A word on game and 'exotic' meats

You've noticed, probably, that a good many of my recipes are for game and 'exotic' meats. And that, too, when I cook with rabbit, I have a preference for wild-shot as opposed to farmed.

Now, I'm no hunter. I have nothing against hunting. Indeed, it's something I'd take up if I had the means. But I do have a certain fondness for game and, of course, for trying new things.

So where does once source all of this stuff? Obviously, with game, if you hunt or know someone who hunts, you have an obvious way of sourcing that's going to be significantly cheaper than what I'm suggesting. Too, what do they taste like?

Boar

Boar has a taste that's similar to pork, but much, much, much stronger. Boar is one of my favourite meats. Your best bet is a stew, casserole or curry.

Be warned: to buy boar is an expensive exercise. A butcher and poultry store me order it in upon request from Wangara Poultry & Game. There are probably other suppliers, though. One of the poultry stores at Queen Victoria Market occasionally stocks boar sausages that are, in my experience, just okay, but realistically you're going to have to order this a week in advance. A good butcher or poultry store should have no problems sourcing boar.

Buffalo

Buffalo really surprised me. I thought it'd be just like beef but it's not. Yes, it's similar to beef, but it's distinct enough to make it worth ordering in once in a while. Buffalo is nowhere near as strong-flavoured as kangaroo or venison, although I admit my experience with it is limited. I've only ever bought the sausages. A local butcher and poultry store can order one kilogram packs of them in through Wangara Poultry & Game. There are probably other suppliers, though. Buffalo works well with dry rubs and bold-flavoured dipping sauces. It's a lean meat, so take care to avoid overcooking it.

Camel

Yes, camel. A lot of people, right now, are probably revolted, but hang on. Camel is lovely. Forget what the beast looks like. Please. It'll be worth it. But yeah, camel. Camel tastes a bit like mutton--that is, strong-flavoured lamb--only with a very unique, sweet aftertaste. It's the sweet aftertaste that makes camel a pain to pair with sauces. Mustard doesn't work. I tried. Yoghurt-based sauces, however, are brilliant. You notice the sweet aftertaste with the steaks more than you do with the sausages. Camel curry would be lovely, but take care with your use of spices. You want spices that compliment, rather than hide, camel's unique flavour.

Camel can be bought in some butchers in the Northern Territory, I believe. I know that the butchers and poultry stores in some fresh produce markets, including Queen Victoria, sell it frozen. If you don't have any luck finding it, though, a good butcher or poultry store will be able to order it in.

Crocodile

Crocodile has a very mild flavour--somewhere between chicken and white-fleshed fish. To be honest, the taste of crocodile is a bit weak to stand up on its own. Try it in curries or as a topping on pizza.

You'll find this in the freezer section of some butchers, fishmongers and poultry stores. It can be pretty expensive. The cheapest place to buy it, usually, oriental-run fishmongers--particularly those that specialise in frozen produce. So far as I know, crocodile is only sold frozen. Unless instructed otherwise, cook from partly frozen. All the liquid you lose if you thaw it prior to cooking it is flavour.

Duck


Duck is rich and flavoursome. Fatty, yes. But that's not a problem unless you're eating it every day or are on a very strict diet. A lot of people won't cook duck because they're paranoid they'll trash it. In reality, cooking duck isn't too hard. If you're roasting it, your best bet is to roast low and slow for a while, then crank up the heat towards the end of the cooking time. If you're pan frying the breasts, you should only pan fry for a few minutes on each side and let the breasts rest on a plate, covered in al foil, in a warm place. The residual heat will cook them all the way through. It's okay to eat duck a little rare. If you're making a Thai-style curry or a stir fry with the breasts or thighs, slice them really thin so they cook quickly.

Sourcing duck is easy. Many poultry stores stock it, some supermarkets have it in their frozen produce aisle and you'll find it at many markets. Chinese supermarkets and Chinese-run butchers often sell it too. That said, I'd advise against the cheap, boiler ducks Chinese supermarkets and butchers sometimes sell. They're probably okay for a soup, but for anything else I'd spend a little more.

