[nrat]

hi,first off lets keep this about hedgehogs,no racist gypsy remarks just stick with the topic,thanks.has anyone actually cooked and eaten hedgehog??,yes ive read the books roll it in clay bury it a fire ,crack the mud open all the spikes come off etc??tastes like pork??is that coz people call them hedgepigges??lets get some sensible opinions going,
[1] do you gut it first??
[2] how thick a clay jacket do you give it??remember the clay will insulate it taking longer to cook
[3] how long do you cook it for??
[4] supposidly all the spikes come off when you break the mud open??
[5] what does it taste like??
[6] how safe is a road kill to eat a fresh not totally flat one of course??
[7] finnally how many have acctually eaten them??
OR IS THIS JUST A PRICKLY SUBJECT

[SportingShooter]

First of all i have never eaten one, and dont intend to.
But i was trained as a sous chef so i may be able to give a little bit of advice.
I would gut it first as it eats an awful lot of disgusting things,and does not have a direct digestive system like a woodcock or snipe, which you can leave the guts in.
Now from what i can remember, the clay jacket needs to be a centimetre above the the tip of the spikes, this is just at the back of my mind so may be wrong.
The clay jacket once dried, will act like bones on meat, help to cook it as the heat travels along them.
As for how long it is cooked for youll have to be creative and use trial and error, when all the spikes and things are gone i imagine they will be about the size of a partridge if that helps.
No idea what it tastes like, dont really want to know and a fresh one sounds better to me, shot or otherwise trapped, you can kill hedgehogs to protect ground nesting birds.
This is probably one of the stranger culinary things ive given advice on.
It mite help who knows.
ss06

[joe ox]

In this day and age who the feck would want to eat one?
As a boy if I wanted a hedgehog to open I would just drop it in the nearest stream, water trough etc etc. The point being why cook it rolled in a ball with its guts in / jacket on when it can be opened up then killed and cleaned

This post has been edited by joe ox: 02 April 2008 - 09:18 AM

[Tis TM]

Mmmm, all seems a bit "pointless" ahem...... I could think of far better things to eat, and wouldn't even want to try one, just to see. :icon_eek:

[micky]

Ditch_Shitter, on Apr 2 2008, 02:32 PM, said:

nrat, on Apr 2 2008, 09:06 AM, said:

hi,first off lets keep this about hedgehogs,no racist gypsy remarks just stick with the topic,thanks.

They'll kick off, regardless.

Quote

[5] what does it taste like??
[6] how safe is a road kill to eat a fresh not totally flat one of course??
[7] finally how many have actually eaten them??

5. It tastes like hedgehog. Not even remotely like chicken.

6. Perfectly safe, within the bounds of how safe it is to eat just about anything taken from the wild. Ye never know what something may have been about to drop dead with before ye killed it yeself ;) Like anything else; If it's blood's bright red, it's fresh enough.

7. I have. But I don't consider it an issue. When will so called " Hunters " grow up and stop pissing in their own socks at the mention of eating something which can't be coursed? A Martian would have no such racially based bias. He'd just observe animals eating other animals left, right and centre. Why would he suddenly throw o plate fulut his toys because certain people ate one specific, british wild animal?

" Gypsys eat them! " Really? Well whoopie f*cking doo daah. They also eat rabbit, hare, chicken, beef, chinese takeaways and polo mints. So?


I've avoided 1 - 4 because I have very limited experience / knowledge of that method of preperation. I can tell ye though ye end up with a pretty huge ball and it must take a considerable time in a quite intense heat to do anything with it. I tried once, by way of experiment. Never again!

wingshooter, on Apr 2 2008, 01:25 PM, said:

Who eats roadkill????

I have. So what? Why not?

I used to play skittles in a pub in Northamptonshire,there was an old boy who done it all ,seen it all and ate it all,the best meal ever was hedgehog rolled in clay ,and baked in embers as taught to him by his mate the king of the gypsys.One night after the match we were having supper peas and faggots ,tapping Tommy got a special plate full,this is all right said Tom ,yes said the gaffer its hedgehog,one second later tom filled the skittle alley with spew

[GD Waz]

Hey now NRAT get yourselves booked into a little chef and get some proper grub down yous.

