Horseburgers - what animals have you eaten?

Zingmo

Eardstapa
Jan 4, 2010
1,296
119
S. Staffs
Apologies to the vegetarians out there, but this story got me wondering.

My list has a few odd ones, but I bet between you lot, nothing is safe!

Ostrich - delicious and healthy
Crocodile - chewy & fishy
Kangaroo - not at all memorable
Bison - should be served with gaviscon sauce
Muntjac - delicious and you can fit a whole one in the oven!
Wild boar - an improvement on pork

So go on - what animals have you eaten?

Z
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
11
Brigantia
Nothing too adventurous. Not had deep fried insects for example. Although we will all have eaten insect larvae, or grubs without knowing it.
Had Caribou in Canada, got food poisoning!
Ostrich, yummy, horse, in Paris in a burger, Yummy, Frogs Legs, taste like chicken, Snails, in restaraunts. Quite good.

Once brought a load of camambert back from france on a plane in hand luggage. Overhead compartment. The entire plane reeked for four hours as the air was constantly recirculated.
People were ill. [Nobody knew it was me]

:naughty:
 
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Keith_Beef

Native
Sep 9, 2003
1,397
280
55
Yvelines, north-west of Paris, France.
Ostrich: yes plenty of times, and ostrich eggs, too. These are reared in South West France, and also in the US, for food and for the leather.
Bison: yes, again plenty of times, but never found the eggs for sale...
Crocodile: no, never had any of that, though I had alligator when I was in Florida, in the Everglades.
Boar: again quite a few times when I lived in Paris; my butcher used to get a whole boar delivered on a pallet and cut it up in his shop. The meat counter at my supermarket has some "boar" at the moment, but imported from the US... I declined.
Horse: again this was while living in Paris. SWMBO was not happy when I told her what it was.
Deer: I don't know what kind, but I've had venison no end of times in the UK, France and the US.

Now for a few things not on your original list...

Donkey: I used to be able to find some chorizo imported from Spain that listed in its ingredients "meat of donkey, horse and pig".
Goat: I've had this a few times in Mexican restaurants in the US, and a couple of times in Indian or Pakistani restaurants.
Duck, Goose, Guinea Fowl, Pheasant, Grouse, Partridge, Quail: the first three are almost as common as chicken over here, quails are common and easy to get, but I don't eat them as often. Also, I've eaten the eggs of duck, goose and quail. I forget which, but either duck or goose eggs are not for sale in France; my egg and cheese merchant once explained to me that one of those has much thinner shells, and so there is a greater risk of contamination through the shell. In the UK we used to get both.
Rabbit and hare: I cooked a couple of hares in November; they were delicious. In the US I used to be able to buy rabbits from time to time at the supermarket, but there seemed to be no logic or timetable to their availability. In the UK I used to buy rabbits for £1 each from the Granger Market in Newcastle.
Pigeon and squab: I've had these a few times, in France and in the US.
Snails: both land snails and water snails (whelks and winkles). And limpets... not exactly snails, but similar and wild. I've eaten them raw, pulled straight off the rock.
Oysters: literally hundres of times... And while we're on the subject of seafood: razor clams, cockles, mussels, scallops, abalone, conch, lobsters, crabs of at least half a dozen varieties, warty venus, dog cockle, lambi (on Martinique)... I'll not bother to list all the different sea, river and lake fish that I've bought from the fishmonger or eaten in a restaurant, I'll just mention the pike and perch that I caught in a friend's pond and the sturgeon that I ate in Moscow (a friend's dad brought it from his fishing trip the North).
Insects: chocolate covered ants (do these count, if the insects are less than 1% by weight of the finished food?), locusts and grasshoppers, silkworm pupae (번데기, I could get them in cans in my local Korean supermarket).
Dog, cat and rat: pretty sure I've had these passed off as other meats in dodgy hole-in-the-wall restaurants or from street vendors.
Jellyfish: sold in strips, dried and salted, in the Korean supermarket; use it like noodles.
Sea urchin: I've eaten this a few times in France, and used to buy urchin tarama before the supermarket stopped stocking it (I think that not enough people bought it).
Bullfrogs' legs: my son ordered these in a restaurant in New Orleans, and let me try one. I've not yet tried ordinary frogs' legs here in France (though they are mostly imported from Indonesia, and have been for a long time).

There are almost no animals or parts thereof that I would not try, with the exception of endangered species. I would not go searching out a Nigerian restaurant in London to get gorilla's palms.

Then we could get on to less common parts of common animals, like pickled lamb's brain, duck gizzard or sweetbread (calf's thymus).
 