There are a few kinds of ducks available, from Muscovy to what's sold as Peking duck.

Emu

Emu has a strong, meaty flavour and stands up well to pretty much any sauce you'd see put with a steak--from green peppercorn sauce to red wine sauce.

Emu can be ordered from good butchers and poultry stores. It's not a cheap meat.

Goat

Tastes like lamb, pretty much. Indeed, you can use goat in most lamb recipes and vice versa. Butchers that stock goat tend to sell it as whole legs, whole shoulders or 'diced' goat, which contains a lot of bones. Sometimes you'll see chops. If you want boneless pieces, ask your butcher to chop up a shoulder. I haven't seen anyone display goat mince, but you can certainly have some goat minced up for you at any butcher that stocks it. Goat works well in curries and roasts.

Goat, thankfully, is a cheap meat. Usually, anyway. Your best bet for finding it is a butcher run by and frequented by South Asians and/or Middle Easterners. As a rule, anywhere that sells halal meat will sell goat.

Kangaroo

Depending on how you cook it, kangaroo can have a very strong, meaty flavour. If you've had a bad experience with kangaroo in the past, I urge you to try it again. Consider cooking it low and slow in a curry or pasta. Slow-cooking kangaroo dampens the smell and flavour somewhat. It still tastes stronger than beef, but it's not as overpowering as a steak that's been pan-fried or barbecued can be to the newcomer. Kangaroo is 98% fat free, making it a very healthy meat. Too, kangaroo is quite cheap. Certainly, it's gone up in recent years and some would argue that much of its appeal is lost now that you can get beef at a similar price, but remember that cheap beef is usually pretty bad.

Kangaroo is the only game meat I've seen at a regular supermarket. It's distributed by a company called Macro Meats and is sold by both Coles and Woolworth's supermarkets. You'll also find it in some independent supermarkets, butchers, fresh produce markets and poultry stores. Butchers, fresh produce markets and poultry stores will sometimes have kangaroo from other suppliers. Macro Meats' kangaroo is the cheapest, in my experience, but they don't seem to have as great a range of cuts as some of the other suppliers.

Quail

Quail has quite a flavour that's quite unique. It's certainly not a strong flavour, but by no means is it mild. And no, quail doesn't taste like chicken. Quail is a bit expensive, but it's nice to have as a treat. Quail can be partially de-boned and barbecued or broiled, or it can be roasted. It can also be cooked in stews and curries. I encourage you to do a lot of experimenting with quail. Quail can withstand a bit of punishment at the hands of the novice cook, but do try and stick to the golden rule of not overcooking stuff.

Quail can be purchased at many butchers and poultry stores.

Rabbit

Both farmed rabbit and wild-shot rabbit can be had from many butchers and poultry stores. It varies considerably in price. Don't pay what seems like a ridiculous sum for it. As a rule, wild-shot rabbit costs less per kilogram (rabbits can be sold on a per kilogram or per unit basis--it depends on the outlet), but have less meat on them and are slightly less tender than farmed rabbits. Wild-shot rabbit tastes superior to farmed rabbit, in my opinion, as it has a noticeably stronger flavour. Farmed rabbit has a chickeny taste. It doesn't taste exactly the same as chicken, but it is quite similar. Rabbit is very versatile. You can roast it or stew it, barbecue or curry it, broil or pan fry it.

Venison

Venison is a lovely meat--lean and full of flavour. When I first had it, it reminded me of very good kangaroo, although the flavour certainly wasn't as strong as kangaroo's. Because of its flavour, venison stands up well to marinades and sauces. Like emu and kangaroo, you can pair venison with about any steak sauce you care to name--from the classics to something you've invented yourself.

Now, the bad news. Venison is usually expensive. I say usually because I've found that, if I'm lucky--if the planets are properly aligned and all, if I've earned some good karma during the previous month--I can get it for a reasonable price at some oriental-run butchers. That's not to say it's as cheap as beef--although the price difference between it and good quality beef isn't significant--but it's nowhere near as bad as the prices butchers will charge you to order it in. If luck isn't on your side, you'll most likely have to order it through a butcher or poultry store. Many cuts of venison are available and you can do many things with them, from roasts to curries to stews to steaks to warm salads.

