Forums > General > Living, Working, Retiring

1 2 View All

Bubba

Aug 10, 2006, 10:56 AM

Post #1 of 37 (3151 views)

Shortcut

Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

This comes from the business section of Guadalajara´s MURAL for August 10, 2006:

La Cámara de la Industria Alimenticia de Jalisco is alerting consumers that certain butchers and retail merchants are passing off horsemeat as beef in the metropolitan zone. The horsemeat comes from Jalisco and the state of Mexico and some is imported from the United States.

If you wonder if you have bought horse meat when you thought you were buying beef, here is how the newspaper tells you to note the difference:

Horsemeat is a darker red color
Horsemeat has a more pronounced odor (whatever that means)
Horsemeat is fat free
Horsemeat is sweeter than beef

Since Bubba married into a French family, I can assure you that horse meat, which I have been served in my wife´s home in Paris, is both delicious and more wholesome than beef because it´s low in fat. In Paris, beef, horse and pig butchers were traditionally kept separate and you could tell which was which by the head in the window just like at the birria joint in Mexico with the goat´s head in the open kitchen. I think these different butchers are now mixed.

A problem here is that horsemeat is not generally eaten so some suppliers may be unscrupulous. Therefore the meat may not be fresh.

If you can get it fresh from a reputable source, I highly recommend Horse meat with bearnaise sauce and a fine cabernet sauvignon

(This post was edited by Bubba on Aug 10, 2006, 1:07 PM)

Rolly

Aug 10, 2006, 11:19 AM

Post #2 of 37 (3130 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Horse meat makes excellent meat loaf. I ate it many times in college in Denver back in the '50s when it was sold in grocery stores as dog food. I don't think they do that anymore. Too bad. It was half the cost of hamburger and probably better for you.

Rolly Pirate

Bubba

Aug 10, 2006, 11:39 AM

Post #3 of 37 (3125 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Rolly;

Brigitte tells me that as a kid she refused to eat hamburgers made with cow meat and insisted on horsemeat hamburgers. Maybe we can start a trend here.

Of course, we may have to bid for the horsemeat against various local sausage makers.

sfmacaws

Aug 10, 2006, 12:25 PM

Post #4 of 37 (3114 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

I ate it too but I just cut it thin and grilled it, got it from a fresh pet food store in Marin. This was when I was pregnant with my only son and living the hippy dream out in Marin. Of course, we were vegetarian and macrobiotic or at least most of us were. I didn't care and started craving protein so I would sneak off and buy a pound of horse meat (couldn't afford beef) and cook it outside. It does have a different smell than beef and it was good. I don't think I could eat it now, any protein cravings I might get I could satisfy with beef and the brain is no longer so accepting of odd bits to eat. Who knows though, I forget to not like some things I've hated for years. I'll even eat a portion now and again of that loathsome brown rice, I wouldn't touch the stuff for 15 years after living with the macrobiotic bunch.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Gringal

Aug 10, 2006, 12:56 PM

Post #5 of 37 (3104 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

There was a famous hamburger chain in Southern California which was finally nailed by the authorities for serving horseyburgers. When they went back to cattleburgers, the quality suffered.

And Ginger....brown rice is soooo good for you, and tastes entirely too much that way. Speaking of the Good Old Days, wasn't it funny that some of the people on a macrobiotic diet never met a drug they didn't like?

(This post was edited by Gringal on Aug 10, 2006, 1:02 PM)

Bubba

Aug 10, 2006, 1:05 PM

Post #6 of 37 (3097 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Gringal] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Now I know why Jonna has an aversion to left wing hippy freaks after that macrobiotic diet.

One person´s delicacy is another person´s nightmare. When we were in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca where fried grasshoppers are considered a treat, the locals recoiled in horror when I told them my French wife ate snails and frog´s legs.

You may not believe this but there are people in my native Alabama who actually eat catfish. Yecchhtt!

(This post was edited by Bubba on Aug 10, 2006, 1:09 PM)

Rolly

Aug 10, 2006, 1:09 PM

Post #7 of 37 (3094 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Don't forget crawdads.

Rolly Pirate

sfmacaws

Aug 10, 2006, 1:15 PM

Post #8 of 37 (3092 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Gringal] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Quote

Speaking of the Good Old Days, wasn't it funny that some of the people on a macrobiotic diet never met a drug they didn't like?

Yea, Arrowroot Starch tea and Thai Sticks. Even then I was appalled by the hypocrisy, I've always jabbed at the sacred cows. Believe me, it was quite a statement for me to be out in the yard grilling a horse in that setting.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

sfmacaws

Aug 10, 2006, 1:22 PM

Post #9 of 37 (3085 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Rolly] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Quote

Don't forget crawdads.

and Okra!

