Exotic Meats

[Arken]

I believe the answer is, "they taste just like chicken."

Now on to the greater problem which is:

How the hell do you accurately describe a taste other than comparing it to other tastes which makes no sense since it tastes like itself rather than the thing you're comparing it to. Saying "This tastes kind of like strawberries" really doesn't mean that much when you think about it because it's the things about it that DO NOT taste like strawberries that makes it unique. In fact, artificial flavouring has proven we don't have that great a taste memory anyway. Ever had a piece of 'strawberry' chewing gum and then had a strawberry? Still, we think of both of them as tasting like strawberries.

So, no, I don't think there's any way we could describe the way those meats taste for you.

[andros]

My $.02 won't be very helpful, but I've always had trouble describing foods as tasting like other foods. That is, an apple tastes like an apple, a Twinkie tastes like a Twinkie, and rattlesnake tastes like, well, rattlesnake. I know we always have a desire to quantify things, but . . . what does chicken taste like? Or beef?

That said, rattlesnake is similar to some poultry in its consistency, and has a mildish flavor. Kangaroo is more beef-like in texture, meaty and fairly flavorful. Shark is fishy without being too fishy, and fairly oily, with a dense texture that I also find similar to dolphin (oops, supposed to call it mahi-mahi ;)).

-andros-

[andros]

damn simulpost. What Arken said.

[Keeves]

I think the question itself is problematic, since each meat can be prepared so many ways.

I'll explain what I mean:

Suppose you met someone who never had beef before, and asked you what beef tastes like. Does a mental image of "beef flavor" come to you? If it does, then tell me - Were you thinking of steak, hamburger, meatloaf, stew, meatballs, or what?

Even if we try to ignore the flavorings added to each dish, the cut of meat and method of cooking affect the texture and the entire eating experience. The same spiceless piece will taste differently if you grill it whole, grind it into a burger and then grill it, grind it into a loaf and bake it, or grind it into balls and boil them.

Whatever mental feelings you have about the taste of beef, or chicken, or whatever, results from your accumulated experience eating that animal many different ways. Having eaten Meat A many ways, and Meat B many ways, you can get a feel for the experience which is consistently in Meat A no matter which way you prepare it, as distinct for the taste which is in Meat B no matter how you prepare it.

But if you try an exotic meat just once or twice, I can't imagine how an amateur (as opposed to an experienced, trained taste-tester) can identify its unique qualities. You need to try that meat prepared many different ways. To try it just once and offer a description, well that description might apply more to the recipe or to that particular cut, than to the species in general.

[Lucky]

andros,

Mahimahi is not dolphin. Dolphins are mammals. Mahimahi is a type of fish. The confusion came about because Mahimahi is often called Dolphinfish. This is becomming less and less common as persons with marketing concerns realized that people were equating dolphinfish with Flipper.
So go ahead and eat your mahimahi without guilt. It's a fish.

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Don't get me wrong--I love life. I'm just finding it harder and harder to keep myself amused.

[Sassy]

There is a restaurant here in San Francisco that specializes in venison and other game meats - partridge and such. You can look for Buca Giovanni, on Columbus Avenue (at a corner and I can't recall the other street. It's hard to describe the taste of game meats... but wild pheasant tastes like chicken crossed with liver.

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The reason gentlemen prefer blondes is that there are not enough redheads to go around.

The main thing about rattlesnake meat (and presumedly other snake meat) is that is very boney; sort of like eating spare ribs.

Sheep and Goat both have a distinctive taste (similar to lamb of course) which gets stronger depending on the age of the animal.

Shark does taste like mahimahi or swordfish, except it's somewhat drier.

As for other exotic meats, ostrich tastes like roast beef, rabbit tastes like dark chicken, and alligator tastes like a fishy sort of beef.

If you're looking for recipes, dig up a copy of Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe. He gives such recipes as Hawaiian Broiled Puppy, Baked Bat, Frogs' Legs with Cheese Sauce, and Silkworm Omelet. Yum.

