I think that for "game" meat to be sold it has to be raised like a farm animal and not hunted in the wild.
I imagine pastured elk, probably from a young animal, likely castrated at an early age would be very nice....as will venison.
The alligator I have eaten tastes just like chicken....really!!
I think the taste of the turtle depends on what kind of a turtle it was....snapper...not so much.
The emu and ostrich I have eaten was tasteless and very very lean.
Anyway...if he's buying and cooking....just smile and say "Thank you".
Linda C

Sounds like you've got some interesting eating coming up! Please keep us posted!

Alligator is like frog to me, half chicken half marine flavor. The rest, I have no clue!, as the venison I've had was heavily seasoned and in chili. Yes, please keep us posted.

I think the only thing that will give me pause is the turtle. I just can't wrap my mind around eating it.
My dad and brothers would hunt when we were kids. I have had venison but didn't care for it. Too gamey for me. I've had moose also. Gave me gas, it was in a stew. I've had frog legs, fried-so I'm guessing that is what the alligator taste is going to be like, maybe? NancyLouise

I really don't mind game, although we NEVER ate it at home when I was growing up. Descending from a long line of city folks, we just didn't do wild things that weren't available from the local butcher or supermarket. But I do have a bag of elk and venison in my freezer, gifts from my cousin who stayed with me last year. Her hubs is NOT a city kid, and loves to play out the hunter gatherer lifestyle. Several years ago my cousin reached her limit and now refuses to eat any wild meat (Pacific spring salmon being the exception). They now have his-n-hers freezers - hers is filled with chicken, pork and beef, and his has elk, venison and/or bear. Don't know if I want to try bear....

Aligator and crocodile I had did not taste like chicken, unless you cook them using standard chicken recipes. They are somewhat between pork and chicken with a little fishy note.

I had venison backstrap yesterday. Not a hint of gamey-ness.

dcarch

I agree, Rob, the alligator will taste like frog legs, kind of.

The venison we get here is not gamey, if processed properly, no matter if it is a buck or a doe. Remove those scent glands, the silver skin and make sure there's no residual hairs, all those things add to the gamey flavor.

Turtle is actually delicious. We trapped a bunch of snapping turtles out of the lake when I was a teenager and made turtle soup and had a big family party. It was very, very good so don't be afraid of that.

Ostrich wasn't all that great, it was dry and stringy, I've never tried emu because it seems like much the same thing.

I like elk, antelope, moose, but not bear. Bear has a flavor all its own, and it's something I just don't care for.

"Wild" boar? Eh, it's pork and in sausage it'll be more of the same. Pheasant sausage? What a waste of good pheasant, LOL, but I'll bet it'll be a lot like chicken or turkey sausage.

Definltey check back in, I'll be interested to see how you like everything.

Annie

Wayne cooked the gator in a spicy stir fry over noodles. It's texture was a little firmer then chicken. It had a mild chicken taste with a fish taste at the end as dcarch said. It was just okay to me. Not really sure what I was expecting. Something with more of a pronounced flavor I guess. But at least I can say I tried alligator. NancyLouise

I agree with the alligator tasting like frogs' legs, and I have had them together many times. I have not had tenderloin of alligator, however - only alligator tail, and it is one of my favorites. I find both alligator tail and frogs' legs to be very mild tasting - the texture of the alligator is somewhat like chicken breast, but not so much the flavor. I like pheasant also, and it definitely does taste like chicken breast to me, but even drier. I wrap it in pork fat when I cook it, but I've only ever roasted it. I also would not waste pheasant meat on sausage. I've only had turtle soup from a can, and I know that sea turtle meat is now forbidden in this country and many others. I became obsessed with turtle when I was learning German because we had many discussions about Schildkroetensuppe, which just rolls off the tongue in an interesting way. I'm sure it's much better when made fresh - I could mostly taste red wine and monosodium glutamate when I had it from a can.

Lars

Speaking of elk, do any of you remember this GardenWeb posting from '99? I laugh so hard I almost cry every time I read it.

Kathleen

Yep.....got it saved on my hard drive.....still funny all these years later!
Gus Pong!! Ha ha ha!!!!

??? Help me out!

Since I feed my dog raw meat, and one of my friends has two Basenjis, I read that and remembered it. Classic.

Stumpy.....check your mail....

Alligator is one of my all time faves and I miss having it. I think it really shows best in something like alligator stew, a tomato based stew like shrimp stew. Easy to overcook it otherwise and ruin that great texture. I'm another who think it tastes quite like frog legs.

We had the sausages last night. Can't say I'm impressed with the pheasant sausage. It really didn't have much of a flavor at all. The caramelized onions that were served over it had more flavor. Very disappointed in it.
Now the Boar was just the opposite. I was thinking Boar=Pig=Pork flavor. Wrong! It was very pungent and had an aggressive,gamey taste to it. Very surprising. I liked it better then the pheasant.
Yep, now that you all mention it I do recall the Elk post. I don't have it saved, but remember it being very, very funny. NancyLouise

Thanks for the update. Yea, the pheasant should probably have been served different. Sounds like you enjoyed the boar. Cool.

For those who are looking:
Dogs in Elk

Dogs in Elk from the Vegetable Forum, A Halloween Tribute

A few years ago I was in a Brazilian churrascaria (an all-you-can-eat grilled meat restaurant) in Rio with a group of locals on Thanksgiving. I explained the holiday of Thanksgiving to the group: get together with family or friends and have a big meal, and described the traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the fixin's. One of the Brazilian's interpreted my description as a request and then flagged down a waiter and spoke to him in rapid Portuguese for a minute or so, frequently gesturing towards my wife and me. The waiter turned to us and said "I'll see what we can do." and disappeared into the kitchen.

About ten minutes later the waiter emerged from the kitchen followed by a server with a large piece of meat on a skewer. The waiter explained that they didn't have any turkey, and the closest they could manage was this: ostrich. It didn't taste even a little bit like turkey, but it was delicious. It was much more like the beef tenderloins they had served earlier, but perhaps even more tender and flavorful.