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Horse meat


Danny
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Personally I find it a bit heavy, very close-textured. In our local supermarket it is normally sold as steaks, but I have also seen recipes for hachis parmentier using cheval, so I expect it to be generally similar to beef or venison. Look up <recettes cheval> on Google.

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I remember steaks being served to me when with a coach party in Belgium at a stop over where a set meal was laid on.... Most of us had no idea what we were eating at the time  ..... I have had it served to me since  again as steaks and it seemed fine ...    I cant say I did not enjoy it ...  its not a meat we tend to stop and look at in the Super U .. but ....given a choice of hungry or the horse ....dobbin would have to go into the pot  !
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I did a school tour in Russia in the last days of communism. The only decent meat we got was a (small) lump of horse.

I don't think there's any need to get over-emotional about it. You can choose to eat it (or read threads about it) or not, according to your taste, but I was taking the OP at face value, trying to answer their question.

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Although I've ridden/worked with/owned horses for 40+ years, I have never quite understood why it's OK to eat cows/pigs/chickens etc but not horses (or any other animal for that matter).  It has always seemed illogical to me.  If you're a veggie, fine, but otherwise...  To my mind, it's the treatment of said animal before it reaches the dinner table which matters most.
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I do agree with you Cooperlola it is most definately the treatment of any animal prior to reaching the dinner table!  However I personally won't eat Horse meat and although I'm not a vegeterian there are a few meats that I won't eat!

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[quote user="jc"]I can never understand people who will eat lamb but not veal.[/quote]I guess it is the way in which young calves are raised for veal production (in inclosed crates, force fed) which causes some people to balk at it, whereas lambs are perceived to be skipping around in green fields before they get the chop.  I've in fact found that many supermarkets over here sell "free range" veal.  The meat is much darker and in fact tastes a whole lot better (although not always so consistently tender.)
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In my old-fashioned country childhood eating veal was viewed with great suspicion and described as 'eating babbies'. Present day rearing methods aren't that encouraging either. As for eating horse, well I suppose I would if I was desperate, but some of my best friends have been horses.

I'm afraid I'm no use to the original poster either.

Hoddy

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I haven't eaten horsemeat for a while, must get back into it as I seem to remember it is particularly high in iron. The few times that I have bought it, I have just cooked it as I would beef. Steak/frites.

Re-eating lamb (or was it veal?) as babies - then how about eating eggs? They are a hen's menstrual droppings, after all.[:)]

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[quote user="Jane and Danny"]

Has anyone any interesting recipes or good advice on how to cook horse meat. Which bits are best to eat. Do you like it? or dislike it?

Danny

[/quote]

"recipes for horse meat" yielded over 1.6m hits in Google - there should be something for you there.

I have never knowingly eaten horse (or dog for that matter) so cannot comment as to best cuts.

Happy chomping

John

not

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Thanks for all the replies so far. I have not tried horse meat either but I have no objection to doing so. I am very curious as to why it is seldom found on restaurant menus but usually on most supermarket shelves and in the numerous specialist butcher shops. Is it possibly a case of restauranteurs not using it because it is not so popular with some folk OR is the taste inferior to other meats. I have no idea why anyone would have a moral objection  ( not getting in to how the animals are treated when alive) to the meat itself. It is just meat, same as from any other animal. It seems very strange to baulk at eating horse meat but not have any objection to eating other meats. Obviously, there are many people who, on principle, do not eat any meat at all. We don't eat a lot of meat anyway and when we do, like to eat meat from animals that have had a good quality of life ( hear the worms pouring out of the can over that topic). I was interested in  people's views on the meat itself compared to others. Some chefs make very interesting and tasty dishes out of bits of meat that would normally give me the heave ho, but I have yet to see any horse meat on offer. Maybe I don't get out (or eat out) enough.

Danny

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[quote user="Morse98"]I do agree with you Cooperlola it is most definitely the treatment of any animal prior to reaching the dinner table!  However I personally won't eat Horse meat and although I'm not a vegetarian there are a few meats that I won't eat![/quote]

I totally agree with both Cooperlola and Morse98, I do not object to people eating horses what I object to is the inhumane way that a lot of horses are treated in the meat industry, Horses are very different and highly sensitive compared to other farm animals and therefore their treatment must be more understanding.

I have had horses and ponies all my life and also reared beef cattle and sheep for several years ( only 3 pet sheep left now) I was not really comfortable on 'market days' as I am an animal lover!!

I have no objection to commercial horses going for meat if they are treated with the care and are slaughtered close to where they are reared, the transportation of these horses seems to be the biggest cause for cruelty concerns

What I do object to is old domesticated Horses and ponies ending up in sales destin for the 'meat man', people who sell on old faithful ponies instead of having the guts to have the poor thing put down at home in a safe and familiar surrounding.