[andros]

Thanks for the info, Lucky. But I'm going to have to disagree.

dolphin (dòl´fîn, dôl´-) noun
1. Any of various marine cetacean mammals, such as the bottle-nosed dolphin, of the family Delphinidae, related to the whales but generally smaller and having a beaklike snout.
2. Either of two marine game fishes (Coryphaena hippurus or C. equisetis) having iridescent coloring.

mahi-mahi (also mahimahi) (mä´hê-mä´hê) noun
plural mahi-mahis
A tropical marine food fish (Coryphaena hippurus) found worldwide, having an iridescent blue body and a long dorsal fin.


from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Hell, I never felt guilty about eating mahimahi and calling it dolphin. But some people freak. Now if I were to eat porpoise OTOH . . . :)

-andros-

Forgot the restaurants.

Rattlesnake; A now-closed BBQ restaurant in Buffalo called The Albuquerque Cattle Company used to served fried breaded rattlesnake as an appetizer.

You can order mutton in most Indian restauarants and goat in most Mexican or Caribbean ones. Obviously, you're looking for something a little more authentic than the local Taco Bell.

Shark is probably available in most seafood restaurants. Some may be a little sensitive when asked about serving shark because cheap places will substitute shark for more expensive swordfish.

Two local restaurants serve ostrich. Lilly's in Buffalo and Rose's in Rochester. At Lilly's they serve it as hamburgers. I've never eaten at Rose's.

I had alligator as an appetizer in a Cajun restaurant in Houston which has since closed.

I've also eaten several of these meats at home; sheep, shark, rabbit, and ostrich.

[Yarster]

Well, I agree with Mike King on the alligator, as it DOES taste like fishy beef.
I got that from a Deliverance-looking guy in Louisiana on a swamp tour.

If Buffalo counts I've had that in burger form on Catalina Island at a restaurant called 'The Buffalo Nickel' (since you wanted locations) and in steak form at a casino in Deadwood, South Dakota (can't remember the name on that). The burger tasted like a regular beef burger. The steak was a less fatty tasting roast beef and was quite good.

In Alaska, reindeer sausage is fairly common everywhere. But as it is in sausage form, it tastes a lot like a pork sausage, so I don't think that counts on your list.

[Doctor Jackson]

I've eaten kangaroo, adn remember it as gamey with a beef-like texture. Unfortunately for your personal taste test, the establishment where I tried kangaroo is now defunct.

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The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. -- E. Grebenik

[Gaudere]

Sorry, andros, Lucky is right. It's a dolphinfish.
http://makaha.mic.hawaii.edu/aquarium/mahi.htm

Mahi Mahi Aquaculture
Mahimahi, (Coryphaena hippurus) are raised at the Waikiki Aquarium as part of aquaculture research and development.

Mahimahi hold potential as aquaculture animals because they grow at an astounding rate. They reach maturity in six months at a size of 18 inches and a weight of 5 pounds. Mature female mahimahi can spawn up to 400,000 eggs every other day throughout the year. Advances in engineering and nutrition have allowed researchers to rear fish such as the mahimahi through their entire life cycle

http://makaha.mic.hawaii.edu/aquarium/2mahi.jpg

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"Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting."
- Bertrand Russell

[Gaudere]

..."dolphin" is just its common name. But I guess you got that...didn't read your post close enough. D'oh! My apologies.

[Inky]

Well, nothing makes me sadder than the untimely death of a cliche, but rattlesnake tastes NOTHING like chicken.

What does it taste like? Well, like rattlesnake basically. That is to say it's pretty unique. Mild, not a really distinct taste (I ate grilled samples, both plain and marainated).

The single most noticible aspect is the texture, like firm raw fish (like tuna or hake sushi) with a bit of a "grain" to it.

I ate it mostly to impress the girl I was with, but I'd eat it again if offered.

