ostrich – Mel's Mosaic

A few years ago I traveled to South Africa. In addition to having some of the best wine in the world, I enjoyed some of the best meat I’ve ever had. One of my two favorites was Ostrich. It was so lean and had a very unique flavor. So when I got home I searched and searched. You can occasionally… find it, but for a price.

I was recently able to get some. Cheaper than before. Ok, it was $40/lb. They sell it in 8 oz. packages for $19.99. Yes, GULP! And it was ground, so we were making burgers. My rationale on buying this stuff. You go to a restaurant and spend $10-$15 for a (beef) burger. You buy the Ostrich, it’s $10 a burger and it’s good, healthy unique meat. Then you serve your own good wine with it. That’s cheaper, or can be so, than wine per glass in a restaurant (which you wouldn’t likely order with a burger anyway in a restaurant) and get healthy sides vs. fries. Perfect rationale, right? You also don’t have to include tax and tip.

So it was purchased, we grilled. Served it with kale chips and one of the great Trader Joe’s grain blends…oh and an amazing red! Took a bite of the Ostrich meat. Really, that’s not what I had in South Africa. I know it’s farm raised here and I was beyond disappointed. But, you learn by trying and it was worth the experience. To the next taste test.

When on my trip to South Africa, I was able to try several meats I had never had the opportunity to sample before. I wanted to take every opportunity I could to go local with what they had. I was about 50/50 on them.

First was a Kudu loin. It was served grilled with a cranberry & carrot sauce, spicy parsnip shavings, roasted garlic polenta, and these DELICIOUS, addictive sesame brinjal batons. I didn’t actually know what brinjal was until writing this post and looking it up. It’s eggplant, just the name they use for it in South Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia (you learn something new everyday). The meat was very, very chewy. Glad I tried it, not my favorite.

Next one I tried was a Springbok Carpaccio. It was a bit ‘tasteless’ — but still nice to have a wild game carpaccio!

Third new meat I tried was Ostrich. Super healthy/lean. According to the American Ostrich Association (there is an association for everything…), “ostrich is similar in taste, texture and appearance to beef. It’s comparable to beef in iron and protein content, but ostrich has less than half the fat of chicken and two-thirds less fat than beef and pork. Ostrich beats the competition with fewer calories, too. That’s why ostrich is the choice of health-conscious consumers who refuse to sacrifice flavor.” It’s tough to determine if this falls under poultry, game or other, but it is classified as red meat. What I do know is that I loved it! So lean, tasty and I wish we could easily get it here! I did research when I got home and the couple places in the DC-area who used to carry it can’t get it anymore because at last count it was $60/lb. Ouch!

The last one I tried that was unique was Warthog. OMG! AMAZING! Get me a warthog farm here in the States. I can’t begin to describe how flavorful this stuff was. Unreal.