in a little olive oil, and stir them into the stew just before removing it from the fire.

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