Portait of a Georgia Bullfrog Farm
Serious Eats reader Barrett (thanks, Barrett!) points us to a great story we overlooked in the Wall Street Journal Magazine about bullfrog farmer Ken Holyoak near Brunswick, Georgia:
The finest cuts are off the hind legs of a mature bullfrog. Frogs, unlike other animals and fish, remain tender no matter the size and age. "With these frogs, the meat is white and almost translucent," says [Craig] Hopson, [a Manhattan chef who buys his frog legs from Holyoak]. His take is to debone a leg, stuff the cavity with foie gras, bacon, and more frog meat, and then tempura-batter and fry.
The story covers frog-eating history and types of frogs, and includes a couple recipes.
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11 Comments:
But what happens to the rest of the frog??
renzata at 1:47PM on 12/12/08
Foie gras, bacon, and then tempura batter and fried? Can you taste the frog at all? I think anything would taste good with that combo.
erinlovestoeat at 1:51PM on 12/12/08
Size and age don't matter? When was the last time you heard that? I may have that tattooed somewhere. ;-D
I tried frog legs once and they tasted fishy - can you believe it? Not like chicken at all. I'd definitely try that version. Wow! Sounds amazing.
And their color is gorgeous!
PerkyMac at 1:56PM on 12/12/08
A friend of mine hunts frogs at night in the Everglades from his airboat. He says that frog legs taste best after being frozen for a few days before cooking. And I never ate a frog leg that tasted fishy!
1stmakearoux at 2:42PM on 12/12/08
tastes like chicken
redfish at 3:23PM on 12/12/08
Definitely not fishy meat but I never had a frog leg that sounded so good...
As for the rest of the frog, the hind legs were all we ever ate - am I missing out on other deliciousness? Our ponds, and thus bullfrogs, were pretty small from what I've seen in the grocery store though.
christopher at 3:40PM on 12/12/08
You eat them much like you eat crawfish, a lot of people like to suck out the frog heads. Seems kind of gross at first but it is the most delicious thing you have ever eaten.
Of course the frog head has to be cooked, I wouldn't suck the head of a raw frog, lol. Don't over cook the heads or the stuff inside tends to get kind of gummy.
I got to the point where I preferred sucking out the heads more than I liked eating the legs.
redfish at 6:41PM on 12/12/08
@christopher
As they say, the meat is sweetest closer to the bone, and while the body of the frog may be pretty spare in the meat to bone ratio, its fun and tasty to work the tidbits off the tiny ribs and such.
@redfish
Frog heads? I've never had them. We've always treated them as inedible in this house!
fuuchan at 8:17PM on 12/12/08
Deuteronomy, possibly Leviticus.
JerzeeTomato at 12:32AM on 12/13/08
that is one scary looking creature. i would love to eat him.
redzerostar at 1:06AM on 12/13/08
no no no, he's too cute to eat.
jaywarner at 9:38AM on 12/22/08