What have you eaten?

[casey]

I have eaten about everything from cane rat in West Africa, to milk curdled with fresh cow urine in Southern Sudan with the occasional dash of fu-fu, in the west, and sadza in the southern camps of Africa.
Stateside, I was tempted to try bobcat the other day, but didn't--would it be good/safe (I remember that gutting a fox bare handed can incur liver worms/death in infected cases)
what have you adventurously eaten overseas or stateside. What can you recommend that most have not tried, but should?

I've never tried bobcat but cougar tastes like good veal.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I've never tried bobcat but cougar tastes like good veal.

@casey
Never eaten the type of couger you have but in my younger days eaten a few of the 2 legged variety and I can assure you they didn't taste like veal. Didn't have to skin them either. After a couple of drinks they skun themselves.
Bob

 

[casey]

A local restaurant in the town i grew up near regularly served snapping turtle. It was delicious and some of the most tender meat I've had.

In this German ethnic community they would post turtle on their sign and the place was soon packed.

I'm from rural PA. We go turtle fishing a lot. Snapping turtle stew is very good. Also hunt frogs for the legs, another good meat that doesn't really taste like chicken. My buddy catches and cans rattle snake, kind of pickled. Very good!

 

[ofbiro]

@casey
Never eaten the type of couger you have but in my younger days eaten a few of the 2 legged variety and I can assure you they didn't taste like veal. Didn't have to skin them either. After a couple of drinks they skun themselves.
Bob

Pardon my ignorance. What is a "two legged variety" of cougar?

 

[BlueFlyer]

The worst thing I have ever tasted was raw shark liver in South Korea. Like taking a swig of cloudy amonia.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Pardon my ignorance. What is a "two legged variety" of cougar?

@ofbiro
A two legged cougar is an older woman that chases younger men.
Bob

 

[Pablo]

We tried lion tenderloin which was grilled in cubes. It wasn’t too bad actually. The camp chef also served what I called meat sushi. There was a backstrap of a blesbok and another of gemsbok that were thrown on the fire, flipped over, and then served on a platter. They looked pretty raw to me and couldn’t try them. My wife did and she didn’t die.
Blue wildebeest lasagna and hotdogs were very good.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

@ofbiro
A two legged cougar is an older woman that chases younger men.
Bob

And I thought it was an emu with teeth. One of those Ausie critters. ;-)

 

[R eight]

And I thought it was an emu with teeth. One of those Ausie critters. ;-)

If only Bob was fast enough…..

 

[Red Leg]

But have you had bouille? AKA a horrific pot of shit?

We called it debris stew. The liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas (sweet bread) heart, cheek meat and small intestines of the cow. Browned down and made a gravy. We ate every thing. We were poor. We had to jack off the dogs to feed the cats.

Well not the part of South Louisiana where I grew up! Bouille is a cajun custard and the sort of thing angels eat with a cup of French roast coffee at Christmas time. I have no clue what you two are talking about - though I have met a gumbo or two that nearly met that definition.

 

[Ridge Runner]

What about marinades, recipes, or methods to eliminate gaminess? A friend fed me a pork chop--I thought it was domestic hog, but it was wild without tasting wild. The only thing he did was hang it in a locker for 3 weeks, letting any fluids drain into a pan. Amazing that that was all. Comments? Other secret preps?

I have found through trial and some error, that leaving the complete animal hang for, depending on size/weight, for 2 to 5 days, cleaned of blood and trimmed of as much fat as possible, the meat becomes more tender and with less game taste.

Theory is it allows the muscles to relax after rigor mortise releasing hormones and adrenaline previously released into the animals body.

It seems the more fat that is left on the animal while hanging and before processing the more the "gamey" the meat. Also if the animal is parted before hanging the meat doesn't relax or fully drain.

 

[Hunt anything]

For the life of me I can’t find what it’s called but it’s most of the things that @randallherbert said but ground up and stuffed in an eland intestine then cooked over a fire. Wasn’t too bad.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

If only Bob was fast enough…..

@R eight
Mate now days I can't run far enough to get out of sight in a dark night.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

And I thought it was an emu with teeth. One of those Ausie critters. ;-)

@Doug Hamilton
Ive emus with more teeth than some of the cougers I've seen getting around the pubs.
Bob

 

[Altitude sickness]

During an all night initiation in the Navy I was fed Cups of Earthworms, approximately several pounds of them, goldfish, bottles of very hot sauce, several species of large grubs and insects. Balut that went bad and smelled like rotten eggs. Dozens of raw eggs. They probably call that hazing now.

 

[Pirkan]

I haven't eaten anything super exciting in terms of game animals but being Swedish we eat surströmming occasionally which is pretty nice when done properly. I've also once tried some kind of aged/fermented sheep meat from the Faroe islands which was green and had a very funky flavor. I can recommend a surströmmingsskiva if you're ever invited to one but I can't recommend that sheep.