Last Wednesday I had one of my ponies put down at home, his name was 'Boston Blue Chip'  'Chipie' for short he was only 14 years old and had been my late daughters show pony, he had suffered from lymphacoma (sp) for 18 months and was put down by my vet with an injection, very quick very peaceful and buried in my field within minutes, the right ending for such a much loved pony. That makes 4 now. I know I am lucky to be able to do this as not everyone is.

Jackie

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I have never cooked horse meat, but I have eaten it "hache" and it was rather good, I'll admit.

I remember when I was young and lived in Malta, at the stables where I rode, one of the horses had to be put down (I forget the reason) and the family who owned the place happily ate the resulting meat.  Many of my contemporaries (the children of UK service families, in the main) were totally scandalised by this but I couldn't see the harm and still do not.  I have always had my own horses put down at home then had the carcasses taken away by the local abatoir for whatever use they can put them to.  I've never been much concerned about what happens to them once they are dead, only taken care to do my best for them whilst alive, and hopefully made their deaths as stress-free as possible.  Neither have I ever sold or re-homed any animal I have taken on - they are my responsibility and that's that. 

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[quote user="cooperlola"] I have never quite understood why it's OK to eat cows/pigs/chickens etc but not horses (or any other animal for that matter).  It has always seemed illogical to me. [/quote]

Quite - I often seem to get a shocked reaction when I mention having been eating game. And the most outraged are those who regularly stuff themselves with factory farmed chicken.

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I've eaten horse quite ofter and it seems OK although I prefer a good Limousin steak - my son says he prefers horse to beef - but what do the young know.

A few years ago a restaurant in Boulougne used to have on it's English menu "Steak a la Jockey-club" - No prizes for guessing what that was!!

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[quote user="chrisb"]

[quote user="cooperlola"] I have never quite understood why it's OK to eat cows/pigs/chickens etc but not horses (or any other animal for that matter).  It has always seemed illogical to me. [/quote]

Quite - I often seem to get a shocked reaction when I mention having been eating game. And the most outraged are those who regularly stuff themselves with factory farmed chicken.

[/quote]

I don't think that eating an animal as mentioned above is the real issue. As others have mentioned but it has been completely ignored here for some reason, it is the very cruel way that horses for meat are treated. The way they are handled transported etc.. is extremely cruel. Yes, we know that cows are treated badly but I think the horse meat trade goes that much further and without the same sort of regulation. From what I understand it is horrific what is being done to these poor horses.

How anyone can justify eating the meat of this animal knowing the torture it may have gone through is beyond me.  By the way, I seem to remember reading recently of a problem in France with people getting worms from eating horse meat. [:(]

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[quote user="WJT"] I seem to remember reading recently of a problem in France with people getting worms from eating horse meat. [:(][/quote]

I have not come across that, and would like to know more??? Could it be that the meat wasn't properly cooked, that is usually the case with worms. What type of worms?.

When I was a child, growing up in France, both my brother and myself got tapeworms (nasty things, hard to get rid off at the time). We were not eating horsemeat then, and it was assumed that the tapeworm came from pork. All this lovely charcuterie...

 

The worst case of food poisoning my OH ever had was campylobacter from chicken, from a restaurant in Manchester.

The worst case of food poisoning I ever had was from a lollipop ice, bought off a van in London by Hampstead Heath.  Mind you, the one I got from oysters was quite something too.

Eating is dangerous for your health.

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http://www.orpha.net/static/GB/trichinellosis.html

I did a very quick search and it does say that it occurs mainly from undercooked meat "  Infection results from eating raw or under-cooked meat, usually pork, although the last French epidemics were due to horse meat".  I remember reading about a problem with people getting worms from eating horse meat in the Sud Quest paper I believe.

However, I am really not interested in this aspect in the slightest. In fact I would like to see a large epidemic take place to save these poor horses from the horrific conditions. In my book anyone that will eat meat knowing full well the cruelty involved deserves a stomach full of worms and much more in my humble opinion. I find it very sad that this was the only question on the issue you picked up on and didn't bother a mention about the cruelty involved with the horses.[:@] Very sad but says a lot.

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WJT,

"In fact I would like to see a large epidemic take place to save these poor horses from the horrific conditions"

Can I ask you why you think there is a particular aspect of cruelty towards horses in this regard. Is there something different in their treatment  compared to pigs, chickens, cows etc?

Do you eat meat from other animals? do you know how those animals are treated? I am curious to know as it seems to me that there is plenty of animal cruelty around but as far I am aware not limited to horses. Is horsemeat not used extensively to feed the many dogs that lots of prople have as pets?

Are your objections based on any particular observations or evidence?

Danny

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