Overview of Unusual Meats: Part 2 (Blackbuck to Coyote)

          BLACKBUCK:   The blackbuck is an antelope found in India which has been transplanted to Texas and is hunted on game ranches there. I got some blackbuck ribeye from Anshu Pathak at Exotic Meat Market ("EMM"). I tried it raw, fried and sousvide. 

Blackbuck from Fossil Rim Wildlife Center south of Fort Worth, Texas. 

Raw

Fried rare

Sousvide and briefly fried. 

          BOBCAT:   Bobcat is very mild and lean. I fried stew meat obtained from EMM and it was delicious. Later Anshu Pathak of EMM called and told me had had a bobcat hind leg. I browned it then cooked it sousvide with mandarin orange balsamic vinegar, caramelized orange slices and fennel springs. It was wonderful.

Bobcat stew meat

Bobcat leg

     CAMEL:   Camel is one of my favorite meats. One of my favorite experiences eating camel was at Happiness and Lucky Restaurant in Dunhuang, China (Bactrian - two hump camel). Quick frying camel hump was camel hump shredded and then deep-fried. It is like little round fat fries, slightly crunch, very fatty and good. Camel hoof is cleaned, soaked in water, steamed with chicken for 7 or 8 hours and then cut into pieces and braised in a bamboo steamer for two or three hours. It is actually tendon and was cartilaginous and mostly impossible to chew and eat. Slowly cooked camel meat was good, but did not stand out. It was quite lean. 

Camel hoof

Camel meat

Camel hump

Sweet and sour camel meat at a restaurant in Beijing, China. It was so breaded and covered in sauce that we couldn't really taste the meat. 

I got camel ribs from EMM (dromedary - one hump camel) and cooked them sousvide for 9 hours. I cut the meat off the bone and it had good taste but was about the toughest meat I've ever eaten. I put it in the sousvide for another 63 hours and it was much less chewy but chewier than other rib meat. 

Camel rib meat

After 9 hours

After an additional 63 hours. 

Camel loin is some of my very favorite meat, including comparisons to prime beef and wagyu beef. I have gotten at least three loins from EMM that are quite large. I've tried it grilled without any preparation, sous vide and baked.  

This particular piece of camel meat is among the best meat I've ever tried. It has as much marbling as some of the wagyu I've seen. 

Filet mignon from EMM (wonderful).

Camel ribeye from EMM (yum).

Camel fat from EMM for frying other foods. It was too thick for frying vegetables, but fine for browning meat after sousvide. 

Ground camel mixed in with potatoes, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and garlic.

Camel milk (not meat, but fun) in Rissani, Morocco (delicious).

     CARIBOU:   The first time I tried caribou was when Jim Sullivan donated caribou meat he'd obtained in Canada and cooked it over a grill for a pioneer trek. Later I obtained a 1.38 pound caribou ribeye from EMM. I made a marinade of blackberries, jalapenos, Kedem grape juice, among other things and cooked it sous vide.  

I also got a 2.14 pound caribou shoulder roast from EMM and slowly cooked it in a crockpot with Coca Cola and other ingredients. Then shredded it working in 10 ounces of barbecue sauce. 

Raw caribou roast

After cooking in crockpot.

After shredding. 

We had a wonderful meal at Restaurant Mamartut in Ilulissat, Greenland. As part of the meal we had meat loaf with caribou, nuts, grains and vegetables. 

      CHICKEN:      I've had a variety of kinds of chicken and parts of the chicken. The Ayam Cemani chicken is from Java, Indonesia and is entirely black, inside and out. I got it from Anshu Pathak of EMM who raised them. I cooked it sous vide and it was still very stringy and tough. 

Capon is a rooster that has been castrated to make it grow larger and the meat taste better. Their meat is more tender and fatty and less gamy. I bought a 7.45 pound capon from Gerrard's Market in Redlands. It was much larger than a normal chicken and smaller than a turkey. I cooked it in an infrared cooker. It was very moist and better than most chicken and turkey. 

The Cornish game hen is an immature chicken slaughtered at about five to six weeks of age and from a Cornish chicken. Thecan be male or female. I've cooked them a number of different ways and they are delicious. 

Poussin is French for a young chicken less than four weeks old and can be of any breed, is smaller than a Cornish game hen, has less fat and is more expensive. I cooked it over an outdoor grill (a little too much). 

Silkie is a breed of chicken which has fluffy feathers that feel like silk. It has dark meat and bones, like the Ayam Cemani, but originated in Southern China. It is used in Asian cooking, but mostly in soup. I cooked it on an outdoor grill over direct heat and it tasted pretty bad. 

Raw

Cooked

Breaded and fried chicken liver and gizzards from Mel's Dairy Dream in Monroeville, Alabama. At the restaurant Animal in Los Angeles, we had chicken liver toast. 

