odd or different food you've eaten?

Pickled fish. Kind of like "ranch hunted deer" to me. Against nature, lol. Scored big on morels this morning, Biak....having a cook out tomorrow with venison steaks and the 'shrooms...you are welcome to join, my friend.

 

I never did care for "carp/suckers", we did however use them for bait when we caught one if we were fishing where there were Northern Pike in residence. Which is most of Montana's larger bodies of water and streams. I never threw them back either, if i didn't use them for bait I would take them home to feed the barn cats a treat. They liked 'em.

About the weirdest "fish" I've ever consumed has to be the paddlefish, and the first one of those was back in the fifties when one was snagged right below the Tiber Dam up near the Hi-Line. It was HUGE, compared to any other fresh water fish anybody in Montana had seen, almost 120 lbs as I recall. I haven't gone "snagging" them in years, but I have one friend who does so every year, and if he is lucky he usually "donates" a few pounds of the white meat to me post-trip. I personally like to sprinkle it with dry onion soup mix and lemon pepper, then deep fry it with a beer batter I have a recipe for that I use on Rocky Mountain Oysters too.

No, the white meat doesn't taste "like chicken" or anything else really. Until I had laid a lip over swordfish I had never encountered another fish that tasted anything like the paddlefish, but that was close.

I still prefer trout, most types. I'm not too fond of Brown trout, but Brookies and Rainbows are my favorites. The only local salmon we have are the little Choho type which have been planted in a few irrigation lakes in Montana, or at least those are the only ones I've had the opportunity to catch. Another weird one we have here, and I believe it is a non-native which just got away on us, is the ling. That is a strange looking fish, but pretty tasty if grilled right.

 

Now you guys have me remembering back..and I am getting hungry for brookys, and rainbow trout......and you can't buy brookys anywhere I know of. I am also thinking of canning fish and there was one reason my mother never canned our bottoms fish. She had quite a few fishermen that would bring by the snagged salmon and she spent most of her canning time with fish canning those delicious salmon. They had an agreed upon barter set up to get their fish canned. They would allow her to keep 50% of what she canned. So all the other fish we caught were easily consumed as we were a family of ten and on the farm near the river we would eat volumes whether we had money to get supplies at the store or had to subsist on farm productions of animals.I don't know what her recipe was but it was not pickled but it was absolutely delicious and the fishermen showed up with their catch every year. Now ....what to do about fish.....there is nothing like fresh fish........hhmm....I think I gave my nephews all my tackle.

 

Deep frying some dandelions today...I love this time of year when the wild edibles are out in force.

 

I want to try Buffalo or Ostrich. I read some places offer them for burgers. The most different, at least for me was frog's legs, that is it so far. I need to get out of my comfort zone and explore more food. Yet frog legs is somewhat normal I am assuming in some cultures and areas of the U.S.

 

Fudruckers has ostrich and buffalo, both...but, me being me, I tend to doubt its more than ground beef or turkey with some wild seasonings thrown in.

Personally, weirdest things I've ever eaten would include elk, kangaroo, alligator, or rattlesnake. Yum!!! Had some frog legs at a Chinese buffet once....probably will never have them again. At least not at a Chinese buffet! Also, my Dad was stationed on Guam for two 3-year tours, so as a kid at luau's and other native parties, I got to sample quite a bit of ....interesting.... cuisine. I do have fond memories of squid and octopus tentacles in some heavy red sauce, and some other meats that nobody would tell me what they were.

 

If you're curious about the "different meats" which are really pretty healthy, and not "ground beef or turkey" try one of these guys packs.

Goto:

Ostrich Meat | Blackwing Meats

When I could afford to buy the dang things, my favorite pack (and the one I sent to friends) was the Bison Sample pack. But these days the price is a bit out of my range. Used to be around $65.00, nearly $76 these days not counting S&H.

Product # 9000-B
2 - 8 oz Strip loins / 2 - 8 oz Rib-eyes / 1lb Ground Bulk / 1 lb Ground Patties / 1 - 12 oz Fillet Chunks / 1 - 8oz Philly Meat / 1 - 12 oz package of Hot Dogs - regular $75.89 value.

They also sell Ostrich, Goat, Elk, etc. Shipped world-wide, check out their list if you are curious.