kdj Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Today seemed like yesterday with Bill. Good thing is spring is only 6 weeks away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xterra Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Oh, you meant Groundhog Day. I thought you were talking about this... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 I assumed Bill Murray, but never understood the groundhog tradition. Maybe they can train them better, it didn't even draw blood... http://www.weather.com/news/video/punxsutawney-phil-groundhog-bites-wisconsin-mayor-during-ceremony B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Only thing Groundhog Day means to me is that little town gets to make a little tourism money for SOMETHING. Other than that what are the options? Either 6 more weeks of winter or 6 more weeks till spring? Wonder what it DOES taste like... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Oohhh... smoked giant hampster groundhog... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdj Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Only thing Groundhog Day means to me is that little town gets to make a little tourism money for SOMETHING. Other than that what are the options? Either 6 more weeks of winter or 6 more weeks till spring? Wonder what it DOES taste like... I know a guy that swears they taste just like squirrel. Believe me...you don't want to look in his freezer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I know a guy that swears they taste just like squirrel. Is that a good thing? Honestly, I've never consumed squirrel. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nunya Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I'd try squirrel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I imagine tree rat would taste just about like any other rat, but not having tried packrats or ground rats, that doesn't tell me much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdj Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Well i just checked my Northern Cookbook and squirrel is described as "tender and has a a truly delicous flavour without a gamey taste". Now I've never tried squirrel but... the "Squirrel Fricassee" and "Brunswick Stew" actualy sounds pretty good. It also has three Woodchuck recepies...the best sounding is "Woodchuck Meat Patties with Tomato Sauce". I've never eaten a woodchuck(ground hog) either but being Canadian I have eaten beaver. This from a book published by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Ottawa 1977. Even how to cook skunk, porcupine, reindeer etc. The fillet of Whale with Mushroon Sauce sounds tasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Damn, that's pretty far out there! I had to check, and one of my sausage recipe books describes squirrel as "pink meat, can be sweet or gamy" and woodchuck as "rich, red flesh with a distinct gamy flavor". That's not too helpful. The squirrel sausage has pine nuts, allspice, cardamom and mace, the woodchuck sausage rosemary, sage, thyme, onion and parsley. I usually stick to pork, beef and chicken though... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdj Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 If you have an older ground hog it should be parboilded before roasting or frying. All these critters have scent glands (on the inside of the forelegs). If not removed you get "gamey taste". From this book it say's skunk tastes "just like rabbit". I'm just mentioning this because if you have "sausage recipe bookS" you must have some meat knowledge. Have you seen the periodic table of meat on the web? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If I have an older ground hog, I'll probably just throw it in the ditch, but thanks for the info! Skunk tastes just like rabbit? Which end of the skunk, because I could see 1/2 being pretty damn gamy! I'm not a hunter so most of my meat is sourced (a few hunter friends have brought things by) so my menu is more boring mainstream, but my attitude is that the only reason I haven't eaten X is that I haven't been that hungry yet... The most exotic I've had is alligator, rattle snake and penguin. (just kidding about the penguin) Yes, I practice charcuterie, so I cure my own bacon, pork loin, corned beef, make fresh sausages, smoked sausages, cured and smoked salmon, etc. I'm about to set up a drying cabinet in the garage so I can cure salami, hunter sausage and the like. I'm self taught and no expert, but I probably know more than most... No, I had to look up the periodic table of meats, that is hilarious and awesome. I might have to have a poster made! For everyone else, here it is... B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I had beaver once at a fly fishing club Mystery Meat night. I don't know what had happened to this particular beaver, but it was oily, tough, and fibrous, kind of like if you dropped a grease rag into a crock pot of steak sauce and left it there for a few hours. The squirrel sausage has pine nuts, allspice, cardamom and mace, the woodchuck sausage rosemary, sage, thyme, onion and parsley. Does the mace come from the person whose yard you're hunting squirrels in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hah! I hope not! Actually we used to have a lot of squirrels bouncing around the neighborhood (and quite a few through our yard), but I haven't seen many for a while. Either a predator moved in or some disease went through. Too bad, they can be fun to watch. And congrats, you have just turned me off of beaver (meat)! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I have traveled the world and eaten some @!*% that may make some of you question my decisions but any of the rodent family can be quite tasty... I could never stomach Balut, snake blood, or raw octopus. to each is own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Yep, there are a lot of odd dishes out there, some downright repulsive, and not just from a cultural aversion stand point. For example, fried giant spider in Cambidia. I can honestly say 'no thank you!'. Agreed, balut is nasty and to me raw octopus was pretty boring, just bland and chewy. Like you said though, to each their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiBumBrian Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Yeah, I could probably do without the spiders, it was hard enough getting the grasshoppers down... The raw octopus seems to grow as you chew it..... Expanding gristle! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdj Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 I did see a girl grab a battered calamarni ring once thinking it was an onion ring. She had let same look on her face as when I popped some purple grapes in my mouth that turned to be black olives. They both came out the same hole that they went in...only faster. I don't fear spiders or snakes...but i also won't eat them. They aren't on the periodic table of "meat". Thank for posting that B. although they can't be in order. I mean head cheese is #42 and Thankgiving turkey is #85. In the States isn't the saying "Baseball, hot dogs and Nissan" Hot dogs are listed as #90. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 That is the funny thing, if it isn't the texture/flavor you expect, it is instantly wrong and must go! Even if it isn't bad/harmful... I'm certain that is just a learned reflex that promoted survival, and maybe continues to. Well, even the 'order of meats' is subjective (and I don't think the order=ranking regardless). For example, I'm not all that fond of turkey but I'll drive 100 miles to get some quality braunschweiger and headcheese (with blood, of course). We will eat headcheese long before we touch any pimento loaf or any other Oscar Meyer type abomination. Thankfully there is a local European store that can supply us now. If you don't eat headcheese, you aren't eating the whole pig.) Hot dogs are another example; what is sold main stream is absolutely disgusting and I would only ever eat them if I was starving. If it was a Frankfurter, on the other hand, I'd be in line for it! That is how the hot dog started, from European immigrants, before it was bastardized into waste product, mass produced profit logs. This is exactly why I learned how to make my own sausages; most of what is available is not good, and when you find one that is good, they are very expensive. Sadly though, I am a beginner and don't have the proper equipment so the more complex sausages are generally beyond me for now. Yeah, I could probably do without the spiders, it was hard enough getting the grasshoppers down... The raw octopus seems to grow as you chew it..... Expanding gristle! Yeah, I have a mental block when it comes to insects. I bought a tray of locusts at the local Asian store for someone as a gag, swearing I would try one but I chickened out. I just couldn't grab a grasshopper and stick it in my mouth when I could go buy a cheese burger. Like I said earlier, I just wasn't hungry enough. Given the right (or wrong) circumstance, I have no doubt I'd fight for one... : B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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