[earlybird]

As told to me by a reliable source, no need for the clay jacket at all.just scrape off spikes with a sharp knife and then hold over embers to singe of any remaining bits,best way to gut one is to split it down the back and open it up,as for taste,as has been said they have a taste of their own,nothing like pork or chicken,had a small mouthful once years ago,and that was enough. :thumbdown:

[ferret boy charlie]

my mum ate it :sick: she said it made her feel sick

[clay man]

who every eats it wont need toot picks for a long time :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

[SportingShooter]

Have a recipe for cormorant, anyone interested in trying that, it only takes 2 months to prepare. :thumbs: :whistling: :thumbs:
May end up tasting slightly fishy :angel:
Anyone?

[nrat]

Ditch_Shitter, on Apr 2 2008, 01:32 PM, said:

nrat, on Apr 2 2008, 09:06 AM, said:

hi,first off lets keep this about hedgehogs,no racist gypsy remarks just stick with the topic,thanks.

They'll kick off, regardless.

Quote

[5] what does it taste like??
[6] how safe is a road kill to eat a fresh not totally flat one of course??
[7] finally how many have actually eaten them??

5. It tastes like hedgehog. Not even remotely like chicken.

6. Perfectly safe, within the bounds of how safe it is to eat just about anything taken from the wild. Ye never know what something may have been about to drop dead with before ye killed it yeself ;) Like anything else; If it's blood's bright red, it's fresh enough.

7. I have. But I don't consider it an issue. When will so called " Hunters " grow up and stop pissing in their own socks at the mention of eating something which can't be coursed? A Martian would have no such racially based bias. He'd just observe animals eating other animals left, right and centre. Why would he suddenly throw out his toys because certain people ate one specific, british wild animal?

" Gypsys eat them! " Really? Well whoopie f*cking doo daah. They also eat rabbit, hare, chicken, beef, chinese takeaways and polo mints. So?


I've avoided 1 - 4 because I have very limited experience / knowledge of that method of preperation. I can tell ye though ye end up with a pretty huge ball and it must take a considerable time in a quite intense heat to do anything with it. I tried once, by way of experiment. Never again!

wingshooter, on Apr 2 2008, 01:25 PM, said:

Who eats roadkill????

I have. So what? Why not?

thanks to all who replied,esspecially sporting shooter 0 ,,and ditch shitter,thanks for the info some of which i knew through research ,i think it would make a interesting experiment cooking fresh road kills different ways,ie the mud or just roasting over a fire,guess whos looking for a fresh hedgehog?? thanks all who replied jim

[yoggerman]

im a traveler meself but never eaten a hotchi but my dad has eate and killed thousands of em he's 73 and grew up on em ,,,, to be quite truthfull with ya cooking them in clay is the biggest load of bullshit ever said it was proberly told as a joke to someone and its spread from there........ first of all when you get yer hedgehog you tap him on the nose to kill him with the back of ya dagger.. then you hold him by by back legs and stand on his front feet and pull him tight working with a sharp knife shave the bristles downwards to his nose,, when youve got off al the bristles you can with the knife you then hold him over a flame turning him gently around and over to singe off any remaining bristle and hair,, whilst dooin this the hedgehogs back will swell up to almost double its size and the whole thing will turn black and look like a bowler hat,,,, now starting at the front of the nose gently tap into the bone a with a dagger and use something blunt and heavy to tap with.the hedgehog has a bone that runs from its nose to its tailtap the dagger all the way through the to the tail end,, once youve done this now your ready to gut it,,you gut through the back taking great care not to bust the gall bladder which looks like little blue ball my dad said if the gall bladder was busted due to the flaming they would throw it away cos it would make you bad,,,, now wash it out and cook in a tray like any other meat,,,,,,,,, p.s hedgehog fat will never set it always stays liquidy and dogs wont touch the leftovers ..... i hope thats cleared the subject up for anyone