Horse Steak

[the_alias]

I've only very recently become a full blown meat eater - I was raised a pescitarian - seafood and fish all the way.

So far I've tried:
Ostrich
Cow
Pig
Chicken
Bison
and now Horse

I think eating horse is probably a taboo for a lot of people but here in Europe it is relatively common.

You can see by the packaging this is part of the "Horseline" - I could have also chosen Garlic flavoured but decided against that. The horse is from Canada which surprised me as the French eat quite a lot.

Unpacking it


Smells different to beef certainly. This was further evident when I started cooking it


Smells like nothing else!

I cooked it about 4 minutes each side


I ate it with some fried tatters and a small salad.

I liked it, has quite a unique flavour. Bit sweeter than beef. I'd say I can't comment on the chewiness factor because as a recent convert to omnivore I find the texture of some meat the biggest, hurdle I guess you could call it.

All in all worth trying if you get the chance!

[Jeriah]

Interesting. I recall a legal issue in California a ways back, where there was some kind of issue on the ballot as to whether or not it should remain legal to sell horse meat for human consumption. It was apparently one of those cases where it was so uncommon that it really only affected like one group, so like a sort of, "Can company X continue selling worn-out racehorses to the Chinese who feed them to prisoners?" or some equally obscure equivalent. I don't remember the details or the outcome, but I do remember the hilarious slogan used by the group opposed to the ban: "If eating horses is outlawed, only outlaws will eat horses."

Regarding the smell: I noticed a massive difference between the smell of beef cooking and the smell of mutton. Mutton has a horrible, nasty, disgusting barnyard smell when you start cooking it, but once done it's fine, tastes decent, although more of a stew thing than a steak kind of thing. What was the horse smell like? Like a sweet grass smell, or a nasty barnyard sweat-and-shit kind of thing?

[Regular Guy]

Funny, I ate horse in Newfoundland. Also ate more squid than humanly possible. But hey, never claimed to be human. ***dons tinfoil hat.

[KentsOkay]

As a responsible horse owner I feel humane slaughterhouses are necessary. I wouldn't personally ever eat horse meat (I don't find it appealing, I read somewhere also you cant donate blood [??]). No kill animal shelters my ass, if there is no one to care for that burnt-out racehorse, why shouldn't its miserable existence be ended? In a lot of the equine crowd there is a lot of fear mongering of slaughterhouses, stemming from incidents of horses being stolen for meat. A thousand pound horse, maybe a hundred pounds of good meat, upwards of $10 pound...

So go ahead and buy that over priced meat from our stringy old horses. But I swear if anyone gets the wrong idea about MY war pony, you are getting knee capped then chain dragged...

[Czechnology]

Okinawans traditionally eat horse. Uma sashimi is... distinctly unappealing. I'd try what you bought, Alias but raw... never again.

[TacAir]

Back in the early 70's there was a 'beef shortage' (trying to hike prices I suppose0 and horse was comon = at least in the AO were I lived at the time (SoNv).

The smell/taste reminds me of venison. It's good low fat meat, but not as good as moose.

Buffalo (Bison, really) is pretty tasty and low fat as well, hard to find it at a decent price.

Mule is not so good, well prepared dog sn't half bad

But bison would be my choice if beef became 'scarce' once again, with moose as the second.

[Necrodamus]

Ive a eaten a hell-a-lot worse! Never had a horse steak but I would try it.

[the_alias]

Jeriah - It wasn't the most pleasant smell I won't lie but it got better or I got more used to it.

So go ahead and buy that over priced meat from our stringy old horses. But I swear if anyone gets the wrong idea about MY war pony, you are getting knee capped then chain dragged...

This isn't over priced meat from stringy old horses. Also what is with the tough guy act? Seriously why is that needed?

[crypto]

yeah venison has a distinctly unpleasant smell if you sear it too.

[FrANkNstEin]

I´ve never had horse in my whole live but now i want to go buy one just to taste it.

[Grenfield]

Never tried horse myself, but it is something I'd like to try, mostly out of curiosity. Not sure how common it is out of Australia but Kangaroo is fairly common here (Australia), and I know a few foreigners who found that a little odd

[Czechnology]

Never tried horse myself, but it is something I'd like to try, mostly out of curiosity. Not sure how common it is out of Australia but Kangaroo is fairly common here (Australia), and I know a few foreigners who found that a little odd

I thoroughly enjoy kangaroo.

