Thread: British man eats roadkill for thirty years

On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:39:33 -0400, Tara <[email protected]>
wrote:

>http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
>
>It beats wasting it!

Critters must taste different on that side of the pond. I haven't
eaten roadkill-- but certainly would if I was hungry.

From about 1/2 way down on that page;
"Rabbit is actually quite bland. Fox is far tastier; there's never any
fat on it, and it's subtle, with a lovely texture, firm but soft. It's
much more versatile than beef, and has a salty, mineral taste rather
like gammon. Frogs and toads taste like chicken and are great in
stir-fries. Rat, which is nice and salty like pork, is good in a
stir-fry, too – I'll throw in celery, onion, peppers and, in autumn,
wild mushrooms I've collected. Badger is not nice and hedgehog is
hideous."

I agree with him on rabbit. I'd have a hard time eating fox for the
first time. I've eaten dog a few decades ago and it wasn't all that
tasty. [it was in a barbecue type sauce- and cooked forever]

Frog legs *do* remind me of chicken-- but I'd hate to have to rely on
cars hitting enough of them [and the legs surviving] to make a meal.
Toad? hmmm. I'm weird. That gives me pause.

Now I'm down to rat. I eat squirrel, so rat shouldn't be that
different. But 'salty like pork'? I've never tasted any meat
that was 'salty' unless it was added salt.

No guesses on badger-- but UK hedgehog *looks* a bit like porcupine.
Our porcupine is actually quite tasty and a lot like pork. It
benefits from braising, and if you have a choice, get one that is
girdling the maple trees, not the pines.

re; the " two-owl bolognese "- Sadly it is illegal for anyone in
the US to pick up roadkill from protected species. Even a feather
is illegal [though I don't know of anyone being arrested for
possessing one]

Roadkill cafes in Australia? I'd have to try it.

Jim


>
>Tara

On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:15:21 -0400, Jim Elbrecht <[email protected]>
wrote:


>Critters must taste different on that side of the pond. I haven't
>eaten roadkill-- but certainly would if I was hungry.
>

My husband used to have a boss who hunted. One day, my husband
brought home some delicious venison summer sausage from his boss. Then
he started telling me a story about a time his boss saw a car hit a
deer and drive away. His boss stopped, saw the deer was dead, and
called the game warden for a tag for the deer. I asked, was it this
deer? My husband wasn't sure!

>Frog legs *do* remind me of chicken-- but I'd hate to have to rely on
>cars hitting enough of them [and the legs surviving] to make a meal.

I used to love frog legs when I was little. I even thought they were
fancy. Now, I don't think I could eat them. They were tasty,
though -- mild and sweet.
>
>Roadkill cafes in Australia? I'd have to try it.
>
Maybe once just for bragging rights!

I like deer and elk. I love quail. My uncle gave me some
delicious wild boar jerky. I don't think I have had squirrel,
unless it was in Brunswick stew.

Tara

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:39:33 -0400, Tara <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
> >
> >It beats wasting it!
>
> Critters must taste different on that side of the pond.

Pheasant and venison are luxury foods here. Both delicious and expensive
if you have to pay for them. Pheasants and deer frequently get killed by a
head-hit on narrow rural roads here, but the corpses don't stay on the
verge long before someone takes them home.

We always stop to check a dead pheasant on the roadside and if it's fresh
and not squashed we eat it :-)

Janet. (Scotland)

Janet <[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
>[email protected] says...
>>
>> On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:39:33 -0400, Tara <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
>> >
>> >It beats wasting it!
>>
>> Critters must taste different on that side of the pond.
>
> Pheasant and venison are luxury foods here. Both delicious and expensive
>if you have to pay for them.

Same here. I've never bought either though-- and I haven't seen a
pheasant in years, come to think of it.

>Pheasants and deer frequently get killed by a
>head-hit on narrow rural roads here, but the corpses don't stay on the
>verge long before someone takes them home.

Birds get swept to the side-- Deer get picked up mostly by road crews.
If they are fresh and undamaged enough, they go to county facilities
where I live.

