Uncommon meat selection

alexmose
alexmose Posts: 792 Member
Hi all,

Just moved and saw there is a Brazilian and ethnic meat market nearby. I saw some chicken feet, cow’s ears, and pig snout! Deer has also been on my list to try.

Wondering if anyone has other uncommon meat choices and if you could share recipes :)
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Replies

  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    Deer = venison
    Venison = TASTY AF Likely the only red meat I'd never refuse

    Some of the other things are in MFP under various types of "offal"

    But you may have to create your own entries.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    MaltedTea wrote: »
    As for recipes, try rabbit curry if you're inclined. I can't find the recipe but the one I tried a few years back incorporated apples. It was so good.

    Venison, imho, can't be done badly so most any recipe will be a winner lol

    I like your style ma'am!
    Ox tail..... braise it in some redwine.... curried goat... Haitian style.... oh yeah...
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    @psychod787 Oxtail and curry goat? 👀 I would've taken you for a fellow Jamaican but Haiti's close enough lol
    OP already mentioned chicken feet so if we're keeping with tropical kind of fare then "chicken foot soup" is an option. It just couldn't be me. But my dad (from Grenada, where they have another version) loves the stuff.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    This might not sound right or politically correct but hear me out. For all these offcuts of meat, think about who eats them. The poor countries. So Google your ox tail + what you might is a poor country. I guarantee you heavenly dish.

    Indeed, I've always felt sorry for those impoverished Scots: Oxtail Soup

    😜
  • VictoriaNWest
    VictoriaNWest Posts: 11 Member
    I like beef heart. I buy it at Winco for $1.65 a pound. It's lean and meaty. I cut it up into small pieces, add onions, and fry it quickly in oil. I put leftovers with added cumin in tacos
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    MaltedTea wrote: »
    @psychod787 Oxtail and curry goat? 👀 I would've taken you for a fellow Jamaican but Haiti's close enough lol
    OP already mentioned chicken feet so if we're keeping with tropical kind of fare then "chicken foot soup" is an option. It just couldn't be me. But my dad (from Grenada, where they have another version) loves the stuff.

    I am not Haitian... lol... grew up in a southern family, living on Florida. When my family butchered a cow, we ate everything but the Mooo.. as far as curried goat, I used to work with a Haitian doctor and she would have us over for cookouts. Curried goat was usually on the menu...
  • holly8312
    holly8312 Posts: 38 Member
    I tried braised goat in Cuba a few years ago and it was one of the best things I've ever tasted
  • holly8312
    holly8312 Posts: 38 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Well played well played... but Scottish are not exactly knows for their plethora of spices and flavours.

    Haggis spice is delicious :p
  • breefoshee
    breefoshee Posts: 398 Member
    I lived in Peru for a year and was a vegetarian while I was there because I wasn't used to fresh meat hanging in the market and couldn't stomach buying meat. If other people cooked it for me, I totally ate it and didn't care. But there was something about seeing the meat hanging with flies all around....

    I got my protein through canned tuna and eggs. All year. I lost 50lbs while I was there though... so...there's that.
  • asthesoapturns
    asthesoapturns Posts: 313 Member
    Anticuchos is marinated beef heart and tastes to me like beef jerky but more tender. I can't stand any other organ meat but heart is delicious barbecued.

    Haggis is inedible. I tried. Twice. Dad's heritage is Scottish so we did a lot of Scottish nights when I was a kid but the texture is terrible.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    edited July 2020
    holly8312 wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Well played well played... but Scottish are not exactly knows for their plethora of spices and flavours.

    Haggis spice is delicious :p

    Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? My interest has been piqued: Scottish Haggis Spice

    Have messaged the site to see if they ship to Canada. Where do you get yours @holly8312?

    @asthesoapturns I'm now bugging my Peruvian friend for this. She made me a pisco sour (it has raw egg whites in it) last year that was amazing so I'm sure this thing - as gross as it sounds - actually tastes outstanding!
  • holly8312
    holly8312 Posts: 38 Member
    @MaltedTea I was semi-joking to be honest! I live in Edinburgh so you see haggis spiced chocolate and things in a lot of the tourist shops but I'm not all that surprised you can just buy the raw spices. Might get some myself, it would be great with chicken and lentils.

