Cow tongue and hog head seem the worse, with the whole issues with eating nerves, whatever that is in deer, is it wasting disease?  It seems like things like that would best be thrown away!  Curious as to whether anyone else knows what the snail is.  Also-I know snake tastes like chicken, people have said, does alligator taste like some kind of white meat?  

Strange that you guys like it, I think, it seems like it would be a cross between meat and fish.  

One meat we ate when I was a kid was buffalo burgers, they were trying to start buffalo herds.  I know that is still at the state fair, as is gator on a stick!  Up here in Minnesota, no less.

bison burgers you can get at the local superstore.  goat and rabbit you can get too

haven't had gator though I am sure it is good . cows tongue I can buy at farm market store up the street but  $20 a tongue is not a cheap meat. don't want it but the inlaws love it.   ate it when i was young.

have eaten snails as escargot  won't now, have eaten frogs legs in the past.

have eaten lots of different things...even mothers day at japanese restaurant  i had  chopped raw scallop cone with fish roe, octopus sushi, calamari..so good. very easy to screw up.

deer moose etc once in a while if someone gets it from up north.  hunting only happens there not in the city here.   not fond of it though. I like my meat disguised in taste.  that is why I love pork. smoked etc.

 As a child, I ate a lot of rabbit, deer & pheasant. My father was an avid hunter, & always bled out the game thoroughly. My mother always soaked any game in a salt brine ( enough salt added to cold water to float an egg, as far as strength of the brine) for 2 hours, changing the water if it looked "too bloody".  (It always did - she always changed water at least once!)  If it was deer meat, it basically thawed in this brine. In fresh meat, it drew out the blood.  I have had wild meat that tasted "gamey" but my mother never cooked any, so perhaps the salt brine is something you might want to try. 

Mom's brother owned a small dairy, so when he butchered an old or injured cow, Mom took the parts no one else wanted along with "her portion" (she traded frozen fruit from our berry patches & fruit trees with her brother for the meat).  We ate liver, beef heart, oxtail soup & cow tongue regularly. I love fried liver & onions. I still prefer ground heart to hamburger, but oxtail has become so expensive, it is ridiculous!  Mom used to boil the cow tongue covered in seasoned water, then skinned it, then sliced it thinly into BBQ sauce.  After an hour or 2 in the sauce, you could pull it apart with a fork as BBQ beef, served on hamburger buns.  My dad's side of the family used to pester her for the recipe for her BBQ beef because it was "so tender".  She used to tell them it was a family secret & she couldn't tell them the recipe - - most of them would have choked on the spot!!

 sissy: sorry, I didn't mean to criticize your spelling. I am a substitute teacher and a tutor currently in-between permanent teaching positions. I cannot resist correcting people's spelling. It goes with the job. 

 You know, I could care less if they took away all our guns. A gun is just a tool and like any tool, they can be replaced with other tools, given the ingenuity of humans. However, what I do care about is our constitutional rights. The second amendment right to bear arms is not very relevant to our modern society. We no longer have to defend ourselves against angry hordes of native americans hell bent on killing us because we're stealing their land. We no longer have to hunt for our food (unless you're dirt poor like me). Most people just buy it wrapped in plastic and styrofoam. However, it is still a constitutional right. What worries me is that if they took away one constitutional right, what's to stop them from taking away our other rights? It's like a slowly boiling pot of water. One day, you'll wake up and notice that it's boiling, but by then, it's too late. You've lost all your rights and you're living like a serf/slave. You might be surprised to find that we should defend ALL consittutional rights, even unpopular ones or ones we feel disagreeable to, because we enjoy being FREE. I don't own an "assault weapon" and I don't ever intend on buying an AK47 or AR15 rifle, but I am FREE to do so if I wish because it is a freedom guaranteed by the constitution. I am not gay, but gay people should be guaranteed the same human rights as other human beings. You might be surprised to find that taking freedom away from gay people only makes us all that much less free. You should be FREE to be gay because of the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution. 

 What worries me is the lost of our constitutional rights. Obama wants to "infringe" our 2nd amendment CONSTITUTIONAL rights by taxing ammunition and banning "assault weapons" (certain types of guns). It clearly says in the constitution that "the right to bear arms shall not be infringed." George Bush took away our right to to a fair trial. The Patriot Act says that they can lock you away without a fair trial if they "suspect" you of being a terrorist "enemy combatant". You are not guilty, but just a suspect, but they can lock you up. You should have a constitutional right to a fair trial by a jury of your peers. You should be also be free from "cruel and unusual punishment" as another one of your consitutional rights. George Bush also used torture. Obama is no better. Instead of decreasing troop numbers, he is actually deploying more troops into Afghanistan. He has not repealed the Patriot Act. He has closed the torture in Guantanamo, but there are hundreds of other US prison camps with "enemy combatants" imprisoned all over the world in other locales, so this is just a token gesture. Unless he repeals the Patriot Act, all token gestures by Obama are just that, token gestures. Some of these "enemy combatants" are US CITIZENS arrested right here in America. If you enjoy living free as an American, I invite you to write your local legislator and tell them that you hate guns, but you value your freedom. Let them know that they will lose your support if they took away your constitutional rights and freedoms. I invite you to write your president, your senator, and congressman, NOW. 

