Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Baffler]

Horse meat is extremely popular in Central Asia and parts of South America, and Wikipedia tells me it can be found without too much difficulty in Europe because of its role in some historical dishes but isn't generally sought after.

It's not exactly common, but not rare either in Belgium. You can find it in about half the supermarket. Horwe meat is nice, it's like tastier beef.

That's interesting. I've wanted to try it for years, but the US (and the UK/Ireland it seems) is very against it culturally so it's basically impossible to get unless you import it frozen from abroad at serious cost. I'm told it tastes a bit like a cross between beef and venison with slightly sweet undertones, which sounds pretty good, but I don't know anything about what suppliers are reputable/quality. Plus the expense is very off-putting for something I really don't know anything about cooking and will likely fuck up the first time or two.

[Frumple]

For what it's worth, a quick glance around suggests that if you're anywhere near canada, you might have better luck taking a trip 'cross the border to poke around. Looks like there's a few restaurants that serve horse up there. Some south of the border, too, apparently.

[Sheb]

It used to be rather cheap, but EU regulations means that most horses that are ridden are not available for meat. ( Basically, if you want to be able to sell your horse for meat at some point it needs to be declared as a meat animal which restrict what kinds of treatment are available if it gets sick. Unsurprisingly, most riders decide that they'd rather keep the option to treat their horse). Now I'd say it's about the same as beef. Hey, you're welcome to share a horse steak if you ever step in Belgium.

[scrdest]

I've heard kangaroo is also similar, anyone here tried that?

[Arx]

I might have? I think it was a lot like beef, if I have. Didn't stick out.

Ostrich is a lot like beef, though, I can say that much easily.

[penguinofhonor]

snip

Basing it on how you've personally seen animals act is pretty unreliable, given that different animals of the same species can be socialized very differently. Pigs and chickens can be cuddly if treated like pets. And given the radical behavior differences between a pet dog, a guard dog, and a working dog, I assume a dog raised to be eaten would act very differently as well.

[TD1]

I had swordfish in Italy. It was surprisingly land-meat-like. I really liked it.

[Sheb]

I've heard kangaroo is also similar, anyone here tried that?

It's been ages since I tasted kangaroo, so all I remember was "mmmh tasty". Ostrich was quite good as well, but crocodile was an utter disappointment. It tastes just like chicken, that is, like nothing.

[Rolan7]

I'm pretty sure I had gator at a specialty pizza place once, but it wasn't anything special.

snip

Basing it on how you've personally seen animals act is pretty unreliable, given that different animals of the same species can be socialized very differently. Pigs and chickens can be cuddly if treated like pets. And given the radical behavior differences between a pet dog, a guard dog, and a working dog, I assume a dog raised to be eaten would act very differently as well.

That's true.  I guess the issue isn't the eating, it's the farm-raising.  Farm-raising dogs in tiny kennels like chickens sounds horrible, since dogs get weird when they don't have enough space and attention.  Maybe the same is true of pigs...  ):
Not really sold on chickens, though, based on the free-range ones my cousin had   Which is just more limited personal experience but still.

Factory farming pigs is kinda bothering me now, though.  Maybe cows too.  I don't have a problem with the death, but their lives...

[Reelya]

I had shark once. I can't recall what it tasted like, I just recall it being disgusting.

"Fish" & chips in a lot of places is actually shark meat. People can't tell the difference. Depends on the type of shark.

[Sheb]

Wouldn't shark be more expensive than random fish?

[Frumple]

*waggles hand* Depends on the shark? There's some sorts that aren't much less likely to end up in a net than more traditionally commercial fishes, and in general the demand for 'em isn't the highest thing in the world. It's not exactly junk fish so far as price goes, but it doesn't necessarily have to be much higher. Basically a case where supply can pretty easily outstrip demand, which means the cost likes to try to trend downwards.

Dunno how much of a thing it still is in my area, but a couple decades or so ago it wasn't particularly uncommon to catch a small shark or two if you were just fishing off the local-ish jetties or whatev'. Never tasted it m'self, 'cause I just don't like seafood in general and haven't for most of my life, but someone coming back from a seaside fishing trip with shark was just... not all that unusual. Small-ish ones, the kind that you can fit one or two in a five gallon bucket.

... though considering the body of water in question was the gulf of mexico, and specifically part of the florida coast, it's entirely possible the intervening years have killed or ran off chunks of that particular shark population. Still, point being shark's not necessarily terribly expensive. Depends on area and the kind of shark, etc., etc.

[Egan_BW]

I had shark once. I can't recall what it tasted like, I just recall it being disgusting.

"Fish" & chips in a lot of places is actually shark meat. People can't tell the difference. Depends on the type of shark.

Scare quotes? But I thought sharks *were* fish?

[TD1]

They are, yep. I think the meaning of the quotes was more to indicate that they aren't made of typical fish.

[itisnotlogical]

Where would I buy a temperature sensor that can detect extreme cold (-100c)? Is there some keyword I should use when shopping for these? I can find plenty of sensors that go from -40c to +300c but a high upper range is useless. It's for a weather-balloon type thing.