Spaghetti with a spicy kangaroo and mushroom sauce

Kangaroo mince is wonderful. Cheap, lean and tasty. It works well in pasta sauces. You could use it in place of beef in bolognese, if you wanted. This, of course, isn't bolognese. Bolognese--real, honest-to-God bologonese--includes at least two meats. Mine includes four. More if you count the plethora of pig-related products I throw in in addition to the mince.

Too, the addition of curry powder. Adding curry powder to a meaty pasta sauce, for me, is a nostalgic thing. My father used to do with his heavily Australianised 'bolognese' and to this day I can remember the smell of the stuff wafting through the house on the one evening a month or so he'd be in the kitchen.



Ingredients:

600 g kangaroo mince
500 mL beef stock
handful of mushrooms of your choosing, sliced
100 g tomato paste
1/3 cup brandy
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery sticks, diced
2 chillies, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 1/2 tbs hot curry powder
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

In a large sauceheat, heat some oil over a low flame. Add the onion, garlic, chillies, celery and carrot. Stir and fry for five minutes, then add a tablespoon of curry powder. Stir and fry for another five minutes, then add the mince. Stir well. Brown the mince over the course of 2-3 minutes, then add the brandy, stirring as you do. Let it reduce, then spoon in the tomato paste. Stir it in, add the stock and cover the pan. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid. Stir in the remaining curry powder. Simmer for a further 25 minutes, then add the mushrooms. Simmer for five more minutes, then cover the pan and take it off the heat. Let it sit this way while you bring some lightly salted water to the boil and cook some spaghetti. Don't cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions--use your senses by tasting the pasta when you think it's about done. It should be soft, but have just a little bite to it. Al dente. Toss the pasta and sauce together.

Kangaroo 'gringo' tacos

Let's face it--most tacos you get in the west, they're nothing like the Mexican ones. For starters, Mexican tacos don't use minced beef or cheese or lettuce--the primary ingredients of the tacos we're familiar with. I'm going to upload an authentic recipe next week, but tonight's effort will be my own bastardised tacos. Instead of using the usual beef, though, I'm using kangaroo. The strong flavour of kangaroo makes for an interesting change. Too, you'll find they're much better than the usual 'gringo' tacos.

Kangaroo mince can be had cheaply at most supermarkets in Australia. It's very low in fat--'98% fat free', proclaims the packaging--and, yeah, it's delicious. I've said this before, I think, but many people falsely believe kangaroo is tough and dry. It shouldn't be. With the mince, the trick is to marinate it and then cook it low and slow.

Too, the seasoning mix I use. The quantities of spices I give will make for some leftover. Save it and use it for something else within the next few days.

Ingredients:

400 g kangaroo mince
10 hard taco shells
2 limes, juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar taco sauce or tomato salsa
1/2 red onion, diced
1/3 iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 tbs whole allspice berries
1 tbs whole coriander seeds
1 tbs whole cumin seeds
1 tbs whole white peppercorns
1 tsp coarse chilli powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sweet paprika
oil
sliced fresh chilli, to garnish

Put the allspice, coriander, cumin and peppercorns in a small, non-stick frypan. Roast over a gentle heat, shaking the pan occasionally to move the spices around. You'll know they're finished roasting when they smell spectacular. Roasting spices isn't an exact science. Use your senses. Tip the spices into a mortar and grind with the chilli powder, sea salt and sweet paprika until you have a fine powder.



Add 3 tbs of the spice mix and the lime juice to the kangaroo mince in a bowl. Combine thoroughly with your hands. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for a hour or two.

Heat some oil in a large fry pan over a medium-low flame. Add the garlic and fry until it starts to soften, then add the seasoned mince. Stir and fry until cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat the taco shells in the oven according to the instructions on the packaging.

Don't overstuff the tacos. Add a little lettuce and onion, then add a bit of mince. Spoon taco sauce over the meat. Add chilli slices if using.

