Do you need me to send you my favorite Recipe ... Armadillo Sauce Piquante ...
... or do you have the Recipe part covered ?
a good Cajun hates to see good eats go to waste ...
... Have Recipe , Will Post ... !
Gary
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Here's how I fix them. Clean carefully making sure to remove the glands from the rear end. Boil them to loosen the shell then split the shell with a sharp knife down the back and peel off.
Stuff the inside with buttered breadcrumbs and garlic cloves.
Sew shut.
Place on a raised wire mesh pan to allow drippings to drain off during baking..
Bake at 350F for 45mins or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and discard armadillo, pan, and all utinsels used during preparation into a trash bag.
Remove from house.
Take wife out to dinner to allow stench from cooking to dissipate
I ain't eatin no stinking armadillo! :D
Just so y'all know, 'dillos are a vector for leprosy.
Yep. I read up on it awhile back and found that humans gave it to them and that their metabolism is uniquely suited to harbor it without the negative effects humans get from it. They can carry it without it hurting them.
And yes, you can get leprosy from armadillos.
Don't let your nose fall on your toes.
It seems to only be a small percentage of humans are susceptible to leprosy.
Around 95% of all people cannot become sick because they are naturally immune. Leprosy can be cured with antibiotic treatment. Once someone starts treatment for Hansen's disease, they can no longer spread the disease to other people.
Link https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/transmission/index.html
From a dermatologist site:
Because so many people are immune, how we catch it is still a bit of a mystery.
Scientists have learned that to catch leprosy, a healthy person must have months of close contact with someone who has leprosy. It’s believed that the disease spreads when a person who has leprosy coughs or sneezes. When a healthy person repeatedly breathes in the infected droplets, this may spread the disease.
It takes a lot of exposure to catch leprosy. If someone has leprosy, a single handshake or few hours spent sitting next to that person won’t spread the disease. You’d have to shake hands or sit next to that person often to get leprosy.
You can also get leprosy from an armadillo. It’s possible to catch the disease by handling an armadillo or spending time in an area where these animals live.
Arma-Diggers are prolific around here. I’ve caught a few in hav-a-heart traps, very few. An old farmer mentor taught me to set trap, double end type next to a fence, where he travels and funnel him or her in and possibly you will catch, luck has a lot to do with it along with skill as a trapper.
They mostly travel early morning, 2:00 am till dawn. Motion detector works well, hooked to loud radio will wake you up, then fast on shotgun will usually get em. I got around 16 that way. Didn’t really seem to thin out that much.
So ... I can assume ... no one wants my Armadillo Sauce Picante Recipe !
Oh Well , you can't say I didn't offer to share it with you .
Gary
My wife worked for a renowned plastic surgeon for 15 years. One of his patients, a surgeon in a different field, came in with an infection on his lower leg. Previous tests at the hospital hadn’t identified the cause. The patient related he had been weeding his plant bed and scratched his leg on a low prickly bush, same leg, same spot. The wife’s employer has a hunch and sent a biopsy out for analysis. The results came back as leprosy.
We see armadillos roaming around our neighborhood once or twice a week. Even the wife, who has a soft spot for most animals, doesn’t want armadillos around.
Okay ... but only because you asked for it ...
Armadillo Sauce Piquante
serves 8
About 4 1/2 lbs. of Armadillo Meat (see Note #1)
cleaned and cut up into equal sized pieces.
1 cup Bacon Grease or Vegetable Oil - divided
3/4 Cup all-purpose Flour.
2 cups chopped Yellow Onion
1 Cup chopped Bell Pepper
1/2 cup chopped Celery
2 Tablespoons chopped Garlic (about 5 cloves)
6 ozs. Tomato Paste (small can)
1 Cup Dry White Wine
4 cups Chicken Stock
28 ounces Whole Tomatoes
1 or 2 Jalapeno Peppers - chopped (seeds and ribs removed)
1 teaspoon dried Red Pepper Flakes
1 bunch Green Onions - chopped (tops and bottoms)
3 Tablespoons Sugar.
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
4 Tablespoons fresh chopped Parsley
Seasonings :
1 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning Blend ( Like Tony's or your favorite)
plus some extra for the meat.
1/2 teaspoon dry Thyme
2 Bay leaves
Continued on next post ...
Continued from post #135
Armadillo Sauce Piquante -
Instructions:
Clean and cut the meat into equal sized pieces ( See Note #1)
Season with Creole or all purpose seasoning and place in refg. untill needed .
