Wild hares tend to be tough and lean but flavourful.

I have limited experience with them

You need to know a hunter.

I've known hunters, but my scanty experience with
the species has been in Europe, where they allow
hunters to sell to restaurants under certain
fairly tightly regulated circumstances.

didn't know the difference between lievre and lapin

They're related but not the same thing.

Oh, I've known that for between forty and fifty
years. I don't think Sam S. Saltonstall ever knew
or cared. He was a pleasant, innocent young Harvard
grad and quite rarefied.

... Cat tastes like rabbit but lion tastes like pork.

That's what is said; I've not to my knowledge
eaten feline flesh

I've had lynx on occasion. It is a mild, tender, white meat, so sort
of rabbit-like. Bob Pastorio, one of the guys who used to be on the
venerable foodwine list was a chef and for a while one of his places
offered lion, zebra etc and he was the one who claimed lion tasted
like pork.

Pork is the other food people liken other meats
to - including human flesh, though others do say
that eating people (which, according to Flanders
and Swann, is wrong) is more like eating lamb. Idi
Amin is said to have invited people to parties
where his former adversaries were served under the
euphemism of "mutton." It was further bruited about
that if you didn't appear at one of these, you
stood a good chance of appearing at the next in a
different role.

I couldn't justify paying twice what a nice strip steak would
cost.

Double is my upper limit for "exotica"

Depends on the exotica and the base price.

I find it hard to justify paying twice sirloin strip prices for basically anything except foie gras or oysters.

I would add lobster to that short list.

I enjoy lobster but wouldn't pay much extra for it.
Clams might be addable to the list.

Speaking of not paying double for cool stuff, Loblaws now carries
several excellent Gouda-like cheeses from the Dutch cheese company
Beemster. They are normally $50 per kg but as they age (and improve)
they get marked down to $25 which is when I swoop in. They name

$25/kg is far from out of line for respectable cheese.
Double that, in loonies, that is USD20 a pound, which
might be okay for really good stuff.

their different varieties based on the time of year they are made.
In the past I mentioned how much I liked their Vlaskaas (flax
cheese). Two other varieties are Hooikaas (hay cheese) made in the wintertime when the cows are in barns and not out on pasture and
Graskaas (grass cheese) which is spring cheese made as soon as the
cows are back on pasture. Graskaas is not aged very long and is
milder and softer than winter cheese and quite creamy rich. So this
week all the Graskaas in stock got marked down and I purchased three
blocks weighing about half a pound each.

I've tried hay cheese and can't see Gouda people tolerate
the taste; sounds as if I'd really hate grass cheese too.

I'd like to carry a howdah but I can't remember how!
-- Flanders and Swann, The Elephant

Also speaking of deals, Roslind just came back from her monthly trip

Not sure that's a deal - mark of respect, perhaps, not
that I'd had any experience with that.

to Cambridge Bay where she is so esteemed she can't pay for
anything anymore. At the hotel she stays at said she wanted to go to
the fish plant to buy a kilo of hot smoked arctic char for her
sister and somebody there said, "Don't bother, I have a full freezer
full." When she flies north she has to pay for her overweight and/or
extra checked bags but she never gets surcharged going home. She
asked the counter guy there about that and he said,"We all know who
you are. You're the counsellor. Have a nice flight and come back
soon." Similarly the FAs never charge her for her wine.

I do get 170 lb of free checked bags on Star Alliance, though.

Title: Casco Bay Seafood Medley
Butter
3 md Lobster tails; split
1/2 lb Ounces haddock. diced
1/4 lb Crabmeat
1/4 lb Shrimp
1/4 lb Bay scallops
Onion salt
White pepper
1 ds Dry vermouth
1 qt Half & half cream

Interesting; I'd not have much of an argument with
any of the ingredients but would use sherry instead
of vermouth; plus what's an ounces haddock?

... Cheese. The adult form of milk.

Cheese. The smegma of the dairy world. Not that
that's a bad thing.

BARBECUE SHRIMP
cat: main, shellfish
serves: 8 to 10

2 lb butter
8 cl garlic; finely minced (or as much as you like)
1 md onion; very finely minced
3 ribs celery; very finely minced
4 Tb chopped parsley
1 Tb cayenne pepper; more to taste
1 Tb black pepper; more to taste
2 Tb chopped rosemary leaves
4 oz Worcestershire sauce
6 oz good beer (microbrewery preferable)
2 ts fresh-squeezed lemon juice
5 lb shrimp, heads and shells on

Melt 1/4 lb butter in a skillet. Saute the seasonings
(ingredients 2-7) for 2 min. Melt the rest of the butter
in a medium-sized pot. Add the beer (drink the rest of
the bottle). Add the sauteed stuff, Worcestershire, and
lemon juice. Put the shrimp in a single layer in baking
dishes using as many baking dishes as you need. Cover
in the seasoned butter; make sure the shrimp are more
or less submerged. If they're not ... melt more butter
and add to the sauce. (Aah, what the hey ... what's
another stick or two when you're already up to these
butterfat levels?) Bake at 350F until the shrimp turn
pink, about 15 min. Serve in big bowls. Put in a handful
of shrimp and ladle lots of the spicy butter sauce over
it. Roll up your sleeves and wear a bib (DO NOT wear
nice clothes when eating this!) Serve with plenty of
French bread to sop up da sauce! Try to avoid going to
have your cholesterol and triglycerides taken for a
few weeks afterward. Remember that this is a special
treat. Don't eat this all the time if you want to live.
But hey, every now and again ... LIVE!

Pascal's Manale Restaurant on Napoleon Avenue in New Orleans
adapted by http://www.graficonn.no/webhotell/oppskrifter/
expurgated by ML
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