     COW:   We had veal brains at Animal, with vadouvan (spices from Indian curry), with shallots and garlic, blended with the brain into a light, almost foamy texture, covered with a textured outer shell, covered with apricot puree and with carrots. 

 Veal brains

Tartare is raw beef with an egg yolk. Carpaccio is thinly sliced beef served raw. At Animal we had sirloin carpaccio with cabbage, sesame and kokucharo (red Korean chili powder). 

Sirloin carpaccio

 

We were with Anshu Pathak of EMM.

Raw roundsteak (tere-sega) with mitmita and awaze on the side, at Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant in Los Angeles.

My son, Andrew, eating the raw roundsteak. 

 Steak tartare at DS Louise Restaurant in Oslo, Norway. 

Raw Japanese wagyu ribeye steak with a yield score of A, a quality score of 5 and a BMS of 11, served to me by Anshu Pathak of EMM in his office. We ate it both plain and with wasabi and soy sauce. 

Anticuchos (grilled beef heart) at El Rico Pollo (Peruvian food) in San Bernardino, California. 

Beef heart, just right of middle, on a stick. 

Sweetbreads are the thymus or pancreas, typically from a calf. We had crispy sweet breads with sorghum and fire-glazed cider at Meddlesome Moth in Dallas. 

Sweetbreads with creamed spinach, hen of the woods mushrooms, capers and brown butter at Animal. 

Veal tongue at Animal with salmon roe, black mustard, creamy horseradish, apple juice and pickle.

Beef tongue cooked in a crockpot.

Beef testicles at Buckhorn Exchange in Denver.

Judy's nephew and his wife, Scott and Kelsey Jones, who joined us. 

Bone marrow is one of my favorite delicacies and we've had it a number of times in different places. 

Beef bone marrow with chimichurri and caramelized onion at Animal in Los Angeles. 

Marrow with salsa verde and capers at Meddlesome Moth in Dallas. 

Wagyu from Australia is the copycat of Kobe beef from Japan. 

My daughter, Rachael, holding this 3.8 pound wagyu tomahawk steak with a marble score of 9, one of the best pieces of meat I'll ever eat. We put it in the oven at 425 for 25 minutes, then grilled it on both sides for a total of 10 minutes. 

This Australian wagyu was cooked by Claudia, Anshu Pathak's wife, at the EMM office. 

With Anshu Pathak at his office.

Washugyu is the American version of Kobe beef. Judy gave me some file mignons as a Christmas present one year. 

I don't really love t-bone steak, but I had the Presidential t-bone steak at Cattleman's Steakhouse in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, named after President George H.W. Bush because it is what he ate when he dined there in Oklahoma City. 

We had a bone-in ribeye served in a foie gras sauce at Animal in Los Angels. 

I was interested in trying aged beef. Meat needs to be aged 28 to 45 days to start to get a flavor change. At 45 to 60 days or longer you start to get significant flavor changes with notes of bleu or cheddar cheese. I tried some dry-aged New York steaks that I didn't even really like. But I tried a fattier 40 day dry-aged ribeye from EMM and it was terrific. Judy and my son, Sam, weren't hungry but decided to try a taste. They came back for more. 

I finally hit the jackpot with a 75 day aged Australian wagyu 32 ounce tomahawk ribeye. Anshu Pathak of EMM called me and said he had it. It may be the best piece of meat I've ever eaten. I cooked it sous vide at 55 degrees centigrade for 3 hours, then afterwards browned part of it in butter in a frying pan for 2 minutes on each side and grilled part of it for 2 minutes on each side in a gas grill. The sous vide creates uniform cooking inside and the outside gives some nice texture and taste. 

After sous vide and before frying or grilling.

I love beef ribs. Baby Blues Bar-B-Q in Venice Beach, California has a wonderful beef rib... 

but Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue in Kansas City, Missouri has the best I've ever tasted, and it isn't even close. 

Oxtail is the tail of a cow cut into shorter pieces. It is great in soup and stew as well as on its own. Judy does them well. 

     COYOTE:   Finally, I go from some of the best meat I've ever eaten to some of the worst. I've had two coyote back legs from EMM. The first one was quite good. I wrapped it in bacon and fried it in oil until it was browned, then put it in a roasting pan with chopped onion and red peppers, potatoes and golden mushroom soup. It was quite stiff but had a good taste. Judy even relented on her pledge not to eat coyote.

The next coyote leg I had was perhaps the worst meat I've ever tried. I fried it in butter and oil to give the outside a nice taste. Then cooked it sous vide with my favorite jalapeno cheddar sausage from Southside Market in Elgin, Texas. I only cooked it 5 hours and 47 minutes. It needed 100 hours or hours in a crockpot (probably best option). I invited my friend, Jerry Wyatt, over to eat it. I chewed and chewed and chewed and then spit it into the garbage. The taste was okay but it was too hard and chewy. Jerry did the same. I gave him the rest to take home to his dog and he said his dog wouldn't even eat it.