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Bushwhacker

Banned
Jun 26, 2008
3,882
8
Dorset
I'd say it's rather subjective - meat is meat no matter what the packaging is.
I do echo Keith Beef's sentiment and would never get into the realms of sharkfin soup or elephant spare ribs!
 

plastic-ninja

Full Member
Jan 11, 2011
2,263
271
cumbria
I'm not sure if it's still there but I remember going many times to a Chinese chippy in Carlisle which always
had exotics on the menu.Please add the words " 'n' chips " to the following:
Kudu (tough)
Springbok (nice, like venison)
Crocodile (Hideous , like garbage)
Boar (lovely as a burger)
Ostrich (as above)
Rattlesnake (interesting ;unlike anything else I've ever tasted)

Also had ' saucisson ane' in the Carmargue.Donkey sausage! :yikes: stop giggling! Joking apart it was fine.
Oh and I once had a Big Mac , no idea what was in it : tasted like carpet! Never again.
Bon Appetit! Simon
 

Barn Owl

Old Age Punk
Apr 10, 2007
8,246
7
58
Ayrshire
I thought Kangaroo was excellent, prefer it to ostrich.
Still to try zebra, local game dealer sells all the exotics.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,880
2,129
Mercia
I'd like to think there's some guy, somewhere else in the world saying, "Pork is quite nice, a white meat with firm texture..... a bit like snake" :)

Love it....is he friends with the guy that thinks chicken....and nearly everything else....tastes like three toed sloth? ;)
 

Rich83

Full Member
Sep 6, 2012
186
0
Selsey, West Sussex
I had ostrich jerky, "Biltong" from SA when my uncle lived out there he brought some back. Also had crockodile which was nasty and fishy as already said. Kangaroo is meant to be a really lean alternative to beef but I didn't much like it and it was pretty plain.

I do however have some of these burgers in my freezer and when watching the news this morning the wife said we needed to chuck them out... I told her the only difference between this batch of burgers and any other processed food in the freezer is that we KNOW there is un inventoried crap inside that batch lol :p
 

Keith_Beef

Native
Sep 9, 2003
1,397
280
55
Yvelines, north-west of Paris, France.
I do however have some of these burgers in my freezer and when watching the news this morning the wife said we needed to chuck them out... I told her the only difference between this batch of burgers and any other processed food in the freezer is that we KNOW there is un inventoried crap inside that batch lol :p

What's that news, then? I'm a bit behind with current stories...
 

knifefan

Full Member
Nov 11, 2008
1,048
3
62
Lincolnshire
Bought a "deep Fried" Rat in Lagos, Nigeria by mistake!!! Saw all these people walking around with paper cones eating the contents!!! Thought it was a chip seller :lol: Tried a back leg but found it a bit "Greasy" so left the rest!!!! :lol: :lol:
 

Elen Sentier

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
bison - delicious
elk - very good
red deer - delicious
roe deer - very good
fallow deer - very good
wild boar - delicious
squirrel - yuck, maybe I need some recipes!
rabbit - very good in stew, with prunes, or in game pie
hare - better than rabbit but long time since I had any
pheasant - good & with rabbit etc in game pie
partridge - good & with rabbit etc in game pie
grouse - good
pigeon - love the breasts & with rabbit etc in game pie
guinea fowl - good
peacock - not bad, long time ago
swan - once, seem to remember it was good
chicken
capon - different from chicken, I like
turkey
duck
goose
lamb
mutton - very nice, especially if grown on salt marshes
beef
pork
... can't think of anything else ... oh yes, horse
 

Dave

Hill Dweller
Sep 17, 2003
6,019
11
Brigantia
I think if I was in an accident/situation where I had to eat another person to survive, I'd be fine with that. ;)
Yum Yum.
[If I'd expired, I hereby give my permission for me to be eaten as well. I'd probably go down quite well with some ketchup]
 

DaveBromley

Full Member
May 17, 2010
2,502
0
41
Manchester, England
Wild boar
Kangaroo
Ostrich
Crocodile
Bison
Horse
Beef
Lamb
Pork
Chicken
Duck
Goose
Pigeon
Squirrel (grey)
Turkey
Mutton
Rabbit
Venison
Veal

Fish

Shark
Tuna (my favourite is seared Tuna steaks mmmmmmmmmmmmm)
Pike
Perch
Zander
Roach
Gudgen
Tench (very muddy)
Cod
Haddock
Plaice
Whiting
Poutling
Codling
Mackerel
Bream
Bass

Sea Food

Clams
Cockles
Scallops
Muscles
Winkles
Razor Clams
Shrimp
Prawns
King Prawns
Crab

Insects

Scorpion (covered in Chocolate)
Ants (covered in Chocolate)
Wood Louse (prawny)
grasshopper
locust

think thats it

I likes animals I does!

Dave
 

Keith_Beef

Native
Sep 9, 2003
1,397
280
55
Yvelines, north-west of Paris, France.

Ah, now I understand the title of the thread, too... As far as I'm concerned, I have no objection to eating horse flesh, as long as it has been subejct to the same standards of hygiene as cow flesh, but as I understand it there is very little, if any, horse flesh destined for human consumption in the UK and Ireland. I would have to assume, therefore, that any horse flesh getting into the burgers would have come from meat originally intended for animal foods (such as dog and cat food).

Now it may well be that food intended for dogs and cats is perfectly safe for human consumption, but I don't know enough about that to be absolutely certain.

I've read that BBC report again, and the interesting line at the end.

BBC said:
Meanwhile, Silvercrest Foods and Dalepak both said they had never bought or traded in horse product and have launched an investigation into two continental European third-party suppliers.

So it looks possible that the horse flesh in the samples could have come from a supplier of meat for human consumption, anyway.
 
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