Buffalo meatballs with a mustard and pepper coating

Ingredients:

500 g buffalo sausages
1/4 cup flour
1 tbs mustard seeds, crushed
1 tsp powdered mustard
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp tumeric (optional--I use it purely for the colour)



Combine everything but the sausages in a cup or other small vessel. Set aside.

Slit the sausage casings open with a paring knife. Extract the filling. Pull pieces of the filling off and roll into meatballs. Place in a bowl, add the seasoned flour and cover the bowl well with cling film. Shake until meatballs are evenly coated. Fry over a gentle heat until cooked though.

Buffalo meatballs with a spicy tomato and whisky dipping sauce

Ingredients:

500 g buffalo sausages
1 cup tomato ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup whisky
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tbs honey mustard
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs chilli powder
1 tsp freshly ground allspice
1 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
a generous grind of freshly ground black pepper
sea salt, to taste

Combine the tomato ketchup, apple cider, whisky, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, honey mustard, sweet paprika, chilli powder, allspice, cumin, garlic, onion powder, black pepper, sea salt and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan. Heat over a low flame until sauce starts to bubble. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.



Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs by slitting open the sausage casings with a paring knife. Extract the filling and tear into portions. Roll each portion into a meatball. Fry over medium heat until cooked through.

Kangaroo steaks with a brandy, mushroom and sour cream sauce

Ingredients:

2 kangaroo steaks
1 clove garlic, finely minced
250 g assorted mushrooms, roughly chopped
200 mL sour cream
30 mL brandy
1 tbs butter, softened
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
olive oil
potato wedges, to serve

Pre-heat oven to 220*C. Pre-heat fry pan over a medium high.

Season the steaks with sea salt. Too, drizzle a little olive oil over them. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side, then transfer pan to oven. Roast for five to six minutes. Return pan to stove over a medium flame. Remove steaks. Add the butter to the pan. When butter has melted, add the garlic and mushrooms. Stir and fry for five minutes, then add the brandy. When brandy has reduced by half, add the sour cream and stir in. Cook for two or three minutes.

Wild boar vindaloo

I've used wild boar for this recipe, but there's nothing stopping you from using pork. Use good pork, though. Cheap, lean, mass-produced crap from the supermarket doesn't count as good pork. If you're curious to sample wild boar, you can order it from a good butcher or poultry store. Or go kill it. Too, this recipe makes enough for two people.



Ingredients:

350 g wild boar or pork tenderloin, cut into bite-sized cubes
6 fresh curry leaves
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 large shallot, peeled
1 small lump of ginger, peeled
1 tbs cider vinegar
1 tbs sweet paprika
2 whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 tsp whole black mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
vegetable, sunflower or peanut oil
steamed rice, to serve

At least a few hours--but ideally a day--before, grind the black peppercorns, cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds with a mortar and pestle. Then pour them into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz along with the brown sugar, cider vinegar, garlic, ginger, sea salt, shallot, sweet paprika, turmeric and 1 1/2 tbs water. You're making a curry paste, now. It should be thick, sure, but still a paste. If it seems a little dry--and that's possible, I mean, depending on the size of the shallot and the garlic cloves--add a little more cider vinegar. When you have a smooth paste, combine it with the cubed wild boar in a bowl. Rub the paste into the boar. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

Heat a generous splash of oil in a small, non-stick, lidded pan over a medium flame. Add the remaining 1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds and the curry leaves. Fry until the seeds begin to pop, then add the meat and its marinade. Fry for maybe five minutes--just enough to seal the meat--and then add 350 mL water. Stir and bring to boil, then cover the pan, reduce the heat to low and simmer for forty minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and simmer for a further twenty minutes.

Roast quail with lime and black pepper

The marinade for this was inspired by a potato chip, of all things. Turns out, lime and pepper go just as well together as lemon and pepper do. This is a very simple, mild-flavoured marinade. You get a hint of lime, but mostly you can taste the quail flesh for what it is.

