After the hunting trip, I did not receive bundles of meat all wrapped up in packages ready to freeze....oh no, there were carcasses and ....hooves.....
The meat hung outside (it was cold) and I freaked out for a couple of nights at every sound outside, worried that the hanging meat would attract bears.
Finally, my husband butchered the meat.....and my task was to grind up and wrap the heap of meat that was left.
Now to put this into context, I used to gag at the smell of meat in butcher's shops, and was a vegetarian for fifteen years. But when in Rome, so I gritted my teeth, and shoved handfuls of meat into an electric grinder......and I was pleasantly surprised. No smell. No slime. Not much blood. No fat.
It took me about a week before I could eat it though. And when I did, the elk tasted sweet, somewhere between lamb and beef. It was good.
The other evening, we had moose. My husband didn't shoot the moose, he traded for some elk meat.
The moose was gamey. It was OK, but the flavour was quite strong. I couldn't put my finger on the flavour. It also, er....produced gas..
ME. 'I'm not sure I like the Moose as much as the Elk. The moose is "gamey"
Husband. " Yep. That's because the Moose was eating skunk cabbage. That's why you're fart....er I mean ...fluffing....
ME " That wasn't me"
Husband "If you say so. Must have been the cat"
ME 'So that flavour is skunk cabbage?"
Husband. "Yes. The Elk was sweeter because it was eating grass. If I'd shot one on the Island, then it would taste more like the moose, and it would have caused the cat to fart also"
It makes total sense of course. We are what we eat, and we are what we eat, eats. Hmmm.
Husband " That's why beef in Alberta tastes exactly like beef from the USA, the cattle eat grain. Pork eats Grain. Chicken eat grain. That's why everything tastes like chicken. That's why I like to eat meat that I hunt, and fish that I catch. And I NEVER, EVER eat prawns from Asia"
ME "Why not? I used to get them from Costco"
Husband "Because they're shit"
ME : "You're a bit biased, you think everything from BC is superior..."
Husband "No, I mean they're raised in shit"
ME "You mean shit food"
Husband "No I mean actual Shit"
Me " You're shitting me!" (sorry couldn't help it).
Turns out that prawns from Asia are raised in ditches, fattened on effluent, and then washed in bleach and sold to the unsuspecting public.
So it's not just organic for us, it's actual sea to fork. And gun to plate. And if we have to suffer some gas from the cat, at least we're not eating shit.
