Overview of Unusual Meats: Part 1 (Alligator to Bison)

I went through a period of years where I was eating a lot of unusual meats. Some of the meat came from friends that were hunters; some of it came from our travels where we visited restaurants with unusual meats on their menus; and a lot of it came from my friend, Anshu Pathak of Exotic Meat Market ("EMM"), who acquired meat from suppliers all over the world. For purposes of this overview, I'm going to follow my Index for Unusual Meats, which lists unusual meats in alphabetical order. I still love to try unusual meats, but I rarely come across anything I've not tried before, so those experiences are now few and far between. 

          ALLIGATOR:   Alligator is wonderful mild white meat, usually from the tail. I've tried it in a number of restaurants. In Louisiana they ruin it by covering it in heavy batter and frying it (Bayou Delight outside Houma, Louisiana). In Florida I've had it in restaurants where it is cooked without batter or little batter, and it is much better (Gator Grill in Homestead, Florida, fried and placed on a sandwich and Lagoona Grille, outside Naples, Florida, where it was lightly beer battered and served with fries). I had alligator jerky in Orlando, Florida, purchased from a pickup truck on the side of the road. My favorite experience was a small whole alligator I got from EMM and cooked with two of my grandchildren. We cut it up and cooked it sous vide. It was moist and the meat fell off the bones. 

Another favorite was alligator ribs from EMM that I cooked sous vide. The meat was very white and I cooked it quite rare. Only small bones were left at the end.  

I also got smoked alligator wings (the front legs) from EMM which were heavily smoked, red and looked like chicken wings. 

          ALPACA:    My first taste of alpaca was at Incanto Grill in Cusco, Peru. One dish was cooked with green and black olives and the other with pasta and a white sauce. Amazingly good. 

I also had it at Mo-Chica, a Peruvian restaurant in Los Angeles, braised, cooked in a pot and served on a bed of pasta with a fried egg on top. Wonderful presentation, but the taste was a B.  

I grilled an alpaca porterhouse steak from alpaca raised by Anshu Pathak of EMM. I cooked it too long and ruined it.  

          ANTS:    Escamoles are: (a) edible ant larvae just emerged from eggs that are legless, plump and resemble a comma; and (b) pupae that are the next stage, like white waxy ants with their legs and antennae folded up against their body. We ate them on tacos at the restaurant El Hidalguense in Mexico City. They were mentally difficult to eat, had a "pop" and a fantastic buttery flavor. 

          NILGAI ANTELOPE:   Nilgai is an Asian antelope that has been introduced to Texas for hunting on private ranches. One of my early purchases, probably from EMM, was a shoulder roast from a free-range Nilgai shot in Texas. It was gamy and I overcooked it  - it was awful. 

Later a friend, I believe Jim Sullivan, gave me ground nilgai meat obtained from a friend who shot one in Texas which I cooked rare in onions and garlic and finished with guacamole and sour cream. It was much better. 

          PRONGHORN ANTELOPE:    One of my early wild game experiences was pronghorn antelope shot by my friend, Gregg Palmer, in Wyoming. We cooked it over a grill without much preparation and it tasted like sagebrush, what the pronghorn had been eating. It was fun to eat, but awful. I had a client in Nevada that shot a pronghorn in northern Nevada and shipped me some loin steaks from it. He said it was feeding on grasses and would be much better than the Wyoming version I'd told him about. He also sent me some Bragg Organic Vinaigrette and Marinade and told me to marinade it for several hours before grilling it. I grilled it on high heat long enough to brown it on the outside and keep it rare on the inside. It was much, much better and had only a hint of gaminess. 

          ARMADILLO:   One of the more fun meats I've tried was armadillo, a whole one from EMM. I enjoy getting the whole animal to learn more about it as I clean it and find out how it is structured. I cut it into four pieces, cooked it sous vide, then coated it in flour and fried it briefly. It was very good, kind of like smoked chicken. We served it to a group of LDS missionaries.

        STRIPED BASS:   We purchased a farm-raised striped bass in Koreatown in Los Angeles We dressed it with olive oil, fresh mint and lemon and broiled it. It was pretty good. 

        BLACK BEAR:     While visiting my mother in Utah I had an opportunity to eat black bear steak. I put on a little olive oil and cooked it on high heat. It was a bit sweet and reminded me of lamb. I really, really liked it. 

          BEAVER:   I've had beaver leg twice, once grilled and once roasted. 

Beaver stew meat cooked sous vide in crushed pistachios and cherry balsamic vinegar was marvelous.  

I've had beaver tail twice: cooked on the grill, once plain and once with added bacon and baked beans. It was much better with the baked beans.  

   

       BIGHORN SHEEP:     My friend Gregg Palmer had a friend that drew a lottery tag for bighorn sheep in the San Bernardino Mountains near San Gorgonio. His friend gave Gregg a small roast which Gregg gave to me. Judy cooked it in a crockpot and it was quite good. 

          BISON:   I've had lots of bison and it is one of my favorite meats. It is less fatty than beef and has more flavor. At The Fort, in Morrison, Colorado, I've had bison bone marrow, tongue, ribs in Jack Daniels sauce, ribeye and testicles. 

Bison bone marrow

Bison tongue

Bison testicles

Bison ribs

Bison ribeye

At Buckhorn Exchange in Denver, Colorado, I've had bison sausage, prime rib (regular and blackened) and corn beef. 

Bison prime rib

Bison prime rib

Bison corned beef sandwich

Blackened bison

At Sylvan Lake Lodge and Blue Bell Lodge in South Dakota, we had bison stew, tips in a skillet with beans and potatoes, chislic and tenderloin. 

Blue Bell bison skillet

Blue Bell bison stew

Sylvan Lake chislic

Sylvan Lake bison filet

At Ted's Montana Grill in Denver we've had bison nachos, meatloaf, short ribs and a Delmonico ribeye. 

Bison nachos

Bison shortrib

Bison meatloaf

Bison Delmonico ribeye

At Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining, California, we had bison meatloaf. At Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse in Dallas we had a wonderful filet. 

YO Ranch Steakhouse bison filet

I've also cooked quite a bit of bison on my own, including tongue, Basque style, that Judy got me for Christmas; testicles several ways, that Judy got me for Christmas; t-bone and ground meat chili; ribs by sousvide and broiling; fried filet; and grilled New York steak.

Bison testicle

Bison tongue

Bison ribs

Bison filet - fried