Armadillo Tastes Like Chicken?
Over the weekend, Maven Mom pulled out a Cajun cookbook that I’ve never seen. She claims to have owned this authentic collection of traditional South Louisiana recipes for more than a decade since she saw my aunt’s copy. I’m not sure that I believe her, but it’s probably for the best. Aside from having at least 500 variations of gumbo and jambalaya, it features treasures like black bird jambalaya that requires 30 black birds to prepare, squirrel gumbo and my favorite–armadillo sauce piquante. There must be an art to preparing armadillo because the book devotes and entire page to it.
To Prepare Armadillo for Cooking from Louisiana Lagniappe.
Assuming that you’ve gone out and caught yourself and armadillo…first you wash off all the dirt on the outside of the animal by rinsing well under the cold water tap. You DO NOT use hot water at any time.
Lay the animal on its back and using a sharp knife, split it open from the feet on up to the throat, like you would a hog or a calf. With the knife, follow the shell and cut all around, separating the meat from the shell and skin. When you have finished, the skin and shell will come off in one piece.
Next you prepare the meat like you would a rabbit. Cut it into pieces, rinse it well in cold water then place the pieces in a bowl of heavily salted water to marinate for 12-24 hours before cooking. It should be refrigerated or kept in a cool place during this process.
When ready to cook, dry the meat and season it well the proceed as you would for chicken, rabbit or any other meat.
Armadillo is very good barbecued and a large one will feed three or four men. When barbecuing armadillo follow the same method as for chicken. -Will Frey
To say that I was shocked when I saw this is an understatement. Maven Mom became a vegetarian because her very Cajun grandmother used to cook things like this. Growing up, it was hard enough to bring etouffee and jambalaya to lunch at school when everyone else was eating chicken fingers and Lunchables. (It was just like the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.) It seems that the stereotype that Cajuns will eat anything is true. At least that’s what the book says:
There is an old saying in the Acadian Country of Louisiana that, “Cajuns will eat anything that doesn’t bite them first.” This is a untruth, ‘Cajuns will eat anything–whether or not it bites them first. In fact, perhaps because it bites them first–thereby assuring the ‘Cajuns, gourmets all, that what they are about to eat is very much alive and fit for the pot.
Oh good heavens. What kind of culture do I come from? Should I be proud of my ancestors’ resourcefulness and ingenuity or just be grossed out? I do want the recipe for squirrel gumbo. Now that the DC gun ban is challenged, it’s time to go huntin’ for some creepy black squirrels.
