One of my university Spanish textbooks contained the immortal sentence, “Ya no quiero comer más cui.” (I do not want to eat any more guinea pig.)
I’ve been wondering for decades what turtle tastes like. Does it taste at all fishy?
Also, anybody know what eel tastes like?
I’ve had turtle and it wasn’t fishy at all. Maybe it was the way it was prepared, but it was a great deal like overdone roast beef, at least to me.
It was the only time I had turtle, and it was long enough ago that I don’t remember details that much. I do recall the stew beign hearty, thick, and the meat was juicy and very tender. Did not taste anything like fish, closer to beef but a little sweet, although that may have been the spices and other flavors in the stew.
Man, I wish I knew where I could go to have some turtle around here.
I’ve had guinea pig in Ecuador. It’s pretty good, much better than alpaca, which is kind of dry. They seem to serve it year round, but not at every restaurant. I had to keep my eye out for it. I also have an armadillo ukulele I picked up there.
Grilled eel is a staple in Japan, and it’s absolutely delicious: tender, moist and succulent.
When I was in Ecuador one of the people I was with ordered it when we ate out at a touristy restaurant in Quito. The quote above basically describes his experience as well, he found it too disgusting to eat. He described it as fried chicken with overtones of guinea-pig cage. To add insult to injury it was the most expensive thing on the menu.
I tried a tiny piece just so I could say I did. That was plenty for me.
I imagine it could be prepared in a more appetizing way though.
Yeah, a guinea pig stew would be fine, or sausage. God knows GP is probably better for you than a hotdog, but it was still rat on a stick. I’ve eaten sheep eye balls in central asia and some pretty bizarre things in Asia, but I found my limit and it’s rat on a stick.
I’ve had roast cui a couple of times in Cuzco, Peru. I really like it; it’s my second favorite rodent after paca. Personally, I don’t think it tastes much like chicken; it’s more like pork, but with a more delicate flavor. I had it at fairly fancy restaurants near the town plaza. Both times it came served with the head on, rather like a small suckling pig. One of the restaurants bedecked it with an elaborate crown and bracelets made out of salad greens. I would highly recommend it. It’s better than rabbit.
Paca (also called conejo pintado, tepezcuintle, or gibnut) is a large forest rodent that is considered a delicacy in much of Latin America. I’ve had it in restaurants in remote areas in Panama. It’s a little more porklike than Guinea Pig, with a thicker layer of fat beneath the skin.
Other rodents I’ve eaten include squirrel, muskrat, and Polynesian rat. My least favorite was rat, because it tasted, well, like rat. (Very dark meat, and gamy.)
Well, if it was good enough for The Last Supper…
Yes, that is a guinea pig that Christ is dishing up: the painting is by Marcos Zapata, and is from the Cathedral of Cusco in Peru.