3:00 snapshot #755

[urbpan]

This is the kind of thing we have at the zoo that I walk by a million times and don't think about any more, but when I stop and look at it I think, man that's really cool.

I made rabbit stew today and learned a few things. Rabbits taste like chicken, more or less, which is what everyone says about every meat that's not one of the big three. Rabbits are mostly made of very small bones. Modern people have gotten use to eating food that either has no bones, or has big obvious bones you eat the meat off of. (I guess people who eat fish are used to the many little bones in fishes, but I rarely touch the stuff.) Rabbit, like all meat that isn't one of the big 3 (or turkey), comes with sticker shock. It probably costs closer to what meat should cost, if animal agriculture was composed of small scale farms that treated animals like animals and not like raw materials. I don't know that my five dollar a pound rabbit (rabbitS actually--I pulled out 4 shoulder blades from the stew) lived a great life, but I bet it was better than the average 99 cents a pound chicken's life.

"Tastes like chicken," I realized some time ago, is code for "really bland." I wish that I'd put more veggies and spices in, but I was nervous about screwing it up. This was my first attempt at anything with the crock pot, and now I'm not afraid of it anymore, so I'll feel more free to wing it. I think I'll do goat curry next.

Comments

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Have you tried lamb? Lamb most definitely has a unique flavour.

I hear that eating sheep isn't that common in the U.S. It's one of the big meats in Australia, we're one of those countries that has more sheep than people.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you never see adult sheep meat for sale in the U.S., I'm not sure why.

Lamb is considered a "holiday" meat, eaten at Easter and such, and you can get it at the supermarket any time, and at Mediterranean restaurants. I don't think it tastes too distinctive, but it has a distinctive grainy texture to me.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I think lamb has to be special ordered at my supermarket. It does have a distinctive flavor IMO, just as beef has its own flavor. I've never had adult mutton.

I had rabbit just once that I remember, at a Spanish restaurant. It was too dry for my taste, but I guess that has to do with how it was cooked?