[the_alias]

Never tried horse myself, but it is something I'd like to try, mostly out of curiosity. Not sure how common it is out of Australia but Kangaroo is fairly common here (Australia), and I know a few foreigners who found that a little odd

I thoroughly enjoy kangaroo.

Most major European cities have two things
At least one "irish pub"
At least one "Ozzie bar" - usually these serve kangaroo! Not seen it on sale in shops much though.

[Jeriah]

Kangaroo has been suggested as a more sustainable meat for Australia, since they're native, they can be raised without damaging the land. Beef and sheep are pretty rough on the soil, for a variety of reasons, whereas kangaroo populations are, from everything I've heard, quite healthy. So I'm in favor of eatin' em. Haven't had the chance myself. How is it?

[nateted4]

I imagine anything slathered in enough bbq sauce is edible.

[Jeriah]

I imagine anything slathered in enough bbq sauce is edible.

And according to this food safety handout I read, fully-cooked feces is harmless!

[Dawgboy]

I had horse a couple times while traveling through France. I thought it was just fine in a Burgundian stew with red wine. The second time was braised in white wine sauce and was definitely more chewy.

Kangaroo is actually pretty darn good. I probably have eaten more of that than I will ever know, as Jack in the Box was making burgers out of it until they got caught...

Buffalo/Bison is really good. There is a butcher shop about 30 miles from me that sells it. Hmm... Road trip!

[crypto]

I imagine anything slathered in enough bbq sauce is edible.

And according to this food safety handout I read, fully-cooked feces is harmless!

It is.

http://inhabitat.com/poop-burger-japane ... man-feces/

[Jeriah]

I imagine anything slathered in enough bbq sauce is edible.

And according to this food safety handout I read, fully-cooked feces is harmless!

It is.

http://inhabitat.com/poop-burger-japane ... man-feces/

We add reaction enhancer and put it in the exploder!

I find certain elements of that video highly dubious (the science looks phony, and the ending appears to be shot in China, not Japan), but it's got plenty of truthiness. If someone was going to develop a turdburger, it'd certainly be the Japanese...and tubgirl knows a shortcut!

[mboyce]

If wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak!

[Rod]

I imagine anything slathered in enough bbq sauce is edible.

And according to this food safety handout I read, fully-cooked feces is harmless!

It is.

http://inhabitat.com/poop-burger-japane ... man-feces/

We add reaction enhancer and put it in the exploder!

I find certain elements of that video highly dubious (the science looks phony, and the ending appears to be shot in China, not Japan), but it's got plenty of truthiness. If someone was going to develop a turdburger, it'd certainly be the Japanese...and tubgirl knows a shortcut!

Alas, you can't quite believe everything you see on the internet.

[DarkandShiny]

As a responsible horse owner I feel humane slaughterhouses are necessary. I wouldn't personally ever eat horse meat (I don't find it appealing, I read somewhere also you cant donate blood [??]). No kill animal shelters my ass, if there is no one to care for that burnt-out racehorse, why shouldn't its miserable existence be ended? In a lot of the equine crowd there is a lot of fear mongering of slaughterhouses, stemming from incidents of horses being stolen for meat. A thousand pound horse, maybe a hundred pounds of good meat, upwards of $10 pound...

So go ahead and buy that over priced meat from our stringy old horses. But I swear if anyone gets the wrong idea about MY war pony, you are getting knee capped then chain dragged...

Both of my parents are Danish immigrants so eating horse was part of my childhood. Here out west there are lots of responsible horse owners who, recognizing that their 29 year old horse is in pain with a mouth full of worn out teeth, put them down humanely by either taking them to a slaughterhouse or putting them out to pasture for the last time. The general public perception that eating horse is somehow wrong or disgusting is a recent phenomenon. I've had lots of "old stringy' horse meat and it is quite good (most dishes call for ground or pounded meat). If you are an omnivore I recommend trying it at least once.

Stealing a horse out west would still likely get you shot or hanged were it not for Kennedy v. Louisiana.

[Chef]

Just remember: if you slaughter a horse for food, don't get naked and climb inside the carcass and take pictures of it. Even if you are kinda hot.

[Towanda]

Everyone needs a hobby, I guess...