Heat 2-3 Tablespoons Veg. oil (or bacon grease) in a Dutch Oven (or chicken fryer w/ lid) on Med.-High heat, brown the meat pieces on each side , about 4 mins per side . Remove the browned meat from the dutch oven to a platter and set aside .
Lower the heat to Medium , add the remaining oil (bacon grease) and when the oil is hot and shimmering , add the flour and whisk or stir for 5 to 8 minutes to make a Dark Roux ... scrape the pan bottom , do not let Roux stick or burn ... whisk or stir constantly ... if you burn he roux , start over .
When the Roux is dark brown ... remove pan from fire and add the Trinity - Onions , Bell Pepper and Celery stir untill the hot Roux is cooled a bit and then saute the back on med. heat until onions are soft and translucent .
Next add Garlic , some of the Red Pepper Flakes and about 1/2 of the spices that are listed ( but not the bay leaves , they come later ) continue to saute untill the spices are aromatic about 2 mins ( the heat releases the aromatics) .
Maintaining Medium Heat stir the Tomato paste into the Roux-onion mixture and saute 5 to 8 mins while the tomato paste browns slightly ... Keep stirring so it doesn't stick or burn !
Add the white wine and mix throughly , scrape the pan bottom . Saute another 5 mins. untill the wine has incorporated into the roux-onion-tomato paste .
Now add the whole tomatoes which you crush with your hands ( this was what my Mom did ... I buy diced or crushed tomatoes ) add all liquid with tomatoes .
Then add Worchestersire , sugar , about 1/2 of the remaining seasonings , jalapeno peppers and bay leaves . Mix thoroughly and simmer about 5 mins.
Increase the heat to Med-High and stir in the stock .Stir well and bring to a high simmer then lower the heat and continue on a slight simmer for 45 mins , partially cover the pot and stir often .
Add the browned meat , including any meat juice , the remaining herbs , spices and Green Onions . Continue to simmer for 1-2 hours untill the meat is tender and the sauce nice and thick . Cover the pot the first 45 mins. uncover and cook to thicken the sauce . When done taste and adjust seasonings to taste .
Serve over white rice with hot buttered French Bread and a green salad.
Notes;
#1) You can use this recipe with any of the following:
Chicken , Alligator , Rabbit , Squirrel , Nutria , Venison (deer meat) , Wild Hog even domestic pork ... You don't have to use no Armadillo !
I have cooked / eaten Sauce Piquante made with all of the meats listed and they are all great !
#2) This dish is better the next day ... and it Freezes very well .
#3) Add more heat by adding additional chopped Jalapeno's ... to me this taste's better than pepper in a sauce piquante .
Please try it ...sans the "Hoover Hog" ... using Rabbit is most excellent !
I have a feeling some up North critters might benefit from a Sauce Piquante ...
Those wood chucks or ground hogs I hear about ?
Hope someone can use this :drinks:
Gary
I started a couple of armadillo threads on two other forums in relation to the 70th annual World Leprosy Day, which was January 28. Lots of parallel information here on their expanding range, on Hansens's disease risk (and yes, 95 percent of us can't get it) and many comments about 'dillo meat as table fare. All those who have actually tried it said it was like very fine-grained pork and delicious.
Gary, thank you for that recipe. I will try one way or another, with 'dillo or pork.
My grandfather was a Blacksmith who harvested so many armadillo's that he made curved knives to get the meat from the curved shell . I asked my Mom if they ate many during that "great Depression " and I quote ... " ... if it wasn't for the plentiful armadillo's , few rabbits and raccoons Daddy killed , we would have starved slap to death !" Mom always called them Hoover Hogs ...I have ... prepared and consumed probably half a dozen , always cooked them well and washed up after handling .
So far no one in our family , or anyone I know , has contracted Hansen's ...
The CDC says the contracting risk is very low ... so wash up and cook meat well done !
Armadillo ... The Other Other White Meat !... Heck Yeah :drinks:
Gary
"Hansen’s disease does not spread easily from person to person. You cannot get leprosy through casual contact such as shaking hands, sitting next to, or talking to someone who has the disease.
Prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated Hansen’s disease over many months is needed to become infected. Around 95% of all people cannot become sick because they are naturally immune.
Leprosy can be cured with antibiotic treatment. Once someone starts treatment for Hansen’s disease, they can no longer spread the disease to other people."
https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/index.html
Looks like the risk of Hansen's is slim to none! Eat Up!