1 quail, wings and neck removed
2 limes, juiced with a single wedge retained
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt



Place the quail in a bowl. Grind some black pepper and sea salt all over it. Rub some into the cavity, too. Squeeze lime juice all over the bird. Turn it breast down, so the breasts--where most of the meat is--are soaking in the lime juice. Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C. Place the quail on a lightly oiled baking tray and roast for 20 minutes.

Chinese five spice quail with a honey-soy glaze

The recipe below is enough to season a single quail.

Ingredients:

1 quail, wings and neck removed
3 cloves
2 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick, snapped into shards
1 tbs whole Sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp ginger powder
2 tbs honey
1 tsp soy sauce

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C.



Using a mortar and pestle, grind up two of the cloves, one of the star anise pods, the Sichuan peppercorns, the ginger powder and all but one of the cinnamon shards. Rub this spice mix all over the quail. Stuff the cavity with the remaining clove, star anise pod and cinnamon shard. Place quail on a lightly oiled oven tray and roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine honey and soy sauce. Remove quail from the oven and baste generously in with the honey-soy glaze, before returning to the oven for a further ten minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Quail Kiev

There are those who don't enjoy quail, claiming that eating quail is a bit like eating matchsticks. It's so small and bony, offering too little meat for them to feel that quail is worth the price butchers and poultry stores charge for it. I'm not one of those people. I adore quail. Grilled or stewed, roasted or deep-fried, I regard it as one of the most wonderful birds.

This dish was, of course, inspired by the popular Chicken Kiev--a flattened chicken breast which is rolled, filled with a garlic and herb butter and then coated in a batter. Typically, Kiev is deep-fried. My Kiev is roasted and, of course, uses quail in place of chicken.

I've allowed three quail per diner, but by all means, reduce that figure to two if you are worried your diners don't have such a large appetite.

Ingredients:

3 quail
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used tempura bread crumbs, but you could make your own bread crumbs by blitzing some stale, but good quality bread in a food processor)
3 tbs fresh dill leaves
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste
olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 180*C.

Prepare the butter filling by playing the butter, dill leaves and garlic cloves in a food processor. Add a generous pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper before blitzing. Set the butter filling aside while you prepare the quail.



Wash quail inside and out under running water and pat dry. Using your chef's knife, remove the neck and the wings. Stuff cavity with the butter mixture. Be careful not to overfill--you're going to have to close the cavity in a minute and you don't want the stuff oozing out.



To close the cavity, carefully tie a length of kitchen string around the end of one of the legs. Then, gently pull both legs back so they're resting on the stumps where the wings used to be. Notice that the cavity is now closed, except for a small gap. Don't worry too much about that. Bind the tips of the legs together with the string.



Season the bread crumbs with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Coat the quail in the beaten egg and then dredge through the bread crumbs, ensuring the whole quail is covered. Place the quail in a lightly greased oven tray. Ensure that the side with the gap is facing up, otherwise the butter filling will leak out during cooking.



Roast for 20-25 minutes or until quail is cooked through.

Grilled rabbit with a 'Thai' marinade

Barbecued rabbit is one of my favourite, favourite, favourite things. Cooking rabbit over coals, that's really the best way to prepare it so far as I'm concerned. Put aside any prejudice you may have against eating bunny and give it a go some time.

This recipe was inspired by a recipe in the Jamie Oliver cookbook, Jamie's Italy. He barbecues rabbit with a marinade that includes, among other things, honey. It was okay, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the marinade I came up with when first barbecuing rabbit for the kids at Saturday school. My students have since tried both marinades and agree that mine is better. Could just be that we all dig the coriander. This is definitely a recipe that you should experiment with. Probably, with not too much work, you can come up with a marinade that's better than mine. I reckon some sort of jerk seasoning, like the one I used with the pork, could be great.

