Horse and other meats
I ran into
this article in Time. It really does bring up the point that it's silly to discriminate on which of our fellow mammals we decide to eat.
So far my biggest turn off of the big 3 meats (beef,lamb,pork) was some goat at an Indian restaurant and some venison. I've never tried rabbit, either. I did once have a bisonburger.
I understand goat consumption in the US is on the rise, at least in part because it is a popular meat in almost every other part of the world.
Has anyone tried any red meats other than BLP?
Thursday, Feb. 08, 2007
Horse — It's What's for Dinner
By Joel Stein
I was moved by the volume of tributes to Barbaro upon his passing: front-page articles, thousands of cards from fans, a college scholarship in his name. Then I found out Barbaro was a horse.
Here's what they do with dead horses in the rest of the world: they eat them. But in our country the thought of eating horse is so taboo that the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act was just reintroduced in Congress--although there are even fewer horses eaten than flags burned. Despite our reputation, it turns out we are actually a nation that thinks like a 14-year-old girl.
Ah, I forgot to vote for goat. I've had goat, venison, elk, bison, antelope, rattlesnake, ostrich, moose... I think that's about it.
Does shark count as an "other meat?" I've had that too.
A really good venison steak is a great thing. I've only et farmed.
I've had rattlesnake and also bear. There used to be a restaurant round here that enjoyed serving such things, but it's gone.
Visited New Zealand years ago. In addition to the millions of sheep everywhere, you would occasionally see a field witha VERY tall fence. In that field were hundreds of beautiful deer. Had delicious venison there.
Ah, I forgot to vote for goat. I've had goat, venison, elk, bison, antelope, rattlesnake, ostrich, moose... I think that's about it.
I think I had ostrich once. I didn't include it for lack of room and because I decided to stick to mammals.
BTW, New Zealand and Australia are host to a lot of unusual mammals. Over in the US some people eat bears. Do any Aussies or Kiwis eat koalas, platypuses, etc?
I didn't include it for lack of room and because I decided to stick to mammals.
Smart move. Once you open it up to non-mammals, the list gets long.
Lots of sea foods out there.
Also, rattlesnake, frog, snails, ostrich to name a few for me.
Koala would taste like shyte I'm tipping, considering they only eat eucalyptus leaves.
When they pee on your car, it reeks, so i cant imagine their meat being particularly tasty.
Platypus - not bloody likely!! They are hard enough to find as it is!!
I have heard of Wombat stew, never tasted it though. Since the buggers can flip a car, or tear the undercarriage out if you hit them, I would suggest a REALLY slow cooked stew.
I've had crocodile, ostrich, emu, snake, stingray, eel but never beaver ;)
Yeah, beavertail stew rather ran out of popularity about the time in the nineteenth century that the US frontier ran low on beavers. The fashion for hats of beaver fur felt has been attributed directly to Beau Brummel; we can blame him.
I've had ostrich burger -- the effect is that of beefy bird. Rattlesnake too, which comes off like some sort of landlocked fish. Rabbit tastes like mammalian chicken -- yet another other white meat. It runs to toughness and should be tamed by long braising or simmering type recipes. And frog legs -- aquatic chicken, with very un-chicken anatomy to the slender bones. Escargot -- proteinaceous garlic butter, most unctuous. Another one for shark, but I've quit eating shark and indeed am slow to eat ocean fish any more.
Oh, yes, and Prairie Oysters, which taste exactly like... fried thingies.
There's rumor of the Abos eating stewed koala solely as a cure for colds, the creature itself not presenting much more hunting challenge than the porcupine, which was reserved as food during famine by the Amerindians, to be eaten only when hunger was greater than embarrassment at walking up to the slow-moving creatures to knock them in the head with a big stick.
Yep, I also forgot wild boar. Very tasty.
A friend of ours has
Meatfest every year. It's... interesting. (His site seems to crash FF tho. Not cool.) :elkgrin:
Remember -
3 lbs. venison to 1 lbs. 80% lean ground beef.
Keeps the venison moist while cooking it.
Bobcat Goldthwait: They keep saying "it tastes just like chicken. It tastes just like chicken" so buy a f*cking chicken, it's the cheapest f*cking meat you can buy.
mmm Wild boar. I forgot about wild boar. Good sausages!
Yep, I also forgot wild boar. Very tasty.
A friend of ours has Meatfest every year. It's... interesting. (His site seems to crash FF tho. Not cool.) :elkgrin:
I worked at a restaurant that had a Game Night every year. It was a major event that the chefs prepared for for several days in advance, and the staff did lots of tasting. I couldn't even tell you what all I've eaten...
