Strangest creature you've cooked and eaten (not a vegetarian post)

[amazondk]

Here is a typical BBQ in the interior of Amazonas. On the grill is a tambaqui (fruit eating cousin of the piranha), paca (Cuniculus paca), tracaja the most popular river turtle to eat in the area.

dk

[weldertom]

Lets see,

Squirrel

Racoon

Rattlesnake

Hardhead catfish ( I know I know.....it was an experiment lol)

When I was a teenager one winter in Oyster Creek, Tx , myself and two cousins once "collected" about 25 robins in two shots with the old 12 gauge while camping in a nearby swamp......We breasted them out and made a Robin stew with carrots potatoes and such. It wasn't bad at all!

[weldertom]

Just about everything above, except Iguana. Haven't had that one yet, but I will when I have the opportunity. Did anyone mention raw oysters, that takes a little courage for first timers who didn't grow up with them.

When I was younger, I had Boudin Noir (Blood Sausage). I remember being quite fond of it. It is now against the law to sell in Louisiana. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsBc2GWGQN8

Squirrel Jambalaya. The skull was included. I remember opening the skull to eat the brain, which was considered a delicacy.

Also, Chock (Boat-Tailed Grackle) Jambalaya. As a pre-teen I would go out with my .22 and shoot them for my Aunt who loved to make that particular Jambalaya.

Pickled Pigs Feet

I have tried every fish known to man, including some considered non-edible. The only one I just could never find a way to make palatable was Jack Gravelle, and I tried many, many ways.

Oh, Nutria. Not bad.

I'll think of more. There is an old joke "When a Cajun is hungry, no animal in the woods is safe", and there is some truth to that joke.

Dang Keith -

This was going pretty good til you mentioned you ate Nutria........ that just kinda put me off...........

[_Keith]

From http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0619/p20s01-sten.html

In 1998, Louisiana held a big nutria cook-off, inviting the state's famous chefs. That same year Maryland held its own bash in Dorchester County on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, to attract support for nutria eradication.

Nick Carter, a conservationist known for his nutria recipes throughout the Delmarva Peninsula (which runs down the eastern shore of the Chesapeake through Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia), played chef. The menu, high toned as he could get it, included nutria en hoof de barbecue, medallions de nutria, nutria au vin, and Nick's Smokehouse Nutria.

"We all had a good time," Mr. Carter recalls. "You can do anything with the nutria: chili, stew, barbecue. They taste better than muskrat."

(by the way, at the cook-off mentioned above is where I tried it. -k)

[www.dadluvsu.com]

I'm still alive to tell about this one... Not sure it was ever a creature...

[Alicehunter2000]

Keith, its funny that you mentioned squirrel brains. I thought I was the only one who has eaten that particular "delicacy". I really don't care for it that much, but my dad really likes them....jokingly claims it makes him smart in the woods (a better squirrel hunter) lol. I have also eaten dove brains....just crunch the little fried head up...minus the beak and eyes of course <----that would be gross.

[Alicehunter2000]

My Ukrainian wife has gotten me to eat "sala" which is nothing more than salted, uncooked pig fat. Seems to be a huge delecasy in some parts of Eastern Europe.

[Gtlevine]

I ate sand crabs alive off the beach from a friends dare.

Gary

[paulgila]

i HAD crabs...

[Tad]

David does your wife ever make solyanka? the stew/soup with pickles in it? man thats the bombdiggety!

[Alicehunter2000]

Tad, she said she made something similar for me, but I didn't like it much (I don't remember). She said it was mainly a Russian dish and she (being Ukrainian) makes borsch more often. This, I do like....she makes it fairly regularly, especially in the winter. She says that if you need any recipes for either she will be glad to share them with you.

[Tad]

I am all up in that, solyanka I think is more gerogian? ask her if that sounds right and yeah the borscht rocks, I get my fix on ykrania chow at the russian general store when I am in Houston, I like the black caviar but the orange is no bueno for me and my wife and daughter can put a real hurting on those whole cold smoked fish!