1 rabbit, chopped up into serving pieces (don't be too fussy about how you cut it up--we're cooking over a fire, here, not in a laboratory)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 limes or kaffir limes, juiced with a little zest retained to go into the marinade
3-4 sprigs coriander
2 small red chillies
small lump of ginger
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns, plus a little extra
1 tbs freshly ground coriander
1 tbs sea salt, plus a little extra
1-2 tsp Thai fish sauce, depending on taste
steamed rice, to serve

Combine the oil, garlic, lime juice, lime zest, fresh coriander, chillies, ginger, brown sugar, Sichuan pepper, ground coriander, sea salt and fish sauce in a food processor. Blitz until you end up with a paste. Place the rabbit pieces in a non-metallic bowl and pour the marinade over them. Marinate for a few hours, at least. Ideally overnight.

Remove rabbit from fridge. Start a coal fire. You can do this on a gas barbecue--I have a couple of times--but really, it's so much better when cooked slowly over smouldering coals. Let the fire burn down. Ensure the grill bars are clean. Remove the rabbit pieces from the marinade and give them a generous sprinkle of both sea salt and freshly ground Sichuan pepper. Place the thickest parts of the rabbit, such as the rear legs, on the fire first, as these will take the longest to cook. As cooking over a coal fire is an inexact science, the cooking time could be anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes for the thickest pieces. Don't be tempted to cook this over a high heat. Be patient. Be sure to turn the rabbit pieces regularly, basting with the excess marinade as you do.

Kangaroo with pepper sauce

Kangaroo deserves to be more widely consumed. It's accessible--most supermarkets I've seen stock it--and it's lean and it's delicious. It's relatively affordable, too. Sure, it's gone up in price lately, but is it as cheap as steak? Well, no. Not really. Not for steak that's actually good. Rubbish two-star supermarket steak doesn't count. Kangaroo is another meat that people can be a little worried about preparing. It has a bad reputation. Overcook it and it'll dry out due to its leanness. The solution? Don't overcook it. Kangaroo has a very strong flavour--stronger than venison, even--and that's swell, really, as it means it stands up nicely to strong-flavoured sauces and rubs like this one, which combines three varieties of peppercorn. Speaking of which, you're not aiming to grind the peppercorns into a powder. For this, simply cracking them is enough. When fried, the steaks will have a crunchy, peppery crust.

Ingredients:
4 kangaroo steaks
1/2 cup beef or veal stock (either home made or good quality store-bought stuff)
1 tbs freshly crushed black peppercorns
1 tbs freshly crushed green peppercorns
1 tbs freshly crushed white peppercorns
1 tbs sea salt
a shot of brandy (or cognac or cheap whisky)
olive oil
5 tiny knobs of butter, softened

Rub a little olive oil into the surface of each steak, along with the salt and the cracked peppercorns. Retain any excess peppercorns--you can add them to the sauce at the end.

Pre-heat the pan to medium high. Place the steaks in the pan and fry for 3-4 minutes a side, depending on their thickness and how long they've been out of the fridge. When you turn them, spoon a knob of butter over each one. Once the steaks are cooked, place them on a plate and leave in a warm place. Immediately add the excess peppercorns and the shot of brandy to the pan. Careful, here. If the pan's hot enough, the alcohol could flame up, setting your curtains and/or you on fire. Stir with a wooden spoon while the alcohol reduces. Once it has reduced, add the stock. Once that's reduced by at least half, add the final knob of butter and cut the heat. Stir the butter in and spoon the sauce over the steaks.

Buffalo meatballs with a spicy coating

This is a simple recipe I came up with when introducing both my students and myself to buffalo. I wanted something simple, something the kids and I could knock together in the space of a few minutes. I ended up settling on a spice rub. You can use this spice rub on buffalo steaks, but we used it on meatballs made from buffalo sausages. The sausages can be ordered at any good butcher or poultry store, although you'll find some places might have them kicking around the freezer already. The sausages, at least at the places I go, come frozen in a one kilogram pack.

1 kilogram pack buffalo sausages, thawed
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tbs allspice
1 tbs black pepper
1 tbs sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp chilli powder

Use a paring knife to slit the sausages open. Peel the skin away from the meat. Take a pinch of meat and roll it into a meatball with your hands. Repeat until all of the sausages are gone.

In a cup or other small vessel, combine the flour and spices. Dip the meatballs into the seasoned flour one by one, rolling them around to ensure they get an even coating.