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Gringal

Aug 10, 2006, 1:32 PM

Post #10 of 37 (3079 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sfmacaws] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

I'm feeling a little queasy now. Quick, fetch me a cheese taco!!!

wendy devlin

Aug 10, 2006, 1:45 PM

Post #11 of 37 (3069 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Gringal] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Now I could go google 'horsemeat' but where's the fun in that?

So...what age in general are horses eaten at?

Having recently buried an ancient horse I was boarding for someone...ja! ja!

Older cows are often ground into burger...
Same with horses?

And that little steak, Jonna cooked?

ellijo

Aug 10, 2006, 1:49 PM

Post #12 of 37 (3064 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

You guys rock.

http://vidalago.com/wordpress/

(This post was edited by ellijo on Aug 10, 2006, 1:50 PM)

patricio_lintz

Aug 10, 2006, 3:11 PM

Post #13 of 37 (3043 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

I don't know for sure, but sometimes I have a suspicion that the horses occasionaly standing around at the slaughterhouse on the side of Soriana across the street from Coppel, are not being ridden back and forth to work.

So far, I haven't seen any old circus animals standing around.

arbon

Aug 10, 2006, 6:11 PM

Post #14 of 37 (3010 views)

Shortcut

Re: [wendy devlin] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post |

Horse meat being safe compared to beef as far as tuberculosis is concerned, makes the microfarm more feasible.

You can't eat or make glue from the tractor.

But come September the government meat inspector may insist on the farmers being cremated.Eh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

esperanza

Aug 10, 2006, 6:18 PM

Post #15 of 37 (3007 views)

Shortcut

Re: [arbon] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

And who ever heard of mad horse disease?

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

wendy devlin

Aug 10, 2006, 6:24 PM

Post #16 of 37 (3002 views)

Shortcut

Re: [arbon] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Two words for you, Mr. Arbon!

Soy-lent green.

Or is that 3 words?

P.S. Patricio, the feral goats gnawing on the scrub trees, gave me the first idea about keeping milk goats.

The three old goats tethered by the back-yard baño behind the Cihuatlan, birreria, gave me a second idea:)

arbon

Aug 10, 2006, 6:38 PM

Post #17 of 37 (2996 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post |

"And who ever heard of mad horse disease?" Now that was worth a google.

You only have to be a horse person that get borna disease.

"Scrapie in sheep, BSE in cows, nv-CJD in humans--now "mad horse" disease? Dr. Oliver Planz recently reported in the medical journal Lancet that genetic material from an equine blood virus was found in the blood of a psychiatric patient suffering from schizophrenia. The virus causes a fatal disorder known as borna disease. It has been under study for about 200 years in Germany; now, some have begun to question if it is linked to human psychiatric and neurological disorders. Dr. Planz stressed that the discovery did not prove that mad horse disease caused human disorders. However, since, unlike mad cow, mad horse would not need to be transmitted through the consumption of infected flesh, it could be picked up through close contact with live animals."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Aug 10, 2006, 7:14 PM

Post #18 of 37 (2985 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

In Reply To

You may not believe this but there are people in my native Alabama who actually eat catfish. Yecchhtt!

Beer battered & deep fried with hushpuppies and a beer on the side makes a great meal...
Getting older and still not down here.

sfmacaws

Aug 10, 2006, 8:16 PM

Post #19 of 37 (2967 views)

Shortcut

Re: [wendy devlin] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Wendy, I just got back from the Clark County fair (southern WA) and spent a half hour in the goat shed. There are some really cool looking goats out there. I'm not so fond of the ones with no ears, can't remember the names, but they look a bit deformed. Oh, and the chickens! I love those Silkie Chickens with feathers instead of a comb and long, gorgeous shiny feathers. There were some really beautiful kinds of chickens. If I ever decide to grow up and get another house I want some of those pretty chickens. What kind of chickens do you have? Do they have specialty chickens - except for the ones that fight - in Mexico?

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

wendy devlin

Aug 11, 2006, 7:31 AM

Post #20 of 37 (2906 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sfmacaws] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

The goat breed whose external ears are either absent ('gopher ears') or vestigial (cookie' ears) is La Mancha. The breed was founded by crossing goats of Spanish origin with pure-bred animals of the Swiss breeds. ( I have two pure bred Alpines and have had Saaens in the past, another Swiss breed)

The chickens that I have known in farmyard Mexico, were hybrids from who knows what parentage. For high egg and meat production, farmers likely use hybrids bred specifically for those qualities. There are likely fowl fanciers around, but I haven't met any except the ubitiquious breeders of cocks for the 'palenque'.

Silkies are feathery fluff balls. Had a trio once until I gave them to a little girl in the 4H. This year I went in on a collective chick order to obtain a variety of heritage breeds. (There are few breeds available locally and most mail order hatcheries have severely cut down on their lines of birds in recent years)

For fun ( and the upcoming Fall Fair) which I help coordinate and run, we're currently raising, Barred, Plymouth and Buff Rocks,(American) Buff Orpingtons(English), Red Sussex,(English) Black Austrolorps(Australian), Barnevelders(Dutch), and Salmon Favorelles(French).

