What's for dinner tonight?

Lol...Gross!..These are my "River Rats"...and who sometimes bring me goodies for the spaghetti / perlo

 

Let me guess, you named them? Well, I try gater and snake, but not those ugly creatures.

 

Nah...it's "mostly" a term of endearment for we who live and play on the river.....a LONG TIME AGO, when my family lived on a Tennessee stretch of the Chattanooga River, "River Rat" was a commonly heard descriptor....

I say "mostly" because some of the effete and erudite "city folk" look down their noses at such "unrefined redneckery"

 

Talking about ugly creatures, insects do not look so ugly after they are fried and prepared by experienced chefs.

Insects for dinner tonight? It's not kidding. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is promoting edible insects as a low-fat, high-protein food for people, pets and livestock.

Eating Insects
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f7I_HAm4d8

Marcel Dicke: Why not eat insects?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6GimGZz6a8

Eating Grasshoppers, Bugs and Larva in Thailand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWrwWDFVH_4

Would you eat Insect Burger ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEv5Of3NfE0

http://www.politicalforum.com/food-wine/302622-how-about-crunchy-fresh-bugger-breakfast.html

 

No thanks, I rather chew on bark.

 

Thai salad with kangaroo instead of beef. Lashings of fresh coriander and a dressing of lemon juice, sugar and fish sauce. Simple, but yummy!

Tip from owner of best Chinese restaurant in Wellington. For several hours marinate any meat in mixture of corn flour and soy sauce. Gives the meat a sheen and makes it melt in your mouth.

If ever in Wellington, make the Yangtse in Upper Willis St a must. Humphrey Mann and his wife, Glenn, are great hosts.

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Thai salad with kangaroo instead of beef. Lashings of fresh coriander and a dressing of lemon juice, sugar and fish sauce. Simple, but yummy!

Tip from owner of best Chinese restaurant in Wellington. For several hours marinate any meat in mixture of corn flour and soy sauce. Gives the meat a sheen and makes it melt in your mouth.

If ever in Wellington, make the Yangtse in Upper Willis St a must. Humphrey Mann and his wife, Glenn, are great hosts.

 

Sounds yummy, although I have no idea what Kangaroo tastes like. Is it very gamy?

 

Stuffed Manicotti with red sauce, tossed salad, crusty bread.

 

No, surprisingly not. Very tender and extremely healthy with a low fat content. Much less gamy than venison, which I also enjoy, but cannot find in Australia.

 

We once bought some crocodile, which apparently tastes very much like chicken. Unfortunately the parcel slipped under the seat of the car. We searched everywhere, but couldn't find it.

Eventually a strange smell of rotting meat led us to its location. Took about a week to get the smell out of the vehicle. Even worse, we haven't been able to find any more since, so still haven't been able to try it.

 

Talking of eating insects, the Maori people of NZ consider Huhu grubs a great delicacy. They find them mainly in rotting trees and eat them alive. I've tried them, a bit slimy, but very tasty.

 

We are having loin tip roast, (beef, from our own cow) mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas picked fresh this morning, and a fresh salad with our own home grown lettuce.

So far it smells real good!

 

Be right over.

 

Hurry...the peas tasted like green candy, the beef was tender and the gravy (made from the beef drippings, garlic salt, onion powder , celery seed, salt&pepper, thyme, and cornstarch with water to thicken) was fabulous.

We still got a little left...but you will have to hurry.

 

A question for all you cooks out there. Is there any way to tell how hot a pepper is, i.e. Jalapenos, Seranos by just looking at them?
I haven't come up with anything but trial and error. I am addicted to spicy food. Any suggestions?

 

I saw a program by America's Test Kitchens, and they said it is nearly impossible to tell how hot a pepper is by looking at it.

They claim the heat comes from the stress a pepper goes through when growing such as heat stress and water stress.

Heat and water stress will make a pepper hotter.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I don't understand why the "west" believes eating insects is yucky. If you saw a prawn for the first time and didn't know what it was, would you eat one?

Insect are very popular in Asia, a great source of protein. Crickets and grasshoppers especially. In Laos and Thailand "jii nyai" are very popular. Crickets done in kaffir lime leaves, garlic and a little chilli. Great with a cold beer.

 

One can get 'roo in many supermarkets in Australia now, prepackaged and labeled. It's very lean so it can't be overcooked. If you treat kangaroo like fillet steak, cook it no more than medium rare it's very very tasty. Very simlar to beef, but just a little gamey.

My wife won't eat 'roo. She finds eating the Australian Coat of Arms distasteful. I love it, crocodile isn't bad either.

 

The smaller they are, the hotter. I once tried chilies the size of your fingernail - just about blew my head off. So if you want a relatively mild chilli choose large ones and remove the seeds, they provide most of the heat.

 

Grilled pork steaks, grilled corn on the cob, and baked asparagus wrapped in bacon. Can't friggin wait!

 

Me neither. Dinner at 5?

I like asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto, but that also goes well with figs....dang, I just ate and now I'm hungry again.

 

More like 10 pm, but you're still welcome

 

That's past my bedtime, but I shall dream beautiful dreams of asparagus and corn.

Did you catch my question above about the hot peppers? Who knows, by any luck someone might know a secret.

 

Hot peppers? I must've missed that!