Heat some oil in a fry pan. Cook the meatballs over a medium flame for 5-8 minutes.

Wild boar sandwiches

I recently managed to get my hands on some wild boar tenderloin. I looked around online and through my cookbook collection, trying to find a suitable recipe. I wanted something simple, something that'd let me enjoy the meat for what it was. I didn't want to overwhelm it with a strong-flavoured sauce. It wasn't long before I got tired of looking through curry and casserole recipes and settled on making a simple sandwich.

My wild boar came in strips of the perfect size for sandwiches. If yours doesn't, you're going to have to cut it. Place one wild boar strip for each diner into a bowl along with two or three cloves of garlic, season with black pepper, cover with olive oil, seal in cling film and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Remove from refrigerator a hour before cooking. Pre-heat broiler to medium-high.

Take a tomato, slice it and season it with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Broil for 5-7 minutes a side. While I'm normally against cooking anything well-done, you want to make sure your boar is properly cooked as it's wild-shot. Season the tenderloins with salt and pepper when you turn them. Season them again when you remove them. If you feel like having bacon in your sandwich, broil it now.

Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the sandwich. Open the rolls--I hope you bought nice ones. Add some rocket leaves, finely sliced red onion, the bacon (if using) and the wild boar tenderloin. Top a slice or two of tomato.

Really, that's all I did. And I was very happy with it. I intend, next time, to maybe cook some kebabs over a coal fire.

Warm venison salad with a sweet and spicy rice wine vinegar dressing

Yeah, bit of a venison them going here. This is a great way to use up small off cuts if you've purchased a large venison. Too, if you've roasted some venison and have leftovers, you could just heat it under the broiler and use that.

Ingredients:
one or two small venison rump steaks, removed from the fridge a hour before cooking or some left over cooked venison
mixed lettuce leaves and/or rocket leaves, washed
red onion, sliced
capsicum, siced
carrot, julienned (i.e. cut into matchsticks)
tomato, cut into wedges
rice wine vinegar
small, fresh chilli, sliced
couple garlic cloves, crushed
a little brown sugar

In a cup or other small vessel, combine the rice wine vinegar with the chilli, garlic and brown sugar. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let flavours develop.

Season the venison steaks with sea salt and black pepper. Fry over a medium heat for maybe three minutes a side. Season wiht a little extra salt and pepper. Rest for five minutes.

Meanwhile, place the salad ingredients in a bowl. Toss to combine.

Slice the venison finely and mix through the salad. Pour rice wine vinegar over the salad.

Venison rump steaks, marinated in red wine and garlic

Venison is one of my favourite meats. It should be one of your favourites, too, given how lean and flavoursome it is. Of course, it's not cheap. Unless you're loaded or you and a friend go out to blow Bambi's mum's brains out on a regular basis, venison is an expensive, once-in-a-blue-moon treat. Me, I found a place that sells it at a reasonable price. A Vietnamese butcher in Springvale that sells venison rump for about $25 a kilogram. Used to be $20, but they've gone up. Still, if there's only one of two of you, that's pretty good. You'll get a couple of meals for two, right there.

Anyway, the venison rump--roughly one kilogram in size--is sold frozen at this shop, so I have to thaw it a couple of days in advance. Once it's thawed, I slice it into steaks about 1.5 centimetres thick. As for the red wine, I mention a bottle. You don't need that much for the venison, of course. Drink some. Seeing as you're drinking some, you won't buy nasty wine. That old rule about never cooking with wine you wouldn't drink is a good one. In this dish, you can really taste the flavour of the wine. Too, as for what kind of wine, that's really up to you. Me, I use a nice merlot.

Ingredients:

thawed venison rump steaks (one per person)
bottle of red wine
two or three crushed cloves of garlic
pinch of sea salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Place the steaks in a bowl with the garlic cloves. Cover with red wine. Cover. Refrigerate for a half-day. If you marinate this for too long, you'll kill the flavour of the venison. Remove from refrigerator a hour or so before cooking. Take steaks from bowl. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper. Pre-heat fry pan or grill pan over a medium heat for maybe 3 minutes on each side. Alternatively, cook over a coal fire.

