In the Jody Foster movie Home for the Holidays (1995), Adele (played by Anne Bancroft) says that her uptight daughter, Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson) is bringing a “nutria turkey.”
So far as I know, nutria is a rodent (featured in that urban legend about the people adopting a dog in Latin America?). Is it or can it be used as a turkey substitute? Or was that just a sarcastic comment on Adele’s part?
Well, a nutria is about the size of a turkey, and you could roast one whole.
Nutrias are huge rodents though, the size of a medium sized dog. People eat rabbits, why not nutrias?
I know that Louisiana has been running a (largely ineffective - rat fur coats and ratmeat stew?) program to try to get people to hunt them for fur and meat, as they are considered a pest species - maybe it’s a play on some regional public relations program?
Absolutely! Hell, with a name like “nutria,” it’s practically begging to be eaten.
Okay, but the movie was made in 1995 and is set in Baltimore.
Probably explains why I can’t find any good cuts of sloth.
A coworker from South Lousiana told me about this. He said they hired Paul Prudhomme to come up with some recipes.
He also told me about the Nutria-Vac that was developed using a parking lot sweeper truck. The idea was to stick a hose into the nutria den and suck them out. When I told this, I envisioned an Elmer Fudd cartoon.
“Be vewy, vewy quite.”, whirrrrrrrrrr, thud, whirrrrrrrr, thud, thud.
Exactly. Sounds like a play on “nutritious” = good eats. Sounds like one of the Seven Dealy Sins = not so much. 
Those that I’ve talked to who’ve actually eaten nutria tell me that it tastes a bit like rabbit and isn’t unpleasant at all, although I don’t know how it was prepared. But, no, even down here in south Louisiana, nutria isn’t considered a food animal, I think because of it’s verminous reputation and nasty appearance – which really makes me wonder about the popularity of catfish.
Especially considering that catfish tastes just as muddy and mucky as it looks. :mad:
That and the fact that if you order it in a restaurant, your date’s on the coffee by the time it’s arrived 
Au contraire, heathen. I’ve eaten catfish that’d make you slap your mama.
I meant to add one of these: 
Shut your mouth, you blasphemous devil, you.
Only when not cleaned right. Catfish (and carp and other rough fish) have what’s referred to as a “mud vein” of dark, discolored reddish brown tissue that tastes like, well, rotten fishy dirt. If even a smidge of the mud vein stays on the meat being cooked it’s not going to be a real good meal.
Is that really what you’d notice first? I think it would be more along the lines of, “Honey… why are there no wings?” :eek:
Yew. 
Living as I do in S. Louisiana, I have had the unpleasant experience of seeing them. Rodents indeed. Think of a pack of rats lounging around-magnify each animal to about 20 lbs each. Not pretty.
I have heard of the attempt to make them marketable-not a success.
We had an infestation in my subdivision and I called the parish to see if anything could be done. Answer-nothing. According to the annoyed guy on the phone they breed faster than they can be shot. And people around here like to shoot things! The local sheriff made news issuing 22s to his SWAT teams and sending them out at night to shoot nutria. The nutria won.
There are more nutria recipes on the web than you can shake a stick at.