Kangaroo Meat Hunt

After our article on Kangaroo meat the other Saturday, I thought I would go hunt for some, not literally, as the only place I know kangaroos live is in Belfast Zoo. The obvious choice was to begin my search on the Internet, there I found some online stores that stock and supply Kangaroo meat in various forms, however these have to be delivered by courier, and living in Northern Ireland, there is additional premiums as the meat is packaged with ice packs to ensure it is delivered fresh the next day. Whilst I had found some, it wasn't the simplest option, so I felt I needed to find a local deli or company to purchase the meat from, because you wouldn't want a warm roo burger would you.

On my continued search I found a site dedicated to saving the kangaroo from extinction through its alledged brutal slaughter. It made me think back to Belfast zoo (I was there to observe, not to kill) when I recall on the information board the declining numbers of red kangaroos. Could I eat a kangaroo, in full knowledge that it could be sourced from such conditions? Even Wolverhampton Council enacted a council wide ban. I'm sure no matter what meat I eat, it has got to be killed, I would prefer if it was done humanely. The licensed Kangaroo harvesters have to undergo rigorous assessment and accreditation by two government departments and a report by the RSPCA into the harvesting of the Kangaroo stated that 96% of the kills were humane and instant.

Most of the main supermarkets several years ago did stock roo burgers and the like until organisations like Viva and Save the Kangaroo got involved and protested in every way possible to get them removed, and I doubt the number in sales warranted the extra efforts involved for supermarkets in having demonstrations decrying the product. Whilst I'm now weary in where my roo is from, how it was "farmed" and killed, it won't stop me in my search for some kangaroo meat, I'm a man on a mission, after all, look at how many people still buy intensive farmed chickens (not that is right, at least the kangaroos aren't all housed in a shed with feed to fatten them in six weeks).

Kangaroo meat is low fat (under 2%), most of which is polyunsaturated and only has 98 calories per 100 gram serving. Kangaroo meat is also free from chemicals, hormones and pesticides. So healthy as well as green.

My Internet searches had proved fruitless in the search for roo, but I knew I could find some, so I went onto the street in search of the illustrious meat.

A small coffee shop near my home once had roo on the menu, but they roomoved it (did you like that), clearly it wasn't as popular as they had hoped.

How about a friendly local butchers? The only local surviving one, that I am aware of ... no kangaroo available.

I had given up hope at this stage as well, if you can't find it on Google, with keywords like ""kangaroo meat" Belfast", what hope was there for me of finding anywhere. Until I came across a website for a family run delicatessen and a member of the Guild of Fine Food Retailers stocking 1000's of different products from around the world. Surely they would have roo meat?

After searching through their list of pretty appetising products from Caviar to Kosher, I was feeling a little disappointed, until I clicked on "rare foods" .... and low and behold ... some roo and croc. I decided to give them a call, and to my surprise they have kangaroo meat in stock all year around.

I decided on Monday to pop down to the deli called Sawers, which is in Fountain Street in Belfast, they sell kangaroo medallions from frozen. The shop is an eclectic mix of fresh and quality produce from all around the world. It's the kind of shop that is floor to ceiling of products you just want to try, they have a fresh fish counter with an amazing array of produce. And several chill counters displaying sliced meats, sun dried tomatoes and olives.

Now well, buying kangaroo meat, you think would have been the difficult part, however that's where your wrong. How the hell am I meant to cook kangaroo meat, I find it difficult enough to cook pasta let alone a meat which I have never had the opportunity to even taste before, that's where I enlisted the advice of Benjamin Christie (yeah I'd never heard of him either, but he is big in Australia);

One of the most popular Australian ingredients I am asked to include in cooking demonstrations or receive email requests on cooking kangaroo meat. I think the reasons for this are twofold; there is an increasing popularity in this healthy game meat as well as a growing appreciation of the environmental benefits of managing the animal over beef and sheep; and people are now trying to understand how to cook kangaroo meat to perfection. I have demonstrated how to cook kangaroo in over 12 countries including Russia, Germany, Japan and the USA, all of which are the leading importers of kangaroo. There are persistent rumours that kangaroo is being farmed in Germany but since the animals tend to die of fright if herded, this is probably no more than wishful thinking.

The kangaroo meat available commercially differs from the East Coast States to the West. NSW and Southern Queensland hunters harvest eastern grey kangaroos which are smaller and are generally regarded as inferior in meat quality to the Western Red which has been the mainstay of the South Australian industry for over 35 years. A new comer to the scene has been the Tasmanian harvest of wallabies for their meat and a new cut, wallaby shanks, can give their equivalent from sheep a run for the money in flavor and texture. From here on, I’ll group all three macropods (the kangaroo genus) to discuss the cooking, as it is the same for all of them.

The primary kangaroo cuts include strip loin, (long) fillet and rump which are all ideally suited to pan frying, barbecuing and stir frying and are suggested to be served medium rare. Secondary cuts are generally sold as diced meat or mince and these are best used as processing meats in sausages and preserved products or prepared using slow cooking techniques such as braising or slow roasting for pies or casseroles. One point worth noting is that roo mince is best salted with soy sauce rather than inorganic salt as soy helps retain more moisture in the mince.

Cook any game meat, including kangaroo from rare to medium rare, no more.
Kangaroo is a very lean meat easily trimmed to be less than 2% fat. This basically means that if it’s overcooked, not rested or improperly carved, the meat is more likely to be dry and tough. I always recommend medium rare as the preferred doneness so if you like your meat well done, I’d suggest you avoid kangaroo and stick to high fat meats.

In case your thinking ... wow .... that looks pretty amazing, these are pictures from Benjamin Christie's website, my attempts were not worthy of an apperance on here.

After procrastinating a little as whether I could stomach the roo, I decided I have to try. Well the first thing I noticed was that defrosting kangaroo, there seemed to be so much juices and blood. Placing them into a pan at medium temperature with some olive oil, they quickly gave off kangaroo meat aroma, the blood and juices were clearly present (I don't often cook red meat). With this I was a little squeamish, and did what the professionals said not to do an overcooked the meat. After asking my sister and mother would they like to taste some they seemed to reluctantly decline (more so from the fact it was kangaroo, than it being well done). After toying with the meat for a little while and cutting it I was almost feeling guilty about eating kangaroo. I eventually took a small piece, it tasted very similar to beef, a little of a matured flavour, it was nice, but tough from my over cooking. Would I cook it again, most likely not, maybe as roo burgers, as I clearly am incapable of cooking it to perfection in any other form, but I would order it at a restaurant, where it can be cooked professionally, and in a dish suited to its game flavour. If your thinking you might like kangaroo, try it you might like it.



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