What's the best and worst African tasting game meat?

[obryan214]

Having only eaten ostrich I thought it was great. I did taste horse which probably isn't to far from zebra.

 

[bluey]

my favourite is red hartebeest, then all the others, the bloody worst ive been unfortunate to eat was crocodile .... and it was my idea to eat the shit

 

[Upton O. Good]

Best meal: great biltong, chipped and made in a sandwich with fresh baked bread with sweet butter! All of the plains game I've eaten was outstanding. And now I'm remember the oxtail stew, outstanding!

 

[redassnavajo]

My 2 favorite were Bushpig hamburgers and Kalahari Calamari ( Gemsbuck and Sprinbuck balls and kidneys) with onions I a roue I tried it before they told me what it was but it was damn good. Eland Heart was at the top as well.

 

[broncolcj]

Wild Sable fillets-best.
Old warthog or bushpig boar-worst

Generally most species which contain "beest" and including blesbuck are better suited for biltong, dry wors and wors.

Eland, Gemsbuck, Springbuck are great. Young males or females are more tender and tasty than old males.

On our list for this years meat hunting trips are Eland and Kudu cows. Bushpig and warthog for salami and cabanossi.

You must have had a bad recipe. I find bushpig fantastic and everyone requests it when I am in camp

 

[broncolcj]

Top end: eland, bushpig, gemsbok, Hartman's zebra.

Near the bottom; black wildebeest. The guys down in the East cape speak poorly of it

 

[BRICKBURN]

What's the ... worst African, tasting game meat? Your choice.

 

[rookhawk]

If puns were a crime, @BRICKBURN would be in prison without possibility of parole!

 

[BRICKBURN]

If puns were a crime, @BRICKBURN would be in prison without possibility of parole!

Couldn't help myself this morning when I read the title again. Grammar and punctuation are interesting!

 

[rookhawk]

Top end: eland, bushpig, gemsbok, Hartman's zebra.

Near the bottom; black wildebeest. The guys down in the East cape speak poorly of it

You know what I think is really interesting culturally? That the Boers/Afrikaans/English/Germans of southern Africa never acquired the same methods that the Americans peasants did for slow cooking meats. The poor Czech cowboys of Texas invented Texas BBQ (brisket and neck) and the poor blacks of the deep south invented smoked pork ribs and rib tips as a cuisine.

The white africans do not smoke foods, yet the mopane wood is absolutely a magnificent wood for doing "American BBQ". The Africans have some very tough, unpleasant cuts of meat on Giraffe and Buffalo that could also has enough fat to make for excellent 24 hour slow roasts.

Isn't that weird? I say this in response to some of the comments about black wildebeest (never tried it) but I would think that brisket and other fatty, tough cuts would be marvelous when dealt with in American BBQ techniques. Same with warthog that I found tasty but fairly tough...it really needs that 4 hour slow cook at 250F to achieve perfection.

Why do you think this is? Smoke is a preservative as much as vinegar and dry air (Biltong). Have any of you white Africans given American BBQ techniques a try on your rough meat cuts?

 

[BRICKBURN]

Mozambique Smoker

 

[rookhawk]

@BRICKBURN it looks like photos shown during a war crimes tribunal. Second photo, there is charred human hand!

Any background on what they do to smoke food? Heat? Duration? Brine?

 

[BRICKBURN]

@BRICKBURN it looks like photos shown during a war crimes tribunal. Second photo, there is charred human hand!

Any background on what they do to smoke food? Heat? Duration? Brine?

These were the staff in TMS Camp. Those "parts" were from everything that was hunted in camp. I am pretty sure I saw a baboon in there somewhere (the hand and smiley face), Sable, Warthog, Duiker, Leopard parts.

Low coals, ALL DAY AND NIGHT.
Pieces added as they were acquired. No flavour added that I saw.
I think the recipe was: Cook and smoke until it reached desired state of "not going to rot".

 

[C.W. Richter]

Eland and Buffalo tenderloins! Re: worst, we did recently watch a local with a taste for baboon...'purely guessing here, but I'm going to have to say that's approaching Worst! I've heard from old-timers that any of the big antelope livers (eland) and tongue is very, very good. The guys in camp recently boiled up a buffalo heart and decimated it on the same day as the hunt.

 

[Bsto270]

The best I tried- Kudu fillet, wood grilled lechwe and kudu heart and smoked, pulled warthog (younger pig).
There really wasn't any that was terrible, but I would say blesbok was the closest to being a bit more "gamey". The biggest shocker to me was how good livers from game animals were- impala and kudu in particular.

 

[Spooksar]

Hartman Zebra is my favourite

 

[brandondd24]

Hartmann zebra right up there but my favorite is blue wildebeest! Absolutely loved it!

 

[Rob404]

I had a Impala Liver Pate' that was so Rich it was almost impossible to eat but I think Plains game Liver sausage would be a real treat

 

[MarkD]

I loved my Impala fillets, and Kudu. I was also surprised how well the Blue Wildebeest tasted

 

[008]

Would love to try Elephant heart after reading Selous....