GBAChef: Your favourite "odd" meats.

[FAST6191]

So I was wandering around the back streets of the town centre today and I find a butcher that sells all local/rare breed meats, mutton, goat and for that like that sort of thing then more traditional types of bacon (not that such things are that hard to find this last 5 years or so).

So a goat curry is on the cards for this weekend (first time in years I will have managed to get one) and with it we have the return of GBAChef.

What are your favourite meats that either locals (probably younger ones/ones that did not grow up in the countryside) or visitors turn their noses up at? I will also take cuts of meat/parts of meat -- lamb heart stew is fantastic but I often get disgusted looks from those that do not know better. I do still get people saying "ew liver" but I am not counting that as I can get that year round in the supermarket.

 

[Flame]

I don't know if this is what your talking about.

But I love Pastirma....


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastirma

 

[FAST6191]

I was more aiming for the things people say "ew" to because it is not beef, pork, lamb*, venison**, chicken, turkey or fish***, or it was a less common cut of said meat. That said I had somehow missed out on that so I will have to go looking -- I do like to try the various cured/preserved meats out there.

*at various points I have been to the US and people have never tried lamb or have to go out of their way to find it. I find that mind boggling but hey.

**I have also met people that would consider venison (deer) to be an odd meat to eat.

***the irony of grouping the hundreds of types of commonly eaten fish together like that is not lost on me. That said the reaction to "what is that you are eating?" when I am eating something less common in the fish world (I have a thing for bream) is usually more along the lines of "can I try some?".

 

[Hungry Friend]

I've had chocolate covered crickets(nice and nutty) but other than that I haven't had anything that's particularly exotic but I'd love to try goat as well as pretty much any other type of game meat.(not a hunter) Other insects also interest me; I'm not all that picky and new protein sources are a good thing.

 

[Deleted User]

Goat is nice, a bit tough for my liking but it tastes fine. You can buy Kangaroo meat at some supermarkets in Aus. Haven't had it for years now, but it was alright. I'm very curious as to how fox and crow meat would taste.

I do still get people saying "ew liver"

I've tried liver a number of times and tried to like it. It's definately edible, but I could never really appreciate it. It's taste and texture is too unique, or maybe I just suck at cooking.

 

[FAST6191]

I can very much see people disliking it, or disliking it if it is not otherwise overpowered by bacon and onions. I was more thinking of the people that dismiss it out of hand without so much as seeing it outside of plastic in the supermarket. That said I will say that it is easy to cook once you know how, however if you mess it up then it is not good at all -- I can still chew a piece of overdone steak (though my preference there is "with a pulse" so eh) but badly done liver I will have to choke down. My preferred way to cook lamb liver (I am not really one of pork or chicken liver outside of pate) is to get some flour, season said flour (garlic salt works well for me, others also use various meat seasonings), lightly coat the outside in it (literally put the flour on a plate, place the sliced liver on it, flip it and you are done -- it is not like seasoning a chicken or anything) and fry it off in onions (I go red but use whatever you like).

The closest I ever get to kangaroo around here is wearing their skin when on a motorbike, assuming my wallet is fat and I am feeling fancy, as it is widely considered the best leather for that sort of thing. During that whole camel thing a few years back did you get much camel meat appear?

The trouble with foxes and crows is they are predators (I know crows will eat just about anything but it still applies) and we tend not to eat mammalian or avian predators and seemingly for taste reasons. That said pigs do pretty well on the omnivore front so maybe.

On a different note my threatened goat curry did not come to pass, had to make do with venison steaks in a baguette.

 

[TecXero]

Well, since I partially grew up on a farm with my grandparents which are also hunters, I've had quite a selection of meat. I'm not sure what all it was, though I've grown a taste for venison, opossum, and snapping turtle. Not something that many locals would decline, but people visiting generally find it a bit odd.

 

[Cyan]

There's also boar meat.
we have a lot in our region, and there's a hunt season once a year.
it has a more strong taste than beef. not everyone like it.

Horses meat is also available, but it's not "regional". Lot of people says "aw" at it, but because it's like saying "eating dogs" to them... poor horses !!
but meat is good, especially for raw meat "cooked" with lemon (Carpaccio)
it's not cooked with heat, only lemon is affecting the meat and "cooking it".

 

[FAST6191]

That would be called curing in English then, somehow I have never had any lemon cured meat though. Plenty of lemon/lime cured fish, and I guess vinegar cured/pickled meats, but somehow missed out on meat cured with lemon/lime... I am going to have to rectify that one. I am going to have to find a proper butcher though as I would probably only do that with meat I would otherwise have "blue" and I have not found something I would care to prepare that way for a while now.

I do not much care for pig meats but the odd bit of boar somewhat paradoxically works for me, though I usually only find it in pate form around here.

 

[Deleted User]

During that whole camel thing a few years back did you get much camel meat appear?

I had no idea there was a whole camel thing until I searched it up on Wikipedia just now. Personally I've never seen camel meat for sale, though searching up online it is available. If I saw it for sale I'd probably give it a shot.

 

[Duo8]

Anyone ever eaten dog?
I didn't really like it.

 

[Flame]

Anyone ever eaten dog?
I didn't really like it.

duuuuuuudddeeeee....


DDDDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

 

[endoverend]

Foie gras is delicious but not terribly exotic. Any kind of lamb meat is delicious as well. Can't say I've tried much more daring than either of those two (and I know those aren't daring at all).

 

[mgrev]

reindeer or moose, it's really good!

 

[LightyKD]

Tried squid once. Tasted like chicken but with a rubbery texture. It's was fairly decent.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Does fish count?
If so then definitely Rakfisk, it is a norwegian delicacy which is essentially rotten fish. It smells bad but it tastes so great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakfisk

I also once had crocodile meat in Singapore. It was fine, a lot like pork actually. Not something I would bother buying though since there isn't really anything unique about the taste.
I also had chicken feet one time in Singapore and I cannot understand why asians love this stuff. It's basically all skin and weird thin bones, no meat on those at all. It didn't taste bad, it was just like eating a bunch of chewy chicken skin.

 

[DSoryu]

A kind of rare meat popular here on mexico, but the way they cook it makes it delicious: Goat/beef/pork intestines:

Though it sounds gross, it's very tasty, the way it is served is folded between a "tortilla" (Taco like corn flat bread) acompained with hot chilli peper and tomatoes sauce, coriander and onions.

 

[FAST6191]

I had heard of Surströmming (the rough Swedish equivalent) but had no idea about the Norwegian variation on the theme.

On "goat/beef/pork intestines" I usually find most places have a dish that is made of what might otherwise be termed "offal" and in most cases they are well worth trying, especially the more modern takes that might have spices that the peasants that made the original dish hundreds of years ago would not dream of being able to afford. That said I had not heard of this one, what I knew of from Mexico was usually mondongo soup.

 

[Flame]

@Dartz150 that made me remember when i went to Turkey i had sheep/goat fuck knows intestines too. didnt taste too bad.

called kokoreç .

 

[DSoryu]

Well, in spanish colloquial language those are called "Pacharelas de tripas" or "Tacos de pancita" in some southern regions, if by chance you hear of them.