    On that note, haggis is delicious, and Scottish, spicy, and offal-y 😛
  • asthesoapturns
    asthesoapturns Posts: 313 Member
    MaltedTea wrote: »
    holly8312 wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Well played well played... but Scottish are not exactly knows for their plethora of spices and flavours.

    Haggis spice is delicious :p

    Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh? My interest has been piqued: Scottish Haggis Spice

    Have messaged the site to see if they ship to Canada. Where do you get yours @holly8312?

    @asthesoapturns I'm now bugging my Peruvian friend for this. She made me a pisco sour (it has raw egg whites in it) last year that was amazing so I'm sure this thing - as gross as it sounds - actually tastes outstanding!
    If for whatever reason she doesn't have a recipe, let me know. I have my Aunt's. Sort of cute, Mom's family is ethnically Mennonite with a bit of Irish to spice things up. But my uncle always barbecues the heart for my my aunt, she make the marinade. She doesn't like barbecuing but its culturally important to her to serve the dish to guests. It really is delicious and heart is quite a lean meat.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,809 Member
    Oh, this is totally my crowd, lol.

    I love offal (mostly liver, kidneys and heart), we used to fight over those bits in my family when we had whole chicken and rabbit. It's getting quite hard to find nowadays.
    Not home cooking, but restaurant experiences include: sweet breads, kidneys in mustard sauce, veal/beef liver with onions, leg of goat in Northern Italy, andouillette in France, some sort of goat intestine 'rolled sausage' thing in Sardinia. Loved it all.

    Veal/beef tongue in Madeira sauce is another classic recipe here that is becoming increasingly rare.

    I love rabbit too, which used to be quite common here, but is getting harder to find as well. It's great in a stew, and if you can 'stomach' it, throw the head in the stew too (you can eat the cheeks, the muscles around the neck and the tongue). It's great with stewed plums (lapin aux pruneaux--very classic recipe).

    If I could find a decent butcher here, I'd love to try some recipes too. I can't offer many recipes though myself, I usually just stick with stewed rabbit and pan fried liver/kidney.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,950 Member
    There is a lot of offal I enjoy such as chicken/duck livers, hearts and giblets. For poultry giblets google french classic "salade aux gesiers".

    Beef heart can be grilled on the BBQ. incredibly muscular and meaty tasting. Steak vs beef hearts is similar to chicken breasts vs chicken giblets.

    Google "food of Rome" as that is a city that has a great tradition for cooking offal. They had a massive meat market where even in ancient times workers could take home part of their pay in discounted offal and other hard to sell cuts.

  • nikkigetsthinner
    nikkigetsthinner Posts: 19 Member
    Those are all common ingredients in my country. We even eat cow's nose. We boil it until it turns jelly-like, stir it in some peanut sauce with green beans, bean sprouts, shrimp crackers, fried tofu, and other green veggies. I don't really like it though. It tasted funny to me.

    Chicken feet we usually make into soup or stir-fried. We use a lot of spices such as chillies, shallots, turmeric, ginger, galangal, and bay leaves for the soup seasoning. You blend all the seasoning ingredients except bay leaves, saute it in a little bit of oil with the leaves, and then pour water (or better yet, chicken broth) in. Boil the chicken feet with any other toppings you like (the usual is meatballs, eggs, and crackers), add salt, sugar, and pepper to taste. In Indonesia, we call this "seblak" and usually very spicy.
  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
    alexmose wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Just moved and saw there is a Brazilian and ethnic meat market nearby. I saw some chicken feet, cow’s ears, and pig snout! Deer has also been on my list to try.

    Wondering if anyone has other uncommon meat choices and if you could share recipes :)

    I am an avid wild game eater
    Deer (venison) is so tasty!!! But be sure to cook rare-medium rare and be sure it’s the last thing you plate up as venison cooks really fast then cools down fast also. I just go old school that my dad taught me
    ( lil butter,salt+pepper flip few times on each side cook for 3-4 minutes each side medium heat don’t cut to check as tasty juices will run out and dry out venison quick) (accommodate thickness) if thin maybe 2-3 min each side
    we don’t add anything crazy b/c if cooked properly venison has its own tender flavor!! But if cooked wrong .... you will most likely not be appetized. Writing about it makes me want venison tonight,
    Venison in my freezer at all times
    I also eat grey squirrel, wild turkey, and one of my favorite is snapping turtle meat! Packed with so much protein and very very little fat. I make turtle burgers and meatballs, not a fan of turtle soup
    Turtle meat needs no seasoning as it has a great zesty flavor already
    If you try the venison post how you liked it?
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    joshchapo wrote: »
    alexmose wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Just moved and saw there is a Brazilian and ethnic meat market nearby. I saw some chicken feet, cow’s ears, and pig snout! Deer has also been on my list to try.