Hope that helps.

Inky

[Beruang]

I visited Australia a few years back, and ate both kangaroo and alligator (separate meals).

I agree with the folks who say kangaroo is like a stringy, somewhat-gamey beef.

My alligator tail slices tasted like pork chops.

We have all eaten shark. Most fish sticks are actually made of sharks caught in trawl nets.

And while I do not wish to try anyone's patience by climbing up on the environmental soapbox, sharks are important to the world's oceans and are threatened world-wide (mainly because they take so long to reproduce). We should try to eat less shark. So, if you actually *need* a reason to lay off fish sticks, there you have it. :)

[andros]

No problem, Gaudere. I've never actually heard it called dolphinfish, myself, only (and occasionally)dolphin. But usually Mahi Mahi. We'll go with that. :)

-andros-

[andros]

I hadn't heard that about fish sticks, Beruang. Do you have a link or a citation for it? I don't mind eating shark, but I want to know I'm doing so.

I was under the impression that the biggest threats to the shark population were folks hunting them for A)cartillage and B)fins.

-andros-

[Beruang]

andros --

Sorry, didn't mean to speak "in ex cathedra." I happen to be working at an aquarium, developing interpretation for a new shark exhibit, so I hear this stuff all the time.

From what I gather, scientists don't like to rate various threats as "#1" or "#2," because they are hard to define, even harder to measure. I understand that cartilige is relatively low on the threat list (but rising). Taking sharks for their fins is much bigger, due to the huge market for shark fin soup. (It also gets a lot of attention because of its inherent cruelty -- they cut the fins off living sharks and throw the maimed animal back into the water to die.)

But I believe (and I will try to check this for you) slightly more sharks are taken "accidentally" in drift nets or by trawlers which are actually targeting other fish. Rather than throw them back, they use the sharks and other unwanted "trash fish" for low-end sea food items, like fish sticks.

If shark populations were healthy I'd join you in a fish stick repast; as it is, I'll take a pass.

[mangeorge]

andros;
More on the dolphinfish. Sorry.
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MAHI MAHI

(Dolphin Fish) This fish is not a mammal or the porpoise that we have seen in the Sea World shows or remember as Flipper. It is smaller fish, with a distinctive hump on its head, more colorful and very plentiful. It is also most closely associated with Hawaiian cuisine because its taste blends so well with some of the native fruits and its was first introduced to the U.S. main land via Hawaii. Today it is cheaper and fresher locally. Mahi is pink, has a mildly sweet flesh which turns white when cooked. It is available all year round but is best purchased in the winter. There is a migration of the fish to the south at that time and the fishermen of Ecuador, which has 40°%e of the worlds production of Mahi, are harvesting around the clock. Mahi is excellent when fresh and cooked until it is just done when the meat barely flakes off, otherwise it will tend to taste dry.
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Are we tired of this yet? :)
Peace,
mangeorge

[Jorge]

Hmm. I question the relevance of taste-testing a few of these, as they are endangered species, and the only way you'd get 'em is the "grey market" of ex-zoo critters which probably alters the taste quite a bit (won't even bring up the legal, ethical questions of encouraging the consumption of endangered species, by definition low populations without sustainable harvests yet possible...)

Some, such as bear, are not ranched; you can hunt them and eat them, but in most states you can't commercialize sport-caught meat (home-consumption only).

Elk, alligator, deer, ostrich, and a few others are "ranched" - read "captive-bred" - so are available for general use.

Re. sharks: the fin trade, no question is the activity pushing shark catch over MSY. Vessels at sea don't have room enough to store anything but high-value items, so shark as a by-catch merely takes up room more profitably spent on target species. On law-abiding U.S. vessels in certain fisheries, regulated avoidance of waste has led to some keeping of by-catch - but this is an insignificant amount compared to the Asian fleets throughout the Pacific, who get large price per pound of shark fin for what takes little space, and often is an unreported fishery.

