Even in my vegetarian days, I was never schocked or surprised that people around me would eat horse. It's a common thing in Europe and I never thought anything of it. Until saw my expat partner and friends reaction to eating horse meat, I had no idea that in some countries eating horse is a big no-no (and that's an understatement)
For them it's almost like eating a pet, crossing a line in meat consumption and when I started doing more research, I found out that in certain countries it is actually not available for consumption, such as the UK & United States, and strangely enough it's considered taboo in Argentina for example, but Argentina is the 5th largest horse meat producer in the world.
Horse meat made news headlines earlier this year, since it came out that various products sold in supermarkets contained horse meat, but was not mentioned on the label. More info on that here.
A renowned steak house here in Amsterdam got busted at the same time when reporters found out the steaks were actually horse steaks.
For me, a chilhood memory included alwayes getting a slice of sausage at the butcher shop, which most likely was horse meat, since it tasted a bit sweet (and delicious) The reason for the sweeter taste is that horse meat is high in glycogen.
Horse meat is very lean, high in iron and very tender, some people actually prefer a horse steak over a regular steak. Another advantage is that it's a lot cheaper.
Reason for all this rambling about horse? I walked into a new supermarket the other day and came across it. Have to admit, I was a bit surprised, since horse meat usually is only sold in certain butcher shops these days. It was a perfect opportunity, because my better half is away on business and there is NO way in hell I'd be cooking this for two. Eeeeexcellent....
(By the way, also found the discussions on eating horse below Mark Sisson's post on this topic very entertaining)
To be complete, below the nutrition facts for 1 oz. of horse meat:
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| Dutch version of Kerrygold |
How to cook it? On the package it actually says cook in hot butter for abut 5 mins. on each side, but as it turned out, that will get you a well-done steak. Even well-done, the meat remains quite tender.
Probably 3-4 minutes is enough.
The meat is tasty, a bit sweeter indeed and comes very close in texture to regular steak. Will try this again!
So where to get horse meat? Well, some butchers indeed still sell it, like this one in Amsterdam (since 1890) and this one in Rotterdam (since 1796)
But it's not as commonly available as in the the old days.
Don't expect horse steak on a menu
in restaurants,
unless you go here ;-)
What's your opinion? Would you eat horse meat?
Feel free to comment!
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