WHat not to do in korea!

Discussion in 'Kuk Sool' started by SsangKall, May 1, 2010.

  1. Demdike

    Demdike Banned Banned

    Mead
    yep I've tried the sickly sweet concoction that passes as mead commercially in the UK, and you're right: it takes a very unusual person to appreciate it.
    However I have also drunk mead from two or three of the small-scale cider farms in the South West of England, and that really IS OK to drink. I wouldn't want to down pints of it, but in small quantities as a complement to a desert dish it works well, similar to (for instance) a marsala wine.

    Your raising the historic perspective does make one wonder at past practices. Where on earth did the vikings get the idea that fermenting fly agaric would work (it gives a double hit of alcohol and the hallucinogenic muscimol)?
    or that if they instead drank the urine of deer which had eaten the fungus they could improve on the taste and still get the "hit"?
    If you believe some of the theories, it would seem they took this a stage further by passing urine down the social scale so that the leaders got the deer urine, the next level drank the leaders urine, and so on down the line with presumably lesser effect as the muscimol passed through more sets of kidneys
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2010
  2. Pugil

    Pugil Seeker of truth

    And then we have Gnat's P*ss... otherwise known as Bud!
     
  3. Obewan

    Obewan "Hillbilly Jedi"

    Good Stuff...Hard to collect...those Gnats are fast! :running:
     
  4. Toki_Nakayama

    Toki_Nakayama Valued Member

    when you see those vendors selling those tasty snacks and drinks......avoid the snack that smells like chocolate an looks like coffee beans ( unless your into that sort of stuff)

    i got duped into eating some by my katusa buddies.....come to find out, they are actually boiled Silkworm larvae.


    Bulgogi is good beef YES . Kegogi....NO...dog meat.
     
  5. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    What does dog meat taste like?

    Mitch
     
  6. Pugil

    Pugil Seeker of truth

    I dunno, but chicken tastes foul! ;)
     
  7. Demdike

    Demdike Banned Banned

    ruff
     
  8. Toki_Nakayama

    Toki_Nakayama Valued Member

    never tried the dog meat or at least i would hope i didnt unintentionally

    but heard it tastes kinda like chickin, some thinks it tastes bad.
     
  9. Ranzan

    Ranzan Valued Member

    Do not fart in your hand and throw it in someone's face, that is generally frowned upon.
     
  10. VegasMichelle

    VegasMichelle Valued Member

    Dog meat does taste like chicken albeit a bit drier and chewier. There is a misconception that dog meat is representative of Korean cuisine. In fact, there are more restaurants selling dog meat in the US than in Korea. Many of the modern Appalachia-based restaurants serve them.

    Cat meat tastes stringy and sinewy. Believe it or not, in the 18th century, cat meat was actually eaten for sport in the UK! (http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/260/the_cat_eaters.html)

    Alligator meat combines a foul fishy aftertaste to a chicken-like meat in texture. You can get alligator in parts of Florida, Louisiana and in the Oceanic belt oversees.

    Kangaroo meat is probably the most tolerable. It is lean, high in protein and does well as a BBQ.
     
  11. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    I've eaten crocodile and guinea pig, and if you're a meat eater you should have no more qualms about eating a dog than eating a cow or pig. I meant no criticism of anyone for eating anything, I'm genuinely curious.

    I know that dog is also eaten in Gambia for example, so I'm sure it is in many other countries too.

    Mitch
     
  12. Quozl

    Quozl Valued Member

    Hi VM, I am impressed at your experienced cuisine. Personnaly I would find it hard to knowingly eat dog, cat or alligator, as it just don't seem right somehow!! WRT Kangaroo, that is different I suppose.

    I read somewhere, and I cannot remember where, that one shouldn't eat the flesh of carnivores (which dogs cats and alligators tend to be) but I cannot remember where I read this, nor why one shouldn't do it. However, apart from that, I don't suppose I could get the image of poor old Shep out of my head if I were to eat Dog, and Tiddles were I to eat cat! LOL. So kudos to your having tried them, impressive!

    However, one small point, I would hardly call eating the cats as portrayed in the article as being a "sport". It was definately more a wager, or as an act of public curiosity (hehe curiosity killed the cat hehe sorry!) / entertainment, (in the same way that in the C18, Bedlem was a place to go and see the crazy people whereas now we just have the X Factor, Britain's got talent or Big Brother!).
     
  13. VegasMichelle

    VegasMichelle Valued Member

    I think truly adventurous people who like to travel should experience the local cuisine if they can. The most exotic meal I've had was a bloodmeal in South Africa. That's right, an entire meal from drinking the warm blood just extracted...no baking or cooking...

    As for eating the flesh of carnivores...I think a common example is shark. Getting sharkmeat at a good Japanese restaurant is a treat!
     