Given the relative rarity of some of these breeds(others in our farm group ordered a wide range of other birds including many Asian breeds) the eggs were shipped from a huge hatchery somewhere in Texas(eggs can clear customs, chickens usually can't:) to another hatchery in Ontario, Canada. The young chicks were then flown to Vancouver, B.C. where they were put on another flight to our town. They missed that connecting flight by 10 minutes and so the shipment was delayed another 4 hours. Most of us had to go to the airport twice.

Thankfully out of the hundreds of chicks, and ducklings there were none dead upon arrival.

(This post was edited by wendy devlin on Aug 11, 2006, 7:32 AM)

Bubba

Aug 11, 2006, 8:25 AM

Post #21 of 37 (2892 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sfmacaws] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

and Okra!

Don´t worry Jonna, ACA*, the organic farmers at Lake Chapala just got in a new okra crop that is on sale at gringo markets around here. I´ll save some for you. The famous gringo market, Super Lake, which is probably the best grocery store in Mexico - if a bit pricy - has pink peppercorns on sale for $119 Pesos for a small bottle. These things grow wild here but nobody harvests or consumes them. Go figure,

Speaking of Super Lake. This is probably not only the best grocery market in Mexico but better than small town markets anywhere in the United States except in the most affluent burbs. Those of you who live elsewhere should visit this shrine to consumerism when passing through San Antonio Tlayacapan. Don´t be fooled by the modest storefront.

Okra is for dicing and frying southern style. It is also an essential ingredient in gumbos and much West African cooking. But, Bubba loves rutabagas and brussels sprouts so everyone may not agree with these assessments.

*ACA products currently in the market include, in addition to okra, great green beans, small and tender spring onions (good green onions are amazingly hard to find in Mexico where they grow them too large) , arugula, mixed cooking greens (that are very tasty stir fried with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce - all readily available at lakeside) and, soon to come is their crop of super sweet corn.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Aug 11, 2006, 8:35 AM)

MariaLund

Aug 11, 2006, 8:53 AM

Post #22 of 37 (2879 views)

Shortcut

Re: [sfmacaws] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Lol, Jonna, I though it funny that we both ate horse meat during pregnancies. Only I was not on a macrobiotic diet: I was on a "communist diet" (= trying to cope with heavy food shortages, when the diet usually consited of potatoes, cabbage, bread and jams, since other foodstuffs were rarely available), and when I was pregnant and got diagnosed with both malnutricion and pregnancy poisoning in the pre-spring of 1968, I got a prescription for 1/2 of a pound of horsemeat per week (half a pound of meet per week in Poland at that time was an almost unimaginable luxury!).... and felt awfully guilty eating my prescribed horse meat, while the rest of the family (my mother, grandmother, my little brother, stepfather and my then hubby) ate their cabbage and potatoes - and if anyone managed to get milk or eggs, they gave all of it to me, too. But, since it was the spring of 1968, the situation changed drastically, when Polish students, following the examples of Western European students, started protests (for different reasons, though) and the government, not wanting the workers to join the students, and create a situation similar to that in Prague, temporarily flooded grocery stores with milk, eggs, butter and meat! So I could eat pork chops and ham during the rest of my pregnancy, without it even being limited to puny half a pound a week.... but horsemeat suddenly disappeared. I guess they had to send something to the Soviet Union instead of the normal foodstuffs. Horsemeat, yeah, memories... :-)
Vivere non est necesse, navigare necesse est!

(This post was edited by MariaLund on Aug 11, 2006, 9:47 AM)

davesteffes

Aug 11, 2006, 9:21 AM

Post #23 of 37 (2865 views)

Shortcut

Re: [Bubba] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

I haven't eaten horsemeat that I know of but I do raise horses here in New Mexico. My understanding is that as the horse ages their meat becomes better. There have been occasions when I picked myself up after being thrown where I've considered that horse meat might be a delicacy.

Rolly

Aug 11, 2006, 9:43 AM

Post #24 of 37 (2857 views)

Shortcut

Re: [davesteffes] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post | Private Reply

Next time a cantankerous old mare steps on your foot to hold you while she bites at you, turn her into hamburger. You'll like it.

Rolly Pirate

arbon

Aug 11, 2006, 10:16 AM

Post #25 of 37 (2840 views)

Shortcut

Re: [esperanza] Horsing Around Down at the Carniceria

Can't Post |

The English are very good at making food more palatable by changing the name, dog fish (a small shark) is called "Rock Salmon", and during WWll horse meat was called "Irish Beef" it was identified by green dye.

The funny thing about this is that I don't remember eating horse meat in England, but I do remember eating "Irish Beef" and the green dye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This post was edited by arbon on Aug 11, 2006, 10:28 AM)

1 2 View All