I'll find the cites if you'd like, but the problem there is how the data is collected if at all by such spineless agencies as the Nat'l Marine Fisheries Disservice. (One example is recording data every fifth set by observers, while sets 1 to 4 aren't counted. Any Taipei fishing captain with two working synapses can figure that one out).

[Arken]

Speaking of eating Kangaroo... does anyone know whether or not the rumour of McDonald's getting sued for putting Kangaroo meat in it's burgers in the late 80s is true?

[typertrphy]

A wonderful place to sample lots of kinds of " wild game and exotic meats " is the Buckhorn Exchange. It is in Denver, and is still in it's original site. It started as a trading post, the city grew around it. Great meals, INCREDIBLE old carved bar upstairs. In one sitting, I ate ( all for the first time ) Buffalo steak- delish,and juicy, and sweet, Elk, rattlesnake, alligator bits ( fried...) and rabbit.
Yes, I had bizarre dreams that night.
Typer :)

" If you want to kiss the sky you'd better learn how to kneel "

[Kat]

Arken--I doubt it. I imagine it would cost more for them to purchase and import kangaroo meat than to use beef.

(You might take a look at Return of the Straight Dope pages 97-100 or this Straight Dope link (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_097b.html).

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"The secret of life is, there ain't no secret, and you don't get your money back."

[chef_roger]

I definitely do NOT want to give the impression that I'm encouraging consumption of endagered species.

BTW - despite my UserName, I am NOT a chef!

1) I had no idea shark was endangered. I had "shark bites," at a tropical-themed restaurant in St. Louis once, and I just assumed that they wouldn't serve an endangered species. (I thought it tasted like beef, BTW).

2) Some African chef came to our town once, offering lion, tiger, and other game-type meats, on a sample platter. At $100 a pop, I had to pass, but the whole event piqued my curiosity.

3) I recognize that it's difficult to compare the tastes of various meats. I also recognize that it all depends on how the chef prepares it. But I'm hoping that I can get some generalizations on this point.

Thanks to all who have helped so far.

[theoperaghost]

Y-not Burger in Torrence California was (2 years ago, not sure about now - I moved) was serving ostrich burgers. Everyone said they tasted like mild beef.

[Satan]

Well, I've eated baby seal before.

Tastes kind of metallic, but that could be from the nails I had stuck in my club...

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Yer pal,
Satan

[lvick]

I can't believe that lion or tiger is available legitimitly anywhere in the world, although I'm sure black market sources do exist; I would want a close inspection of the preparation of such a dish. Isn't tigers' penis soup a chinese remedy for impotence; ah, good old sympathetic magic, kinda reminds me of christianity, gimme that ole time religion. BTW, I think anyone who poaches endagered species for profit should be taken outside and shot,
Larry

[Jorge]

OOhhh... waitaminute. Sharks ain't endangered - yet. Just that the present "harvest activity" is not gonna go on fer long at the present rate. (I said some of your menu items... my fault, shoulda been more specific.)

The African chef there... had to be zoo critters, ex-pets, or smuggled; all pretty much "grey" market, anyway. No other choices. You see, endangered species laws apply to importing, selling interstate, but NOT mere possession. A ridiculously large loophole.

Your friendly government agent can watch you walk down the street with a panda on a leash, and has little recourse. No requirements for a "license", or for some kinda permit. The burden of proof is on the gubbiment to show that that lion steak you're serving at your restaurant ain't illegal. Check out http://www.mercurycenter.com/nation/zoo/ or www.fwoa.org (http://www.fwoa.org) for more info.

BTW, the penis soup nonsense ? Yeah, aphrodisiac in the sense that, well... Imagine, say, Contestant #3 was an Annamite prince some 1000 yrs ago. He invites us all to dinner, and as a show of munificence, offers a multi-course feast, including a dozen tureens of tiger-penis soup. Well, heck ! tigers need some 35+ acres apiece to live, that's tantamount to saying I got control over at least that many acres of territory. Land & vassals equals power (ask Trump), which presumably is the only true aphrodisiac prior to Viagra. The symbol has overtaken the meaning, if you will.



