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Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

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Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#51
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having never had the pleasure of trying kangaroo you make it sound like venison or bison here. VERY lean, so you must eat it rare to medium rare or you wind up over cooking the crap out of it and it winds up like tough shoe leather. Ugh. I hope one day to make it down there and try some kangaroo steak, or some braized slow cooked kangaroo. I bet it's very healthy red meat, unless its farm raised. What is the natural…

Id agree on the taste part. Never had bison, but still that same gamey taste, certainly stronger than venison. As for cooking, no, terribly dangerous advice. Cook kangaroo well regardless of what butchers and cooking shows tell you. Kangaroo has somewhere near 20x the bacterial levels of raw chicken. It's wild hunted meat that's been commercialised. Perfectly fine if you eat it soon after being killed, but no sold ro…

That is very interesting. I know of no red meat in N. America that carries bacteria that must be killed by cooking it well done. Poultry is dangerous undercooked, and to a lesser extent pork, even though pork here is irradiated so much you would be ok if it's a little pink. But red meat? You can eat any red meat tartar afaik.

Off to read that link! What an interesting animal, culinary wise.

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#52
I've been told that, colloquially, kangaroo meat is occasionally referred to as "skippy." (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23086541)

I guess this is a bit of gallows humor because of the beloved children's show Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo)

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#53
post #10

And yet California insists on continuing to ban all kangaroo imports into the state.

This ban affects dog food that contains kangaroo, and affects states outside of California too: https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-veterinary-d... > This product cannot be shipped to the state of California due to current California state laws. Additionally, this product may not be available to purchase from Royal Canin directly if you are located in Nevada, parts of Utah, Arizona, Hawaii, or parts of Or…

Not just meat, kangaroo leather is also banned as well as any other kangaroo made products

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#54
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Id agree on the taste part. Never had bison, but still that same gamey taste, certainly stronger than venison. As for cooking, no, terribly dangerous advice. Cook kangaroo well regardless of what butchers and cooking shows tell you. Kangaroo has somewhere near 20x the bacterial levels of raw chicken. It's wild hunted meat that's been commercialised. Perfectly fine if you eat it soon after being killed, but no sold ro…

That is very interesting. I know of no red meat in N. America that carries bacteria that must be killed by cooking it well done. Poultry is dangerous undercooked, and to a lesser extent pork, even though pork here is irradiated so much you would be ok if it's a little pink. But red meat? You can eat any red meat tartar afaik. Off to read that link! What an interesting animal, culinary wise.

I wonder if it's like beef where cooking the outside of a solid (not ground) hunk of meat is enough to kill bacteria that mostly only hang out on the surface. This, incidentally, is why I'll happily eat rare seared steak, but I only eat burgers that are cooked through.

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Why? Here in Australia the meat isn't very popular despite supply, gets used mostly in pet food (and the leather is used as well). I'm sure we'd happily export it to anyone interested, why would Cali ban it?

California bans all sorts of things. Foie gras, wood stoves, apples from some other states in the union, reference to a nationally recognizable sports team, allowing animals to have sex within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship[0], driving in a housecoat (but only if you're a woman)[citation needed], and the eating of any frog which dies in a frog race (really).

Those sound like archaic unenforced laws which every state has. But they really do have a very overbearing government. It's very common to see labels like "not available in California" or "known to the state of California to cause cancer".

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#56
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California bans all sorts of things. Foie gras, wood stoves, apples from some other states in the union, reference to a nationally recognizable sports team, allowing animals to have sex within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship[0], driving in a housecoat (but only if you're a woman)[citation needed], and the eating of any frog which dies in a frog race (really).

"apples from some other states" How does that work? Is it for worry about pests, or insecticide use? I thought the US Constitution prevents a state from banning products from another state. I looked in the online California Code at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml but found no mention of "housecoat" or "house coat". I also found nothing relevant for "robe" or "robes". Could you point out the relev…

> How does that work? Is it for worry about pests

Yes, California’s ag quarantine/inspection laws are about pests (and the prohibited without certificate imports are part of those laws). California is unusual in enforcing its quarantine laws with border inspections, but not in having them.

> I thought the US Constitution prevents a state from banning products from another state.

State ag quarantine laws are common and have generally been held Constitutional absent federal action that overlaps with or expressly preempts them.

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#57
post #7
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, minced is the way to go otherwise it tends to be really stiff, perhaps slow cooking could solve the stiffness problem but I've never tried. Roo burgers are the easiest solution and can be found at any Aussie supermarket or butcher.

Having never had the pleasure of trying kangaroo you make it sound like venison or bison here. VERY lean, so you must eat it rare to medium rare or you wind up over cooking the crap out of it and it winds up like tough shoe leather. Ugh. I hope one day to make it down there and try some kangaroo steak, or some braized slow cooked kangaroo. I bet it's very healthy red meat, unless its farm raised. What is the natural…

As for the diet of kangaroo, yeah they're grazers. You can go out and see them grazing on grasslands in the national parks around the city. Apparently it's pretty high in the good Omega 3 oil too.

Sometimes I've eaten kangaroo and enjoyed it, then tried to prepare exactly the same food again and it tasted like a horrible bloody mess. I am not an expert on cooking roo. I recommend feeding it to your children so that they think it's normal however it tastes, and leave it as a gift for the next generation.

If there really is an oversupply of roo, why do I have to hunt for it on the shelf? And why is it always in weird packages with gimmicky branding?

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#58
post #4

I've been living out here in Australia for about a year and a half now. It really is a delicious meat, though it's so lean that your options for how to prepare it are pretty slim. I've found that mince is the easiest to work with by far. Kangaroo tacos are really delicious. Burgers with it are decent too. It's very close to beef in taste, just a slight bit bloodier tasting.

It's gamey, which means a couple of things:

1) It holds up against marinades very well, which also help to retain some moisture when cooked. Marinade cubes overnight then cook on skewers, for example. Ditto steaks, probably.

2) It goes really well in curries and stews where the flavour of the spices/sauce overpowers weaker meats. Think recipes where you'd use beef or venison.

I like roo and I should probably eat more of it than I do and substitute it for beef sometimes. I think primarily in fluid-based slow-cooker meals where the leanness doesn't necessarily cause it to dry out as it's got fluids to keep it tender.

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#59
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fairly cheap... but still more expensive then non steak beef, pork or chicken. I would eat a heap more of it, but its often ~ $16 a kilo when I can get chicken breast for $8

The price seems to have gone up considerably in the last 5 years. We used to eat kangaroo steaks and burgers regularly, but now we only consider it if it's on sale.

I noticed this as well - a few years ago when I could barely cover rent it was basically the only meat I could afford. Now I think of it as an occasional purchase because it's more expensive than chuck steak.

Re: Australians told to eat more kangaroo as population hits double that of humans

#60
Part of the issue with this proposal is that wild roo meet not infrequently contains parasites in the muscles that makes it unfit for human consumpion. You have to be careful, just as with other wild meats. As a result, the supermarket-available roo meat often is farmed rather than wild-caught.
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