Today in Intermarché we were brought up short by a refrigerated display of exotic meats. You could choose a lump of meat from antelope to zebra, via kangaroo, wapiti (a sort of small kangaroo according to the butcher... actually American Elk
#), élan (European Elk... or Moose), camel, bison, llama, and to remind us that it's Christmas, reindeer (
renne). I know that reindeer meat is a dietary staple in Lapland, and a very healthy meat it is too being low in fat, and I still recall the lovely reindeer pelt on the Finnish stall at Saltaire European market, but eating Rudolph at Christmas seems somewhat heartless...
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| There's still plenty left, especially at those prices! |
Question: what sort of wine should you have with zebra?
Answer: any good stripy wine will do!
(adapted from an elephant joke, circa 1964).
No elephant or bear though. At least three of the animal species featured here also appeared on the
menu of the Café Voisin on Christmas Day 1870 during the Siege of Paris by the Prussians when the chef served specimens from the zoo. Surely it hasn't come to that yet! I wonder what panda tastes like?
# American Elk... a Red Deer [Cervus canadensis]
8 comments:
Pollygarter. Forget Panda It would be tooooo expensive, saying that the ones on sale arn't cheap!! Did you buy any?
I'm always amazed at how easy kangaroo meat is to get here -- the supermarket stocks it most weeks. In Australia, you would be hard pressed to purchase any (except as dog meat).
Dog meat hmmm? No, we didn't buy any, and we didn't see anyone else buy any either. I just wonder what will happen to it all when the sell-by date comes up. P.
I'll answer Pauline's question... it will turn into fowl and go "Cheep"!
And I take it that you wouldn't "jump" at the chance to buy some, either, Susan?
I don't think I would be buying such novelty meats. France produces plenty of really good meat already but I suppose it satisfies the need for something out of the ordinary at Christmas.
The menu in your link is amusing but terribly sad. I wonder how the camel roasted "à l'Anglais" came about - it's not something you would usually associate with English cuisine !!
If you believe Asterix, Jean, chameau à l'anglais would be boiled and served with mint sauce! P
Not for me, thank you!
I can't get used to seeing horse meat, and certainly couldn't eat it.
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