The Meat Chronicles

[thetank]

I had the same problem, the Jemima Puddleduck dilemma.

Only lasted about 5 minutes, plum sauce saw me through.

[spacefrog]

Ok I like this thing, zebra=cheval no?


I eat all these things in Australia on vacances, no zebra. Viande is viande, his nose and feets no problem for Frogs, you courageous rosbif. They make statue in London. 

Thanks for contribution Spacefrog.

Here is a zebra for you...

Yes, Spacefrog know zebra. He the cheval who live in Africa. I never know is possilbe to eat him. I go to St Denis for a market of Africa demain, hello Mr African meatman you sell me zebra steck.

[JungleCat03]

Ding ding.

It's the next stop on the meat chronicles tour, and this time we have stopped off at ZEBRA-ville.



Zebras are another slightly odd creature. I just think of them as stripey horses but following the most cursory internet research imaginable, I have dug up some interesting facts about them.

For instance, did you know they had night vision? Even Jack Bauer needs special infra-red goggles to see in the dark but not the good old zebra. Oh no, he can spot a lion sneaking up on him even when Mrs Zebra has turned off all the lights.

The stripes are interesting.

Here's a bushman's folk tale of how they got there.

"According to a Bushmen folk tale of Namibia, the zebra was once all white but got its black stripes after a fight with a baboon over a waterhole. After kicking the baboon so hard the zebra lost his balance and tripped over a fire and the fire sticks left scorches mark all over this white coat"

I guess it might be true! Bushman Fergus was unavailable to provide any more information about this story sadly.

A target for many  large predators, the zebra has to keep on his toes and being a swift runner helps him elude those vicious animals that are looking to turn him into lunch. His large ears, bigger than those of a horse, mean he has acute and highly sensitive panoramic hearing.

Sadly for this zebra he was unable to dodge the predator who took him down, chopped him into steaks, hermetically sealed him in plastic, insta-froze him and delivered him to my doorstep.

This is the story of how he became my dinner...

[JungleCat03]

Zebra steak with shallot and red wine sauce, served with mashed potato, pan-fried onions and avocado.

RECIPE:

First the sauce. Following the dubious recipe i followed for the ostrich red wine sauce, I turned to Gordon Ramsey to bail me out and here is the recipe he suggested.

******************************************************

 *   250g  shallots  , sliced
    * 4 tbsp olive oil
    * 1 garlic clove , lightly crushed
    * sprig rosemary
    * 5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
    * 400ml red wine
    * 400ml beef or brown chicken stock, preferably homemade
    * knob of butter


   1.  Sauté the shallots in a medium saucepan with the oil over a high heat for about 3 mins until lightly browned, stirring often. Season with ground black pepper and add the garlic and rosemary. Continue cooking for a further 3 mins, stirring often to prevent the shallots burning.
   2. Pour in the vinegar and cook until evaporated away to a syrup, then pour in the wine and cook until reduced by two thirds.
   3. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds again, to around 250ml. Remove the garlic and rosemary. Add a little salt to taste and finally 'monte' (whisk) in a knob of butter. Add any juices from the steaks just before serving.

**************************************************

The steak, mash and avocado was pretty standard. The steak I cooked medium to well-done as I didn't want to risk not cooking the meat thoroughly, even though it might be fine.

Mash was just boiled potatoes, butter, pepper and milk all mashed obv. Standard.

Onions - sliced and fried in butter and the pan juices from the zebra.

Avocado - just sliced up and served au natural.

I have tried to improve the presentation based on previous comments from RobertHM and Kev. Any better fellas?

Picture to follow in the next post...

[JungleCat03]

Here is the final result...

[JungleCat03]

THE VERDICT:

Once again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record I was very impressed!

The taste of the zebra was again not massively dissimilar to eating a normal cow steak, although it has perhaps a slightly more delicate flavour than that of a cow. Just to compare it with the Kangaroo, that had a strong-ish, almost gamey aftertaste which wasn't there with the zebra.

I think its understated taste would lend itself well to various different types of sauces so it could be eaten with all sorts of accompaniments.

The taste was great, again I can only highly reccomend you try it given the chance.

The onions and mash went well and as always did a great job as the supporting cast. The avocado was my own invention and it was fine, perhaps not perfectly suited to being eaten with the steak, but as I like avocado i don't care!

Gordon Ramsey's recipe did the business as you'd expect of the profane, scar-faced but highly competent chef.

Overall the verdict has to be good for the zebra and indeed this is reflected in the score which is...(drum roll please)

  (eight) out of ten!

Another great score, the zebra performed heroically. Still not quite capable of keeping up with the rampant Ostrich, it nonetheless left a formidable impression on my palate and memory and i will look forward to the next time we cross paths.

So, the third animal on my list of exotic animals has been crossed off which means I have achieved my new year's resolution to try 3 new types of meat this year!



That's not the end of the journey though. Oh no the show must go on. Still to come we have venison, crocodile and camel and it will be exciting to see how there turn out.

Sadly the advent of the Copenhagen EPT means I will be travelling there to cover the tournament so there won't be any more exotic meats for about 10 days or so. If you can wait till then though we can continue gobbling our way through the world's animals together peeps!

Seeya later

[Nem]

greet fred imo

[boldie]

Excellent thread...and making me very hungry...I will get me one of them baskets this year

[spacefrog]

Meat is meat. Is horse no? You make a tartare for this one next day.

http://cuisidam.blogspot.com/2007/07/tartare-de-cheval.html


Mmmmm

[phatomch]

Camel fillet with a Shiraz Butter Glaze
Ingredients
1 x Camel fillet trimmed of sinew and cut into medallions
Oliver Oil
Butter 4 small onions
1 x Carrot, finely chopped
250ml Shiraz wine or red wine
250ml Beef stock

Method
To make the glaze, fry olive oil and onions, carrots and celery in a pan until slightly brown, then add cut off trimmings and cook until brown. Then add wine & beef stock and simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Strain and whisk in butter pieces until the liquid has a buttery glaze, then brush camel fillet with olive oil and grill to your taste.
To serve pour shiraz butter glaze onto a plate, arrange camel medallions in a pyramid shape and serve with a tossed salad.

[thetank]

I wouldn't be too happy eating camel.

It's a bit like eating a dog or a horse. We have a kinda symbiotic relationship with these creatures. It's like there's an unspoken pact, they serve us in their lifetime, especially as a means of conveyance, beasts of burden etc, and in return we don't have them for dinner.

I've no moral problem with other people eating Camel, but I'm kinda rooting for it to be the least tasty.

[Royal Flush]

Rod buy a proper plate, it will launch the presentation marks much higher!

[rossfourfive]

Rod buy a proper plate, it will launch the presentation marks much higher!

+1, just a plain white one will do the job.

[boldie]

Rod buy a proper plate, it will launch the presentation marks much higher!

+1, just a plain white one will do the job.

yeah, presentation has been somewhat shocking...all the meat looks rather slimy ..and the plates look like the ones you'd get from your granny when you move out of the house to go out to uni or something.

new camera and new plates essential.

[bolt pp]

that zebra meat looked good!