    Wondering if anyone has other uncommon meat choices and if you could share recipes :)

    I am an avid wild game eater
    Deer (venison) is so tasty!!! But be sure to cook rare-medium rare and be sure it’s the last thing you plate up as venison cooks really fast then cools down fast also. I just go old school that my dad taught me
    ( lil butter,salt+pepper flip few times on each side cook for 3-4 minutes each side medium heat don’t cut to check as tasty juices will run out and dry out venison quick) (accommodate thickness) if thin maybe 2-3 min each side
    we don’t add anything crazy b/c if cooked properly venison has its own tender flavor!! But if cooked wrong .... you will most likely not be appetized. Writing about it makes me want venison tonight,
    Venison in my freezer at all times
    I also eat grey squirrel, wild turkey, and one of my favorite is snapping turtle meat! Packed with so much protein and very very little fat. I make turtle burgers and meatballs, not a fan of turtle soup
    Turtle meat needs no seasoning as it has a great zesty flavor already
    If you try the venison post how you liked it?

    I can’t wait to try it! Unfortunately I’m heading out of town for a week or so so it’ll be a bit... :(
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    Bought the venison but ground meat version was all I saw at the store. Suggestions??
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    Bought venison but ground meat version
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,809 Member
    I have some lamb liver in the fridge right now, I saw it in the shop and couldn't resist. Still have to figure out what to do with it :smile:
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    Went with meatballs. yummy!!! any other suggestions???
  • BackwoodsDarlin
    BackwoodsDarlin Posts: 109 Member
    I absolutely adore squirrel.. been huntin'em since I was a little girl and they make the best squirrel-n-dumplins. Not sure if they sell it in any of the stores though

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  • BackwoodsDarlin
    BackwoodsDarlin Posts: 109 Member
    And as far as deer.... of course. fried deer steaks are the absolute best. You just have to make sure to budget it in your day. I've done it though, so I know it can be done LOL

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  • BackwoodsDarlin
    BackwoodsDarlin Posts: 109 Member
    And really anything you use ground beef for, you can substitute with ground venison... love ground venison chalupas... brown your meat on medium though and you shouldn't have to drain it (just don't use a higher heat or you'll dry it out). Here's a pic of the ground venison chalupas
    You can also do burgers, but I would mix onion in with it to help it from getting dry

    qq5k92vel9p2.jpg
  • BackwoodsDarlin
    BackwoodsDarlin Posts: 109 Member
    Another ground venison idea is "Meatloaf Patties" or you can call them "Meatloaf Meatballs" depending upon the size. Just make them like you would meatloaf and shape individually instead of a loaf

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  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
    alexmose wrote: »
    Bought the venison but ground meat version was all I saw at the store. Suggestions??

    If it’s ground I would make either burgers or meatballs,
    Tacos... ( taco seasoning will eliminate any venison flavor though )

    Burgers will be best way to get the venison flavor and easiest to cook, cook like a regular burger simple 🙂 ( however you like your burger cooked, medium-medium rare would be best in my opinion)

    If you make burgers ( I wouldn’t flavor the meat at all it will have its own flavor)
    This is if your looking to taste venison for what it is.

    Otherwise you could use ground meat for anything pasta, chili, meat pie, venison gravy over biscuits, venison+rice stuffed peppers etc...
    Let me know how you prepare it and how you like it and possible picture of plate 😋

    Venison is great for us too with high protein content and low low fat
    Hope you enjoy
  • joshchapo
    joshchapo Posts: 186 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    I have some lamb liver in the fridge right now, I saw it in the shop and couldn't resist. Still have to figure out what to do with it :smile:

    Lamb liver mmm mmm 😋
    I would slice it up cook it in a cast iron pan only with a lil butter and spices of your liking. Always found liver best cooked in cast iron pan! Nothing beats cast iron for liver
  • alexmose
    alexmose Posts: 792 Member
    I made meatballs but went very light on sauce and loved it 😀😀 will take a pic tonight.