Comments on: Crooked Timber dining notes (MCXVIII) — Squirrel

By: bad Jim

bad Jim — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:26:49 +0000

Kangaroo, at least the way it was prepared in the Aussie place in the Sony Center at Potsdamerplatz, was to lamb as lamb is to beef, as best I can recall. Definitely different. I’m sure I’ll always regret not going back to try the crocodile.

According to my notes, pigeon (rotí en cacao) tastes like duck.

By: mollymooly

mollymooly — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:09:22 +0000

OTOH, “squirrel coquette” is a googlewhack

By: The Modesto Kid

The Modesto Kid — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Cuy (a South American rodent commonly identified as “Guinea Pig” but which looks different from a GP, more like a rat) is pretty readily available in some neighborhoods of Queens—specifically Elmhurst and Corona. I have never eaten it or wanted to. I believe it is not legal to sell but I’m not sure what the law is.

By: michael paleologus

michael paleologus — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:36:46 +0000

The ‘fiyah hut’ in Belize City serves a very nice gibnut – stewed, quite tasty. (Gibnuts is a rodent). They are fond in Belize of boasting that they served Queen Elizabeth II rat to eat.

Also had the hormigas de mayo in Guatemala – huge flying ants that appear once a year. We lightly fried them in butter. The squishy inside once you crunched through the crispy body was a bit disgusting really, with a strong formic acid aftertaste.

By: Otto Pohl

Otto Pohl — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 08:05:05 +0000

I have had dog a couple of times at Korean cafes here in Bishkek. It also taste nothing like chicken. Rather somewhere between lamb and beef. They serve it with a chili and garlic sauce.

By: Stentor

Stentor — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:43:16 +0000

People used to always get worked up when I told them I’ve eaten squirrel—and not at your fancy-pants restaurants, it was one my dad shot and fried up for the Superbowl. I’ve also eaten roadkill turtle, which tasted like nothing.

For unrelated reasons, I’m a vegetarian now.

By: Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:45:01 +0000

Speaking of squirrels, Rocketboom has this.

By: Nickp

Nickp — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:38:46 +0000

Grasshoppers in soy sauce were not nice, not so much for the flavor, but for the fact that little bits of exoskeleton got stuch in my teeth.

The oddest mammal I’ve eaten was Kudu. Fresh was not bad, but the last bit had been sitting around too long and gave me a nasty case of food poisoning for the flight home.

By: Righteous Bubba

Righteous Bubba — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:38:23 +0000

Peche a la frog or frog a la peche?

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:30:34 +0000

Engels – Ah, those dew-picked frogs: I’m grateful to you for reminding me that a certain species of restaurant menu has literally been beyond parody for over 35 years . . .

By: engels

engels — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:07:13 +0000

Anyone ever had Cornish ram's bladder, emptied, steamed, flavoured with sesame seeds whipped into a fondue and garnished with lark's vomit?

By: Laleh

Laleh — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:02:31 +0000

The best “odd” thing ever is sparrow fried and then served in pomegranate sauce. A delicacy in the Levant. And utterly delicious. And fun to eat, as you eat everything – bones and all.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:02:13 +0000

A friend of mine who grew up in Tennessee assures me a cherished memory of teenage summers was to rise with the dawn, shoot a half-dozen squirrels and bring them home where his mother cooked them for the family breakfast. He maintains they were delicious. I can only vouch personally for the pleasures of pigeon and rabbit.

By: Quo Vadis

Quo Vadis — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:53:24 +0000

I’ve had barbecue rattlesnake. I enjoyed it. The texture was similar to pork, but as it was served in barbecue sauce, it was difficult to tell what about the flavor was meat and what was sauce.

By: ann #2

ann #2 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:34:24 +0000

Pig ears, at a Chinese restaurant somewhere in the Kansai region of Japan (no, I don’t remember, but it was at a banquet of some sort with people that I don’t remember.) I loved them—finally was able to understand what the dog saw in them.