Nutria

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Frank46

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Someone posted about Louisiana nutria washing up on Missisippi shores. MSN had a pic that showed a bunch laying at the shoreline at I believe Waveland MS. And they estimate that approximately 20,000 carcases have to be disposed of. Not to worry, those suckers will replace the lost ones very fast.

And Louisiana will be having a reduced tax on firearms, ammo and hunting gear this weekend.
Frank
 
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FWIW, they actually do taste alright. I jokingly told a hunting buddy of mine I'd give him $5 if he shot one for me. He did, I paid him, and for laughs cooked the critter up. I was staggered at how tasty it was; tho' not like chicken, but a white meated fine flavor of its own. I'm known for loving cottontails, this wasn't much worse, except for being somewhat larger.
 
John Eilertson said:
FWIW, they actually do taste alright. ...for laughs cooked the critter up. I was staggered at how tasty it was
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Don't know about nutria, but I do know that folks have been known to eat muskrat. Trapped and ate a few when I was a teenager; they weren't bad. The old farmer's markets used to sell them as "marsh rabbits" sometimes.

I can't believe that somebody around New Orleans hasn't come up with a nutria recipe. Those folks can cook almost anything and make it tasty :)
 
They do have a recipe. There was Dirty Jobs episode, Mike went out with a guy the catches them, took it back, cleaned it boiled it up in some stew, yummy:)
 
There was a recipe be passed around the office after the first report of nutria being washed ashore. Just like Katrina, Isaac brought us the 20 pound rats from Louisiana. FEMA assumed responsibility for removing them; wouldn't you like to be the contractor that gets that job?
 
safearm said:
There was a recipe be passed around the office after the first report of nutria being washed ashore. Just like Katrina, Isaac brought us the 20 pound rats from Louisiana. FEMA assumed responsibility for removing them; wouldn't you like to be the contractor that gets that job?
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Yes. I would. The state is giving a $5 bounty on tails. FEMA pays me to clean them up-and the state of Louisiana pays me for the tails.. Yessir-I would take that job in a heartbeat! Would be a nice break from practicing law.
Oh and BTW they ARE pretty tasty.
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
Yes. I would. The state is giving a $5 bounty on tails. FEMA pays me to clean them up-and the state of Louisiana pays me for the tails.. Yessir-I would take that job in a heartbeat! Would be a nice break from practicing law.
Oh and BTW they ARE pretty tasty.
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So far in Harrision county(Gulfport, west to the Bay of St Louis) they have picked up over 16 tons of them.:eek: I haven't heard a figure for Hancock county(Bay St Louis to Waveland, Clermont Harbor and Lakeshore), but I think it will be a lot more than Harrison county.:(
 
mwtdvm said:
not one of our smart moves to introduce them. I wish they tasted like chicken and then the Cajuns could reduce them to an endangered species in a year
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From what I understand, it was the McIlhenny folks down in New Iberia/Avery Island that brought them to LA to raise them as furbearers, back in 1889. Then of course, nature took hold, they had a big blow, the Nutria became uncaged, and the rest, as they say is history. They have them in north FL too. I've seen quite a few in the creeks that feed the St. John's River when I lived there. Never ate one, though it's said that they're tasty.
 
Growing up in the Caribbean hunting and cooking Agouti {think nutria but 5 times bigger} I wondered also why Nutria's meat has not become more popular.
Both are mainly vegetarians and while I have yet to taste Nutria, I can tell you that Agouti is sweet, lean and takes well to all types of preparation.
I have a Thai yellow curry recipe if anyone is interested.
 
I've seen them in the lake behind my parent's old house. I wouldn't eat them because I could not get past the fact that I was eating a huge, smelly, water rat. I can find other things to eat.
 
Local trappers are catching them here in SW-TN - They do get around....
 
RightArm said:
I wouldn't eat them because I could not get past the fact that I was eating a huge, smelly, water rat.
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But I bet you'd eat squirrel, and they're nothing more than "...tree rats with good PR..." :D

Maybe nutria just need a good PR firm, or a couple on-air recipes from Emeril or Paula Dean!

If those two started cookin' 'em up on the Food Network, New Yorkers would be payin' top dollar to eat them, and you'd be out of nutria in no time ;)

Just a thought :rolleyes:
 
If beef prices don't level off around here, I'm gonna mosey on down to Louisiana and round up a herd o those Nutria doggies (long O) and trail em on back to my ranch.
 
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duppie said:
Growing up in the Caribbean hunting and cooking Agouti {think nutria but 5 times bigger} I wondered also why Nutria's meat has not become more popular.
Both are mainly vegetarians and while I have yet to taste Nutria, I can tell you that Agouti is sweet, lean and takes well to all types of preparation.
I have a Thai yellow curry recipe if anyone is interested.
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When I was working I used to go to Guyana a couple of times a year they have an animal they call a Laba.

I believe it is the same thing as the Agouti, some of my friends hunted them and I've had it in curry a couple of times, nothing strange about it at all.

Nutria are eaten in Argentina I have some Argentine friends coming up here in November I'll try to round up a couple of nutria for them to cook, I believe they roast it, If it works out I'll post how it was.
Steve W.
 
RenoGuy said:
But I bet you'd eat squirrel, and they're nothing more than "...tree rats with good PR..." :D

Maybe nutria just need a good PR firm, or a couple on-air recipes from Emeril or Paula Dean!

If those two started cookin' 'em up on the Food Network, New Yorkers would be payin' top dollar to eat them, and you'd be out of nutria in no time ;)

Just a thought :rolleyes:
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Exactly.....Some time back a number of the food shows did bits on a South American delicacy called Cuy {Guinea Pigs} which are bred for their meat and grilled over charcoal, Well no sooner that it aired when specialty markets and restaurants offering Cuy began selling out and food blogs began reporting food adventurists seeking it's firm sweet flesh.
So you just may be on to something there.
 
Stevens said:
When I was working I used to go to Guyana a couple of times a year they have an animal they call a Laba.

I believe it is the same thing as the Agouti, some of my friends hunted them and I've had it in curry a couple of times, nothing strange about it at all.

Nutria are eaten in Argentina I have some Argentine friends coming up here in November I'll try to round up a couple of nutria for them to cook, I believe they roast it, If it works out I'll post how it was.
Steve W.
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It is the same. I have a old friend with a plantation 3 hours up river outside of Georgetown and he hunts them on his land along with Tapir,wild pigs,Gators,Iguanas and piranha from his front yard. We had some great bush cooks with too much Demarara rum.The Guyanese curry just about everything.
 
There was a Hairy Bikers - two hirsute bikers who roam the country shooting, cooking, and eating various wildlife -- episode on nutria.
 
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