  14. unknown-KJN

    unknown-KJN Banned Banned

    Chiming in about koreans and eating dogmeat...

    As best I know, during a rather low point in their recent history, people would cook up stray dogs in order to have a meal with meat in it. It's not a truly traditional thing, as ancient history goes.

    Upon one trip to Korea, I was privileged (?) to be included in a special party at a restaurant that used a *traditional* recipe. The recipe relied on cooking the dogmeat as a soup/stew in a ceramic "hot-pot" and the only objection I had was the smell of the broth as it slowly simmered. If anyone if familiar with what a "wet-dog smell" is, then you have a good idea as to the savory anticipation that filled me as I awaited my meal. :p
     
  15. VegasMichelle

    VegasMichelle Valued Member

    The dogmeat I've had in the US was skewered on a open pit and turned over the burning coals...like how Hawaiians skewer their pigs. IIRC, I found this way of preparing dogmeat to yield a tough, dry and chewy meat.

    The way Koreans prepare it actually makes more sense to me since the meat becomes much more tender in a stew.

    As for tradition, I agree that the Koreans only first ate dogmeat as a way to get much-needed protein when it was scarce. FWIW, you'd be surprised to find out what various cultures are willing to eat when resources become scarce. As for why Americans eat dogmeat...I thought it originated during the Revolutionary War when Americans would eat the captured dogs owned by British Officers and called it a "fine canine meal." Strange what people do for survival and what people do for vengeance.
     
  16. Obewan

    Obewan "Hillbilly Jedi"

    Horse, porcupine, pigeon, raccoon, and turtle are all good. Never had dog, but knew an old Native American who threatened to eat his neighbors dog if he got the chance.

    Bonn Appetite
     
  17. Herbo

    Herbo Valued Member

    "WRT Kangaroo, that is different I suppose." - Quozl

    Hey Quozl, if you're interested in trying Kangaroo and for that matter Springbox, I suggest you go to Walkabout at the Omni Centre in Edinburgh. I've had it before and it was quite pleasent. A taste and texture somewhere between beef and pork.
     
  18. Quozl

    Quozl Valued Member

    Cheers Herbo, sounds like a plan to me.

    I think I will give it a shout.
     
  19. Quozl

    Quozl Valued Member

    Some "truly adventurous people" just might not want to eat cats and dogs VM, however, that is by the by. However, given the circumstances that UK pointed out, eating any source of protein to survive seems to be relatively reasonable (including your team mates if you are a Rugby team in the Andes!) and it is not uncommon in seiges, trench warfare etc for rats, dogs, cts, etc, all to be eaten. However, since I am not under seige or fighting in the trenches I just don't fancy cat or dog! The idea of a blood meal is interesting though .... not sure I can get one of those in Edinburgh though ... might try nipping over to Glasgow LOL.
     
  20. Demdike

    Demdike Banned Banned

    In a country that brought he world the deep fried mars bar, I'm sure you'll find it somewhere.
    On the more exotic subjects, I never got there but some of the guys I used to work with made regular trips to Guangzhou. They reckoned down there pretty much anything went: the locals were so deprived of protein that virtually anything animal was eaten. The fields (and towns) were devoid of birds, while the food markets offered such delicacies as spiders, earwigs and bluebottles skewered on strings, ready for a quick boil in the pot. the story was, the further south in China you went, the more extreme the diet. I've seen photos taken by my colleagues of the bluebottles, and also of caged bears with taps inserted into the gall bladder to allow bear-bile to be sold more or less "on draught" as required. Besides these were the usual caged cats, dogs, rats, macacques, sparrows and dried bats.

    Now a few other points
    Horses.
    Horsemeat goes off quickly and has to be eaten within a day or so of slaughter. Historically that tended to relegate its use to dogfood - except during wartime, when horses were killed routinely during battle and provided a ready source of nutrition for the troops. Allegedly the french got their taste for the stuff during the Napoleonic retreat from Moscow, but records of armies eating their fallen transport predate that by hundreds of years.
    Dogs & Cats
    Don't forget the Abrahamic rules forbidding these as food (along with a good number of other things) are there for a reason. Being carnivores both have a nasty habit of picking up numerous parasites - which cooking won't always kill. Tapeworm cysts are one example - which can give you serious brain problems. Pigs carry the same problem though - to an extent - its controllable with diet (and modern chemicals).
    While most of us are brought up to shun the consumption of carnivorous mammals and birds, I'm convinced that there is also an innate genetic "distaste" for doing so that evolved for self-protection, much as many (most?) people have an innate dislike or fear of snakes and spiders.
    What is interesting is that the consumption of carnivorous fish is more or less accepted, despite that being potentially unsafe. For instance cod-type fish are hosts to a parasitic worm which can infect humans and cause liver, respiratory and (again) brain problems, while eels are an infective reservoir due to their carrion-eating habits
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2010

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