Nutria

[abunaitoo]

Just wondering if anyone has eaten Nutria??????

[MUSTANG]

Big Rat isn't it? Ate lot's of things in 3rd world country street vendor carts - so Maybe.

[nwfdub]

Yes. Prepared right, quite tasty. Yes it is in the rodent family. Though closer to beaver in size. Check out Paul Prudone recipes.

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[gbrown]

I have, not knowingly, though. I worked as the head cook and bottle washer at a Mexican restaurant as a 14 yo. Only there about a month or so. After I left, a couple of weeks later, read in paper they were shut down for using Nutria meat in the tamales. The tamales were the best seller, there. They were delicious. Nutria is a herbivore, I can't see them much different than a rabbit. Used to have Nutria Rat festivals around here. Only reason the restaurant was shut down was that it wasn't USDA approved meat they were serving the people.

[monadnock#5]

What's the Middle Eastern dish, lamb meat skewered, heavily spiced and barbecued? Do some nutria up like that and I'll get in line.

[clum553946]

What's the Middle Eastern dish, lamb meat skewered, heavily spiced and barbecued? Do some nutria up like that and I'll get in line.

Shish Kabob?

[popper]

Like horse meat, can't sell it as beef.

[CastingFool]

I understand nutria is quite popular in Louisiana

[SciFiJim]

I grew up in Southwest Louisiana and had a trap line as a teenage for extra cash. I never ate the one's I caught but had it a few times at other people's houses. It was grilled like chicken with BBQ sauce added while cooking. It tasted a bit like rabbit with a very slight fishy flavor from it's marsh plant diet. It was more of a novelty than a main course.

[Chris S]

I ate freakin' camel knee soup in Afghanistan! I'd be honored to try Nutria...bring it on! Very little I won't eat.
Chris

[MT Gianni]

I cannot imagine it being much different than beaver. The tail fat is nasty but the meat is dark and OK.

[gwpercle]

Yes ... Many times
It's quite good . The nutria is a clean plant eating animal . The meat is lean . I much prefer it to Possum. Reminds me most of wild rabbit (not domestic but wild rabbit) ... use it with any rabbit recipe you like and it will turn out fine . It doesn't taste like chicken ...
I actually prefer it to alligator . A good jambalaya or sauce picante is excellent.
I don't think it's meat consumption will go main stream unless the nutria fur industry picks up and a demand for them arises ...if you take the pelt then the meat is there and a market will be created for it .
Like alligator meat ... if the hides wouldn't be valuable we wouldn't have alligator meat on every menu .
If you ever have the chance don't be afraid to try nutria ... it's as good as any game animal and better than several .
Gary

[SciFiJim]

Yes ... Many times
It's quite good . The nutria is a clean plant eating animal . The meat is lean . I much prefer it to Possum. Reminds me most of wild rabbit (not domestic but wild rabbit) ... use it with any rabbit recipe you like and it will turn out fine . It doesn't taste like chicken ...
I actually prefer it to alligator . A good jambalaya or sauce picante is excellent.
I don't think it's meat consumption will go main stream unless the nutria fur industry picks up and a demand for them arises ...if you take the pelt then the meat is there and a market will be created for it .
Like alligator meat ... if the hides wouldn't be valuable we wouldn't have alligator meat on every menu .
If you ever have the chance don't be afraid to try nutria ... it's as good as any game animal and better than several .
Gary

When I had a trap line, an old cajun neighbor would stretch and dry my hides with his. Doing it for a living, he had a much more extensive trap line than mine. A truck from a dog food manufacturer would come by a couple of times a week to pick up the carcuses. They only paid a nickel a pound, but it beat having to otherwise dispose of them.

[gwpercle]

When I had a trap line, an old cajun neighbor would stretch and dry my hides with his. Doing it for a living, he had a much more extensive trap line than mine. A truck from a dog food manufacturer would come by a couple of times a week to pick up the carcuses. They only paid a nickel a pound, but it beat having to otherwise dispose of them.

Our's went into the freezer and were consumed as any other game ...Cajuns Eat Anything and Daddy wouldn't waste any good meat . Being raised in the great Depression he could pinch a penny so hard Abe Lincoln would holler out loud . Always said "if you take care of the pennies the dollars would take care of themselves". I remember him making toy's for us ... that's frugal !
Gary

[abunaitoo]

I've never even seen one.
Only pictures.

[elmacgyver0]

We running out of cows and pigs or something?

[marek313]

My father raised nutria way back in the day when I was just a baby in a land far far away from here. From what I was told we all ate bunch of them but I was too little to remember. If cooked right its supposed to be pretty good meat. They dont have that fat beaver tail though. I do remember my dad skinning those sucker and my mom had a fur coat made from nutria fur and she loved that thing it was warm as hell.

[brewer12345]

Shot scrats and a beaver last winter and ate both quite happily. If I lived where there were nutria, no doubt I would try them too. Scrat gumbo is mighty fine and beaver is quite good. Even made corned beaver for St. Pat's day!

[Winger Ed.]

I've never even seen one.
Only pictures.

You probably don't have enough marsh land or the right kind of fresh water shoreline they'd do well in.

They were brought from I think France, to Louisiana where they raised them for their pelts.
Some big storm crushed the ranches in the 1950s. Now, (as an invasive species) they are in every swamp, lake, creek, river, marsh,
and any other dirt banked body of water from Florida to central Texas.

[beechbum444]

If you've eaten gumbo or many other dishes in Louisiana , you've eaten it