Nile Crocodile Meat: Carpaccio, Tagine, Kabob, and Roasted Tail

I've cooked Australian crocodile striploin before, and had alligator in many forms, and I have loved them. These reptiles that you would think would taste bad, are so good. On our trip to Southern Africa I got to try Nile crocodile in a number of different ways and it was just as good as its cousins. 

Nile crocodile in the Okavango Delta. 

Our first crocodile was in Cape Town at Karibu. We had three types of carpaccio, which is thinly sliced or pounded raw meat. The three types were ostrich, crocodile and springbok. Surprisingly, the crocodile was by far the best. Very flavorful. 

Carpaccio at Karibu. The crocodile is in the center (white). Ostrich is to the left and springbok to the right. 

Tagine is a method of slow cooking developed in Morocco. At Arnolds in Cape Town I tried crocodile cooked in a tagine, which I read good things about in advance. However, I found it very disappointing. It was very moist, but almost too moist, limp, and flavorless. Tofu anyone. 

Crocodile tagine.

The best crocodile, interestingly enough, was cooked as kabobs over a little charcoal grill on our Zambezi canoe trip near Victoria Falls. It was succulent, moist, yet firm, and loaded with flavor. I would love to know the marinade. I had three of them. It was some of the best meat we had in Africa. 

Crocodile kabobs.

A close second was the roasted crocodile tail we had at The Boma in Lake Victoria. It was a thin-slice of tail meat seasoned and cooked perfectly. Wow. 

The crocodile is at the back of the plate. Roasted impala is at the front. 

Finally, we had crocodile at Carnivore Restaurant outside Johannesburg and it was horrible. It was overcooked and bony with very little meat on it. I thought it was a bony fish, such as carp, and had to ask the waiter what it was. I don't have a picture of it, which is just as well.