Rat is a readily available street food in some Southeast Asian countries, and earlier editions of The Joy of Cooking contained instructions on the proper butchering of squirrels. But rodents have fallen out of favor in most Western cuisines, relegated to mere vermin. So how would you go about cooking a rat if you'd never tried it before?
Laura Ginn did just that recently, breaking her lengthy vegetarianism to how to butcher and prepare rodent meat. Ginn is an artist whose work largely incorporates survival skills such as skinning and tanning. (Those who are squeamish about the skinning and dismantling animals might want to steer clear of Ginn's photography, but it offers sober images of those skills at work.) She opened her recent exhibition, "Tomorrow We Will Feast Again on What We Catch," at New York's Allegra LaViola Gallery with a sit-down dinner where the star food was rat. Ginn attended the occasion, appropriately, in a dress made from 300 rat pelts.
This meant that Ginn had to learn how to skin, butcher, and prepare rats, with the help of chef Yuri Hart. Ginn shared with us what she learned from the experience, the pros and cons of consuming rat meat, and a recipe for rat jerky.
(Q & A with Laura Ginn at the IO9 link provided ...)
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...
Laura Ginn did just that recently, breaking her lengthy vegetarianism to how to butcher and prepare rodent meat. Ginn is an artist whose work largely incorporates survival skills such as skinning and tanning. (Those who are squeamish about the skinning and dismantling animals might want to steer clear of Ginn's photography, but it offers sober images of those skills at work.) She opened her recent exhibition, "Tomorrow We Will Feast Again on What We Catch," at New York's Allegra LaViola Gallery with a sit-down dinner where the star food was rat. Ginn attended the occasion, appropriately, in a dress made from 300 rat pelts.
This meant that Ginn had to learn how to skin, butcher, and prepare rats, with the help of chef Yuri Hart. Ginn shared with us what she learned from the experience, the pros and cons of consuming rat meat, and a recipe for rat jerky.
(Q & A with Laura Ginn at the IO9 link provided ...)
(Excerpt) Read more at io9.com ...