Have you ever noticed that countries with little or no freedoms and human rights have crap economies? That's because investors are scared to invest money in countries with no rights and freedoms. Have you noticed that as China becomes more free, their economy improves? Have you noticed that this recession was preceded by the Patriot Act and got worse when Obama threatened to infringe our 2nd Amendment rights on T.V. ? You might be surprised to find that repealing Bush's Patriot Act and stopping Obama's assault on our 2nd Amendment rights will lift us out of this recession. That's right, freedom will put money in your pocket !!!

You have a constitutional right to be free from "taxation without representation". Excessive taxes are unconsitutional. Look at the economies of all 50 states. The Wall Street Journal said that the state most affected by the recession is California. The state least affected by the recession is Texas. California has a state income tax. Texas has no state income tax. Real estate values in California are going down. Real estate values in the Rio Grande Valley (South Texas) are going UP. Texas real estate values hasn't been affected that much by the recession. See a pattern here? Freer states with more consitutional rights have a better economy than Socialist states. Even though my low income might entitle me to a welfare check in California, I am not moving. I will not give up my freedom for a loaf of bread. I'd rather subsitence hunt and dumpster dive than lose my freedom!

I was in the Air Force so I've travelled the world and the lack of consittutional rights and freedoms in other countries is apalling. When I was in Great Britain, a friend of mine got mugged and he defended himself. As a result of his actions, he was put in jail, but not the robber! You have no human rights in a socialist society because human rights are the rights of the individual. Socialism recognizes the rights of the government above all other rights. Only the government has the right to use deadly force in a socialist state. In the great free state of Texas, you have a law known as the "Castle Law". An elderly Dallas man shot and killed a robber breaking into his home in Oak Cliff (my dangerous neighborhood). The robber was unarmed, but the old man did not go to jail because he was afforded the right to defend himself from bodily harm in his home, car, or place of business. After the passage of the "Castle Law" in Texas and the concealed carry law, violent crime in Dallas fell. Before, Texas cities like Houston and Dallas were the murder capitals of America. Now, these titles belong to Chicago, D.C. and New Orleans. This is because the crooks don't know which elderly man is packing heat in Texas. New Orleans is still reeling from Katrina, but you might be surprised to find that Chicago and D.C. has high crime because the crooks know you are not going to be able to defend yourself (gun control laws). In China, you have no right to a fair trial. They have death penalty vans in China where the driver of the van is the judge, jury, and executioner. Guess what pretext they use to execute people in those vans? Those Chinese van victims are called... "terrorist enemy combatants". Sounds familiar?! America is great because of our constitutional rights and freedoms that other countries lack. I invite you to write your president and legislators NOW to protect your constitutional rights and freedoms.  

latenightleader:

Curious as to whether anyone else knows what the snail is

 I think I found the spelling...bigarno. Though I see that I am not the only one who can't decide how it should be spelled as they are variances. Regardless, it is found in the bayous of south Louisiana and in oyster reefs. My understanding is that it requires that brackish water to live.  I have not heard of any outside of Louisiana.

latenightleader:

does alligator taste like some kind of white meat?  

When I was young, Mom passed the alligator off as chicken to me. I found it tasted similar but was not an exact match in flavor.

I know people who eat snake but I am not willing to go so far as to try it. 

 Please let's keep the discussion on topic for aquiring meat in a self sufficient way.

One frugal thing I haven't seen mentioned is the price and availability of ammo right now.  We have a family-run gun business and ammo is sky high when you can find it and reloading supplies non-existent. Even estimated delivery dates on backorders aren't being given.

Like cars, good, used long guns are hard to find and the price is dear.  If you have grandpa's old wallhanger and you want it made usable again, I hope you're not in any hurry for dinner - our shop's backed up 2-3 months on repairs and gun shows have been mobbed with everyone wanting to buy 'meat guns'.  

As prepared as I always like to be, this one that should have been glaring to me slipped right past - we didn't stock up on much as we didn't see a shortage coming of shooting supplies.  Sure, when folks get comfortable again about 'keeping' their guns, the market will be glutted - but for now, anything connected to shooting is in short supply...Liz

For those that say they've had "gamey"-tasting deer, we've found over th years that it all depends on whether or not you get a young deer and doe versus buck.  As you might know, deer hunting season is during the "rut", so bucks have lots of hormones ranging through their systems (kinda like teenagers ) One year DH shot a buck and we even canned some of the meat.  Worst Stuff Ever.  I think we ended up throwing most of it out.  Men like to hunt for bucks because then they can display those trophy antlers, but for providing meat for the family, we'd now prefer does or young bucks instead.

I also have to agree that hunting is only cheap if you're willing to do a lot of the work yourself.  We take part of our venison into the butcher shop for making ring bologna (much leaner and better tasting than store-bought), and sometimes we'll take some in to be ground up into "burger".  The rest we make into butterflied filets (saute-ed in butter and spices ... mmmm!) and chopped up for stew / stir-fry meat.

Hey its ok jilly Im over protect my sister cheap chic to much but I do like the way your e-mail is yes its a right you can own a gun to protect its in the NRI books that me and my father gets so Im saving the part about the crime which is on the rise but we are talking hunting here and my sister has one but not using it in 20 years she had one to many jobs so she quit hunting herself and so did I but jilly I don't want to stir anyone up for hunting and protecting I say yes and so does miss cheap chic for meat it has gone on for centureys..

sissy

Uh oh wow what a subject heres a cheap way to preserve the meat seal it with one of the sealers from costco or wall mart or dehidrater I use to smoke salmon alot for my husband and dehidrater it helped threw the lean months after the meat was gone...