I don’t know if you are looking for meat analogues, but I got to eat hand made seitan once. Really great texture. It isn’t something I see anywhere in places I tend to be so it was exotic to me. It was pretty labor intensitto make, I thought. It took a lot of water!
I used to make this myself. It was a mission to make.
Indeed. I used to have friends who would make tempeh but I don’t remember ever having theirs and it is more available anyway.
That’s very interesting. I had no idea this existed.
I don’t use facebook anymore but iirc there is a group called the seitan society which tries the most ridiculous recipees with seitan. just the images alone were stunning.
If you can find this, it’s really good. I have never met someone who did not like it. Rinse it off, marinate it, throw it in curry, whatever. My ex used it, or real duck in fresh spring rolls. Available at many Asian markets.
It’s rooted in a Chinese Taoist vegetarian festival called ‘the Nine Emperor Gods’. It has become quite big in Thailand.
Rattlesnake. Not bad, but totally unremarkable - tasted like chicken. Still, I’d recommend it, because the best thing about it is getting to say you’ve eaten rattlesnake.
Not bad, but totally unremarkable
Pretty much sums up my experience with rattlesnake, as well. The novelty of it was the most interesting part, really.
Though that really applies to just about every “exotic” meat I’ve had. They all taste like a slightly worse version of other, more conventional meats, and it’s immediately made clear why it’s not more popular in the first place.
I think I had grilled blow snake once. I was camping with a bunch of other kids and somebody caught the thing. You’re right it tasted like chicken.
Ostrich is delicious. I’ve eaten it in a restaurant once and cooked it myself two or three times. It tastes like a red meat, but cooks like white meat, so you have to be careful because it can overlook in a snap.
I had a roommate who used to make ostrich chili all the time. It was pretty good. Still prefer beef though.
100% agree. I was at a festival, saw a stand selling “ostrich steak” sandwiches, which I’d never heard of before. I figured I’d try it. The meat, which was served on a hoagie roll, looked and tasted like London broil. Good stuff! I’m surprised it’s not more common!
Alligator. Chewier than chicken. Tasted kinda like chicken. Would try again, I guess.
Also had ostrich burgers a couple of times. I’m told I was shitfaced and enjoyed them immensely, but I couldn’t tell you for sure, for I was shitfaced.
Is it jut me or is this diet sounds extremely australian?
Nah crocs not gators for Australia.
Ostrich burgers are excellent. There used to be a sports store near here that served burgers (bison, elk, ostrich) and the ostrich was the best. Also deep fried alligator nuggets, but honestly once you bread and deep fry something they’re pretty much all the same.
Very low end: goat. There was an Indian restaurant near a museum we visited, and I saw it as an option and figured why not. Turns out it’s mostly like lamb. Quelle surprise.
Haven’t had it since. It’s hard enough finding anywhere that serves lamb, in the US. It’s just not on our radar. I think everywhere I’ve seen it is either some kind of ethnic cuisine (mostly Indian and Greek, since a few years in Bavaria had quite an impact on my palette) or some upscale restaurant treating it as exotic. Otherwise you have to buy a shoulder and slow-cook it yourself.
As an Indian myself, thinking of goat as exotic feels funny. I guess in a sense it’s true though.
Gator, croc, moose, ostrich, caribou, elk, cow brain, squid ink.
The cow brain was bland and I did not care for the squid ink. The rest were great.
Dog, it was chewie and not tasty at all, no wonder most people don’t eat it.
I wonder if it’s because it’s a carnivore. Are there any other carnivores people generally eat? Hmm…
lots of kinds of fish. most other carnivores are not cost effective to be eaten regularly.
I heard something somilar about why cat doesn’t taste good.
Bears supposedly have very distinct tastes depending on whether they’ve been eating meat and fish or fruits and honey.
Think you meant to reply to the other guy.
Where dogs are eaten they are usually omnivores. Lots of scraps mixed with rice, at least in Southeast Asia.
Bear. I’ve never had it but I’m told it’s super greasy
Chicken
It can be really good, though undeniably gamey.
What’s your favorite breed?🙂
I have no idea, as far as I know there are specific meat dog breeds.
Ate a platter of 3 different fried insects. I think it was wood worms, bees, and crickets. The bees were the best.
None of them were horrible. Would do it again.
Horse. A friend of mine brought some from Iceland and was kind enough to share. Its somewhere between pork and beef to me.
The fermented shark he brought back on the other hand, was the worst thing I have ever tasted. The smell alone cleared the room, and as one chef instructor said, “it smells like dirty pussy”.
You have to chase hákarl with brennivin. Although brennivin itself makes me gag.
What is brennivin? To be honest I’d try it again if theres a better way to eat it
All sorts:
- Cat & Dog in SE Asia
- Horse, Donkey, Zebra, Crocodile, Sheep’s brain in Europe
- Kangaroo, Emu, Ostrich, Possom, Rabbit, Cricket, Goat, Huhu grub, almost all offal? etc in New Zealand
- Something I have no idea what it was in Russia
Edit:
- Moose and reindeer in Northern Europe
- Lots of seafood at home in NZ, both raw and cooked
Russia was probably just pork offal. It tends to be most of their mystery meat.
Camel, crocodile, kangaroo, horse, whale, puffin…
Your ellipses make me think you have tasted an entire zoo. What part of whale did you eat?
growing up in back country Montana I had a lot of things. hunting/trapping/fishing is still a way of life for folks, less so now but growing up I had bison, squirrel, gopher, wild turkey, grouse, beaver, bear, deer, elk, moose, antelope once when we visited the other side of the state, basically all species of fish, even snake a few times.
I think the most exotic of all of it was probably the beaver tail. it’s really fatty/oily. it wasnt bad but I wouldnt eat very often even if it was readily available. venison or bison is more my style, or smoked brook trout.
Jellyfish. A bit… enh?
Fresh fried Moose heart. It was drenched in butter and seasoning and was actually pretty good. Little chewy though.
Also, smoked turkey gizzard. Fucking disgusting.
I guess exotic is relative, someone in here saying kangaroo is eaten all around Australia and Alligator is reasonably common here. Someone has goat as exotic but it seems common most everywhere.
I’m gonna go with the turtle soup my grandma got us at a restaurant when I was little (family very Louisiana on my dad’s side), I remember it being good. Don’t think I’d eat anything even remotely endangered now, they were not back then.
Husband still raves about Indonesian fried frog legs, he lived there for years growing up.