[DoomsDave]

Kieth:

What does grackle taste like?

We had lots of those in Ohio. I even rescued one that had broken its wing. The cat killed it and ate it.

Maybe describe the flavor in detail, cher??

[Jeff Searle]

Everyone....

OK, I'm just going to step this up a notch and throw this out there. HAS ANYONE or has anyone know someone that has ever eaten a part of a human being? Cannibalism. A person that eats the flesh of another human being. Or an animal that feeds on it's own kind.

No, I never have, or do I know someone that has. But, with this international group we have, maybe someone out there has something they might want to share. This could get very interesting (?).

Jeff

[palmmermaid]

Jeff,

Nope, never ate human nor know anyone who (admittedly) did either. When we were in Fiji, I learned what depopulating the enemy's island meant! Supposedly the last known bout of cannabalism in Fiji was in 1956.

That being said, I've eaten just about everything else mentioned on this board. Like Keith, I grew up in a family with 6 chilren and we ate everything. Daddy and I went hunting and killed what ever was in season and sometimes things that weren't. He would buy 100 pounds of mullet and we would put them in brine for the winter. Fried salt mullet, biscuits, and eggs was a great breakfast in the winter. Haven't had nutria but would not be opposed to trying it. Refused to eat raccoon or opossum but have iguana. Also won't eat dog, cat, and never, ever, ever horse! We even had gopher toroise once. We were hungry!

But no matter what we killed, we ate. And I like pickled pigs feet. If they are done right.

[BS Man about Palms]

Everyone....

OK, I'm just going to step this up a notch and throw this out there. HAS ANYONE or has anyone know someone that has ever eaten a part of a human being? Cannibalism. A person that eats the flesh of another human being. Or an animal that feeds on it's own kind.

No, I never have, or do I know someone that has. But, with this international group we have, maybe someone out there has something they might want to share. This could get very interesting (?).

Jeff

Could whomever we have eaten still been there when we were done?

[niftinfiftin]

Me, I've eaten kangaroo, rabbit, possum (not like the American kind, they are a major pest in NZ), and Pukeko (NZ bird).

Not really many other strange things, nothing like bear etc, I don't think I could eat that!

There is a restaurant in my city that specialises in game food, and unusual meats.

Some of the items on their menu include,

Horse, wild boar, lamb (not that uncommon), rabbit, deer, and a few others.

[SubTropicRay]

Sorry, I had to temporarily revive this topic after trying Silk Worm this week. It wasn't too shabby.

[metalfan]

Hmmm...Jeff, does blood count as cannibalism? Being I am a vampire and all.....

[gcyao]

Nobody mentioned crocodile yet, which I have tried. Quite good! And instead of unhatched chicks, we have unhatched ducklings here, which I love. As for chicks, we have day-old chicks here. And dog-meat is a delicacy up north, which I won't try and the gov't is trying to squash. In central Luzon, crickets are a delicacy, as well as other insects. I have tried ant's eggs, some with the shape of the ants already obvious. Oily but tasted ok. Monitor lizard is another delicacy here, but I don't think I've tried it yet.

When I went to Korea for a tour, our tour guide made us try silkworm pupae. Quite tasty. I brought home some in can when I saw it in the supermarket. I gave one can to a friend who loved to cook and he prepared a noodle dish using the silkworm pupae finely chopped as an ingredient. He put it side by side with another noodle dish without the chopped silkworm pupae. Everyone went for second servings of the noodles with the silkworm! We had a good laugh afterwards when he disclosed his shenanigan.

When I was a child, my father grew tiny beetles in a wooden box and soak them in wine before partaking of them. Then in Chinese medicine, cicada is used as an ingredient, as well as, and most gross of all, caterpillars that had been infected with a mold, being dried after they die all moldy. These, I might have unwittingly ingested.

[osideterry]

In high school a friend and I bought a can of LAVA WORMS and dared each other to eat them. They were crunchy. They were from Hawaii. Anyone from Hawaii tried them?