Remember -
3 lbs. venison to 1 lbs. 80% lean ground beef.
Keeps the venison moist while cooking it.
Pork works better. ;)
Pork works better. ;)
Just depends on what ya prefer.
I grew up only a mile or so from the Beefalo Ranch in Tracy, CA in the 70s(?). We would buy frozen boxes of beefalo burgers there. HUGE burgers that did not shrink at all when you cooked them! Taste was great.
StepDad fished/hunted and I've had Elk and Deer, though I don't care for deer and prefer elk stew, not steak. I've been told that elk is similar to horse meat in texture and lean-ness.
I have horses, and have owned horses for more than 35 years. I believe slaughter is necessary for the horses, though I would find it difficult to eat them, knowing they may have been someone's pet. Funny, that. I always named our butcher beef...though they were names like Sir Loin and Rumpy Roast.
IF, however, I ever make it to Iceland I would try horse there. They raise horse herds specifically as meat animals much as we do cattle and sheep. The quality Icelandic horses are the ones they train/ride/show/sell. If it doesn't gait, has poor conformation or has a poor temperament, it goes to the meat-herd. What a great cull-system to keep their breed pure and of high quality.
Anyway, it doesn't matter WHAT they are slaughtered for, human consumption, fertilizer, pet food...whatever...it is still slaughter. What difference the body is used for after the horse is gone?
People who love their horses and have the means available to them (some don't due to $ or local laws) will make arrangements to prevent their horse from going to a slaughter plant when the time comes (mine have been euth/buried) but the rest of the horses NEED the slaughter plants or they will suffer untold indignities of abuse and starvation because there is nowhere to go for an unuseable horse.
I do not think the non-human-consumption of horse carcass uses can absorb the overflow of the human-consumption carcasses that will now need to be utilized. I don't know what this will do to the sale prices where the killers purchased the unwanted horses for slaughter. How many people will be forced to take their unwanted horses home, and what will happen to them, then?
I would much prefer to see MORE slaughter plants across the country that accept horses and better shipping for the horses TO these plants. What this (slaughter for human consumption ban) may mean, is horses will now be shipped to Canada and Mexico, which have very few regulations and moral compuctions about handling, to be slaughtered.
Yeah, you bleeding-heart-activists, you've succeeded in halting slaughter of horses for human consumption in the USA, now the horses will have even LONGER trips in trucks, passing over borders into countries with few regulations, poorly trained staff and will suffer who-knows-what indignities before their end at whatever slaughter practice that plant uses.
I would prefer them to stay in the USA and meet their end at the hands of an employee who is trying to do a good job and not overly stress the animal while preserving its dignity.
Sorry for the lengthy horse-post. It struck a nerve.
hh
I'm sure I must be missing something but I thought the big three meats were chicken, beef and pork with lamb a distant fourth.
I had ostrich carpaccio once. Tasted like ostrich.
Squirrel meat is too tough - no fat in it. Hyper little buggers.
Never had horse, elk, bison or beaver but have had snake, whale (long story) and shark.
People will eat of lot of things, just not necessarily me. Guess I'm not a people. Or maybe I'm just a 14 year old girl.
I've eaten goat in the form of cabrito--Mexican barbequed kid. It was good. And that's really about it from the list--not even venison.
Specialty meets like bison and ostrich are starting to be available in our supermarkets due to lower saturated fat. I'm sure they're okay, but I probably wouldn't eat them. Don't know why--just 'cause. I once bought frozen rabbit meat, but could never bring myself to cook it.
. . . and I'm sure most horses are eaten by something. Just not Kentucky Derby winners.
Most Australian marsupials are protected and therefore unavailable for eating. I'm with ducks on the koala thing. I doubt they'd be very tasty.
I've had several of the things mentioned in the list, along with crocodile.
You can get shark meat in most fish and chip shops here. I would have thought it would be the same everywhere.
You can get shark meat in most fish and chip shops here. I would have thought it would be the same everywhere.
Depends on how close the nearest sharks are I assume... I've eaten shark, but it's not commonly on the menu.
I've eaten quite a few things on the list, but missed out on the larger animals - just not available over here. I'd like to try squirrel - so may are shot/ poisoned as they damage trees, it seems wrong to waste the meat.
I ate horse in France. Can't say I was bothered one way or another. It was in a highly flavoured sauce, so I can't comment on the taste. It was tough as old boots - but I think that was lack of cooking skill/ cheap restaurant.