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Ua pisia i le tagaliu

[chef_roger]

Would the Teeming Millions be interested in helping me write an article?? I'd like to know what the following exotic meats taste like. If you know of a particular restaurant or chef that serves this mean, please tell me about that, too, so I can write to them. Thanks.

Horse
Kangaroo
Bear
Lion
Tiger
Sheep
Goat
Rattlesnake
Shark
Whale Blubber

...and any other exotic meat that you may have eaten. Thanks a bunch!!!!!!!!

[chef_roger]

That should be "..serves this MEAT," not "...serves this mean." Oops.

[Gaudere]

Sheep is exotic? Haven't you ever had lamb? I've had mutton and goat, they taste like a cross between pork and beef but gamier. You can get goat and some Indian resturants. I like venison, but I guess that's not too exotic. Alligator tastes like beef to me. Shark tastes like mahimahi.

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"Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting."
- Bertrand Russell

[sunbear]

Couldn't help but notice that exotic meats is right next to frozen mammoth in the topics.Hmm...

[Temujin]

Here's a traditional Mongolian recipe for marmot:

Skin the animal. Save the skin.
Dismember the rest of the animal. Throw the head to a dog.
Heat up several fist-sized rocks in a fire. Put some red-hot rocks into the empty marmot skin. Put in some marmot meat. More rocks. More meat. Etc. When skin is full, close the neck opening and seal with a hot rock.
Put the ''package'' onto the fire to cook. Pull off the fur as it melts.
Cut open and eat.

The meat is delicious, but it's difficult to describe the taste. If I recall correctly (I only had it once) the flavor is a little like rabbit, but more pronounced.

[Momotaro]

Satan, you are truly evil. :) Will the Devil rise to the challenge?

[Chef Troy]

I moved to a new neighborhood a couple of months ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my new supermarket stocks all kinds of exotic meats in the freezer section -- including kangaroo, buffalo, alligator, pheasant, and more. Haven't bought any yet but sooner or later we won't be able to face another chicken breast and then we'll hop to it.

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Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

[mikan]

Whale blubber ... needs a good sauce to be enjoyed. It doesn't have much taste by itself.

[Beruang]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but...

After a couple weeks of digging, all I can find in reference to shark being eaten under assumed names are:

Time Magazine, Aug. 11, 1997 "piked dogfish, a small spiny shark, has begun to stand in for cod in the fish and chips served in British pubs."

A WWF web page (sorry, no citation) titled "Shark on the menu," which lists euphemisms used in the US, Europe and Australia.

The "common knowledge" that fish sticks are made of by-catch sharks continues to elude verification, but I've heard it from enough marine biologists to keep looking...

[Spud]

Haven't been there in many years, but there is a place that used to feature (probably still do) several exotic meats (rattlesnake, lion, etc). Try Adam's Rib in Zionsville, IN (one of the "cheap" suburbs of Indy). I'll save you some research... 40 S Main St. 317/873-3301. Sorry, don't know the zip code.

I had the rattlesnake and remember it as being quite good... but that was about 15 years ago. The restaurant is still there and the owners are the same, so good luck.

p.s. It is just down the road from the Rolls Royce dealership.

[BobT]

A fast food place in Inuvik, NWT serves both caribou burgers and muskox burgers. In both cases, they taste very much like hamburgers once they are grilled and covered with ketchup and other condiments.
The muskox took a longer time to cook as I suppose it was a much denser meat.

[putrid]

I've had shark 3 times. The first, it tasted sort of like rubber (taste, not texture) but strange enough that I was not turned off it forever. The 2nd time, it was utterly terrible -- gristle and awfully prepared. The 3rd was a mako shark cooked by my sister. It tasted like a good whitefish.