Meat and etc

About everyone who knows that I like trying stuff, particularly stuff that was once part of an animal. Meat and seafood. It's all good. Never met an animal I haven't liked and all that. Anyway, one of the kids at work, this eleven year old boy, he recently asked me to compile a list of the meat and seafood I've tried. This is the e-version. I'm working for memory here, so maybe I'll miss a couple. And yeah, technically I kind of double up in some places. I know that veal is just baby cow, that lamb is baby mutton, but they are sold as different meats. And they do taste different. So, without further ado:

Anchovies
Baramundi
Beef
Blue grenadier
Boar
Buffalo
Camel
Chicken
Crocodile
Duck
Emu
Goat
Goose
Guinea fowl
Hake
Kangaroo
Lamb
Lobster
Morten Bay bugs
Mullet
Mussels
Mutton
Octopus
Ostrich
Oysters
Pheasant
Pigeon (both squab, which is baby pigeon, and elderly boiler pigeon)
Pork
Prawns
Quail
Rabbit
Salmon
Sardines
Scallops
Scampi
Shark
Shearwater (muttonbird)
Silkie (black chicken)
Snails
Snapper
Squid
Trout
Tuna
Turkey
Veal
Venison
Wallaby
Yabbies (freshwater crayfish)

With the fish, I'm just going from memory. Probably I've missed a few. A lot, even. But oh well.

Camel meatballs with a mint/yoghurt sauce

Yeah, camel. Lovely stuff. In the northern parts of Australia, camels--an introduced species--are a real problem. So yeah, do your part for the environment and eat camel. Serious.

A lot of people I know, they wouldn't eat camel because, you know, 'eww'. But really, a chicken--even a free-range, organic one--is a dirty animal. Oysters, mussels and all those crustaceans--crabs and lobsters and bugs and yabbies--are all dirty animals. They're bottom feeders. So what's bad about a camel, really, in comparison?

For the curious, camel is, in flavour, a bit like mutton. Which, seeing as not many Westerners eat that any more, is like strong-flavoured lamb. The big difference between camel and mutton, though, is the aftertaste. Camel has this unique and wonderful sweet aftertaste. It's most apparent in the steaks, but here, in this recipe, we're using the sausages. Many butchers and poultry stores can order camel sausages, but you'll find that some places in the market have them kicking around in the freezer. When serving camel to a group as finger food, the sausages are brilliant.

Ingredients:

1 kilogram pack of camel sausages, fully thawed
250g Greek-style yoghurt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Lebanese cucumber
a pinch of fresh mint leaves, finely chopped (more to taste)
a few drops of lemon juice (more to taste)
a little freshly ground black pepper (again, more to taste)

In a bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, crushed garlic, sea salt and a little of the mint. Take the cucumber, slice it in half lengthways and use a tiny spoon (I find one of those 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoons to be perfect for the task) to scoop out the seeds. Grate both halves of the cucumber into the yoghurt mix, whisk and taste. At this point, you might want to add a little mint. Don't just throw in a stupid amount, as fresh mint is very strong. Whisk in the lemon juice and a little freshly ground pepper. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for a while.

Take a sausage and, using a paring knife, slit the skin open. Peel the skin away and remove the meat. Take a good pinch of the meat and roll it into a ball. Repeat with the remaining sausages. Season with a little sea salt and black pepper, before pan frying over a medium flame until cooked. Don't overcook, as camel is quite lean.

To serve, simply jam a toothpick into each meatball, so people can dip it into the mint/yoghurt sauce.

Tips and ideas:

The sauce, of course, would go well with mutton or lamb or any meat, really, that has a similar flavour. Try it with goat, for instance. You could, of course, serve it with a grilled camel steak.

If you don't like mint and want to pair the camel with another sauce, well, be careful. The sweet aftertaste makes matching difficult. From experience I can tell you that mustard doesn't work at all. Consider something with rosemary. I can't say I've tried it, but I reckon it could work. Experiment, experiment, experiment.