People will eat of lot of things, just not necessarily me.
I really think you should rephrase this one before some perv makes some cheap cra...oops! Too late! lol!!!
In Africa, 'venison' can be any of various antelopes (gemsbok, kudu, etc.). And warthog is really good, too!
I really think you should rephrase this one before some perv makes some cheap cra...oops! Too late! lol!!!
I say what I mean and mean what I say.
Sometimes.
:p
I've had bison, venison, bear, and ostrich. No unusual fishy-bits that I can think of offhand, except maybe shark, which isn't all that unusual.
I expect you're not counting the various types of mystery meat that you get from a Chinese Restaurant.
I had Caribou (reindeer) in Alaska. One of the restaurants we went to had a sick (my kind of) sense of humor and would serve the reindeer sausages with a bright red cherry at the tip of one! lol!!!
mmm Wild boar. I forgot about wild boar. Good sausages!
Oh yes...yummy!
Off the list, I've had elk once or twice, and lots of bison and venison (as in deer). There's a restaurant near me that serves up venison tartare. Soooo delicious--the best way to have it, I think.
I've also had ostrich (dry and blah), oxtail and gator.
Rabbit stew can be tasty, especially if it's from fresh rabbits. Cook it slowly. Your guarantee of freshness for rabbits comes in the form of a ferret and rabbit nets.
I've had crocodile. Tastes sort of like fish or chicken. It's not bad but can be pricey.
Kangaroo tastes a lot like rare beef, but seems that it can only be cooked rare. I prefer my meat to be thoroughly dead before I eat it.
Shark is common here in Oz. Just ask for "flake" at most fish and chip shops and you'll be getting gummy shark.
I haven't had emu, but I would like to try it one day.
Koalas are inedible. They eat gum leaves, they smell like gum leaves, their poop smells like gum leaves. So what do they taste like? Apparently they taste like gum leaves. It would be as if you took a perfectly good steak and marinated it in neat eucalyptus oil for a day or two. Blech.
I have not eaten emu, but I would like to interject here that emu oil is the BEST thing in the world for skin problems. Marvelous stuff if you don't object to using animal fat.
I have not eaten emu, but I would like to interject here that emu oil is the BEST thing in the world for skin problems. Marvelous stuff if you don't object to using animal fat.
Does it work on stretch marks?
J and I had ostrich steaks last night which were supposed to be ostrich medallions. The meat is very much like beef, except stringier and less tasty.
I worked at a restaurant that had a Game Night every year. It was a major event that the chefs prepared for for several days in advance, and the staff did lots of tasting. I couldn't even tell you what all I've eaten...
Was that the Country Kitchen?
Rabbit stew can be tasty, especially if it's from fresh rabbits
So is rabbit curry.....I have a vague recollection of Dad cming home once with a freshly killed rabbit.....good curry
Pigeon makes great pie. Though, when i was given it as a kid, my family lied to me and told me it was a chicken pie. They didn't tell me until I'd eaten it that it was woodpigeon (my elder brother was into poaching at the time). After I had recovered from the shock, my bro made me a talon puppet to take to school. Pigeon talon with cotton attached so you could animate its digits. Scared the shit out of this girl who'd been teasing me *grins*
Tried most of them, not horse. I don't like how it smells when cooked.
Maybe it would be better a la tartare.
Was that the Country Kitchen?
Are you referring to the one in AC, on the Boardwalk?
Tonight (well, technically yesterday evening) I had some fantastic venison--pan seared medium rare, with a cherry sauce and sides of slow-burn chorizo potatoes and watercress. So, I take back that venison tartare is the best way.
I'm feeling very caveman-ish.
Was that the Country Kitchen?
No, the Marshalton Inn.
Are you referring to the one in AC, on the Boardwalk?
No. I have vague memories of a restaurant on 202 maybe - somewhere west of Philadelphia, where we went once 35 years ago, that served "game". I think I had a hotdog. :p
We went to the Collegeville Inn about once a year, when I was young. Mmmmm, apple fritters...
"If you ain't related to it and it ain't poison it's food... an' there's exceptions ta' botha' those rules".
My Pop (grandfather)
I've had bear and moose. Not bad. Besides wild ducks and geese I really enjoyed the few times I bagged sandhill cranes.
I read once that the Belgians like to use rendered horse fat to cook french fries in. But it's too hard to get it hear so I gave up.
... I really enjoyed the few times I bagged sandhill cranes.
oh oh