STRANGE MEATS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12663, 17 September 1904, Page 2 (Supplement)

STRANGE MEATS.

ELEPHANTS FOR SAUSAGES. The recent news from Antwerp thai an

pliant having been killed in th« Zoological Gardens there, its carcase "was sold as f-

and converted into sausages, must, says a , : 1 London paper, have set the mouths of Lou. If don gourmets ai-watering. After the eternal 1 monotony of beef and mutton, a .dish of I elephant's flesh would make a red-letter ='' dinner, though opinions differ as to the • 1 merits of its eating. Some African explorers I have rhapsodised over th© tenderness and 1 delicacy of elephant meat, while others have • J likened it to soft leather and glue. Baked " 1 elephant's foot, however, is generally agreed 1 to be sublime. It wns barbaric of the 1 Antwerp butcher to make this joint i n t ft , I .sausage. A hole should have been dug m ' 1 the earth and heated with live coals. Als«r ' 1 sweeping out the cinders the elephant*! I foot should have been buried in this prim;", 1 tive oven and a large fire maintained oyer4 1 for three hours. This recipe yields - a f I fit for a king, of the rarest flavour amiV I i gelatinous consistency which may be eatcb ' ! with a spoon- ; )s*f: ftgigii' ! Though elephants are rare within these j beefy isles, it is not sufficient reason for our present rigid restriction of diet. Beef and mutton, with pork, so entirely make up the menu that we actually regard lamb and veal as distinct dishes. Why should not" J goat flesh be introduced into the bill of fare? It is good eating, as Robinson Crusoe and j Don Juan testify. In France it is largely eaten, Paris alone requiring 100,000 goata annually for the table. "It was in Paris," wrote Mr. Vandam, the author of "An Englishman in Paris,' "that I learned how the cat has been mis. judged. Call the dog the friend of man it you like, but don't eat him. Fry him, stew, boil, or bake him, do what you will' his flesh is and remains oily and flabby, with a strong flavour of master oil. But I \ declare that stewed puss is far nicer Urate I stewed rabbit." This testimony the writer ! can personally corroborate, having recently I been invited to a dinner given by a gourmet of eccentric tastes. The dish of the evening was " Chat aux Champignons." Soaked I in white vinegar with aromatic herbs, and I cooked in red wine the cat made, a mosfc savoury dish, and after the prejudice jf the first mouthful one was bound to admit its succulence and flavour. The same verdict must be given for rat pie by aarj who have eaten it. At threshing time' in the ' North Country some ' farmers capture and convert the rats from the ricks into a stew or pie. 'Thus cooked the grain-fed rat is ;l as dainty as the pigeon. On this point i-H both the naturalists, Frank Buckland and M the Rev. J. G. Wood, agreed. \ Snakes being rare in England are almost . 1 /unknown as food, but in Southern Fnww® ' ] there is a snake which is extensively sold '■'', i)repared for cooking under the name of ■ j ledge-eel. Indeed, those who enjoy eels ! can scarcely shudder at stewed snake, h auk Buckland once dined off a boa-constructor, ■-' and heartily enjoyed it, the flesh being exceedingly white and firm, not unlike veal _.-." in taste. :i,'£, ( The popular prejudice against snails is' 1 ' incomprehensible when the favour of oysters, periwinkles, mussels, and cockles is consider- j ed. In many London restaurants, particularly in Soho, snails now figure on the daily - | menu. This is an imported taste from France, but in the .West Country snails are ; highly esteemed by the lower classes. A year or two ago * clergyman cited as an illustration of poverty in Bristol that he Md seen working sjirls pick snails off & -its' and eat them. As a matter of fact the snail -, - if! extensively eaten in Somerset and Gloucestershire, both an a dainty and a medkine. There are men who make a living ft" collecting snails, and selling them under the name of " wall fish," Boiled in their > ho! -, they are picked out and eaten with bread and butter, being accounted a great luxury, and very nourishing. In pulmonary diseases they popularly rank as a' specific.