>
> We always stop to check a dead pheasant on the roadside and if it's fresh
>and not squashed we eat it :-)

Is that often? [that they are edible?] When I think of the
damage a couple birdshot pellets do to meat, it just seems like most
would have badly bruised meat that wouldn't interest me at all.

On a deer there is still a lot of good meat-- but small critters don't
have that much to start with.

Jim

On Oct 19, 6:00*am, Jim Elbrecht <elbre...@email.com> wrote:
> Janet <H...@invalid.net> wrote:
> >In article <bg0s971faedohv43bkuihbglqlng3lv...@4ax.com>,
> >elbre...@email.com says...
>
> >> On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:39:33 -0400, Tara <jarvi...@ix.netcom.com>
> >> wrote:
>
> >> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
>
> >> >It beats wasting it!
>
> >> Critters must taste different on that side of the pond.
>
> > *Pheasant and venison are luxury foods here. Both delicious and expensive
> >if you have to pay for them.
>
> Same here. * *I've never bought either though-- and I haven't seen a
> pheasant in years, come to think of it.
>
> >Pheasants and deer frequently get killed by a
> >head-hit on narrow rural roads here, but the corpses don't stay on the
> >verge long before someone *takes them home.
>
> Birds get swept to the side-- Deer get picked up mostly by road crews.
> If they are fresh and undamaged enough, they go to county facilities
> where I live. * * *
>
>
>
> > We always stop to check a dead pheasant on the roadside and if it's fresh
> >and not squashed we eat it :-)
>
> Is that often? * *[that they are edible?] * * When I think of the
> damage a couple birdshot pellets do to meat, it just seems like most
> would have badly bruised meat that wouldn't interest me at all.
>
> On a deer there is still a lot of good meat-- but small critters don't
> have that much to start with. *

That reminded me of a little poem:

It's not the kind of bird
That I'd ever go a-hunting
'Cause there's not much meat
On an indigo bunting

http://nuthatch09.deviantart.com/art...ting-121896008
>
> Jim

--Bryan

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> Janet <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> >[email protected] says...
> >>
> >> On Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:39:33 -0400, Tara <[email protected]>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
> >> >
> >> >It beats wasting it!
> >>
> >> Critters must taste different on that side of the pond.
> >
> > Pheasant and venison are luxury foods here. Both delicious and expensive
> >if you have to pay for them.
>
> Same here. I've never bought either though-- and I haven't seen a
> pheasant in years, come to think of it.

Sports shooting is big business in Scotland so both pheasant and deer
are very common here.

I have wild pheasant in the garden, but not deer thankgoodness. By the
end of last winter we were feeding nine pheasants, they get as tame as
chickens. At the moment there are only four ; they appear to have had a
really bad breeding season (late cold spring and wet summer).

> > We always stop to check a dead pheasant on the roadside and if it's
fresh
> >and not squashed we eat it :-)
>
> Is that often? [that they are edible?]

At least half haven't been squashed and are fresh; but if the crows or
buzzards got there first I don't bother.

When I think of the
> damage a couple birdshot pellets do to meat, it just seems like most
> would have badly bruised meat that wouldn't interest me at all.

Not IME; on the very narrow rural roads here many are just clipped in
flight and flipped, they probably die instantly of broken neck/shock
rather than intensive injury.
>
> On a deer there is still a lot of good meat-- but small critters don't
> have that much to start with.

We used to regularly eat wild rabbit which is pretty tasty; but these
days I never see rabbit meat for sale. Back then they used to be hanging
in the window of every rural butcher shop. I see dead rabbits on the road
but not edible...they've always been flattened under a tire.

Janet

Janet.

Tara <[email protected]> wrote:

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
>
> It beats wasting it!

Thirty years is nothing... try fifty... Ha!

<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/0aa3907c21f33a7b>

Victor

On Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:29:39 +0200, [email protected] (Victor Sack)
wrote:

>Tara <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandsty...i-eat-roadkill
>>
>> It beats wasting it!
>
>Thirty years is nothing... try fifty... Ha!
>
><http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/0aa3907c21f33a7b>
>

The last line is perfect. "His wife, Su, does not share his
passion. She is a vegetarian. "

Jim