Rat In Thailand

[churchill]

I have never tried it , Like lobster !!- Anyone ? perhaps in a stew .

Where Have You Been? Eating rat in Thailand

http://www.journaltimes.com/lifestyles/rel...1cc4c03286.html

[rolypie]

These are specially bred feild rats not you usual drain and sewer rat, more of a cambodian dish actually and come presented on a platter sectioned and opened to remove the offel. Yum !!!

[aussiechick]

Yes, they sell it up around Ayuthaya. Just like the picture in the article.

I had it once - but at the time was not told. It tasted like braised steak Knew something was up when my Thai friends were rolling round the floor laughing. Mind you when I did find out the mekhong and coke went down really fast.

[Geekfreaklover]

Back in the years when I was living in Isaan, Rat was highly prized and quite toothsome the locals claimed. It was not a sewer Rat like we see in Bangkok that they ate. More like a jungle rat or a large mouse. Although the exact specis I cannot be sure of.

The locals did not cook the rat fully. Instead they would hold the amimals for a few seconds above a fire until the fur became easy to remove. Once defluffed they would chop the rat meat up into cubes and eat it raw, dipping the cubes into some foul-smelling dipping sauce. It was the next best thing to buffalo placenta, apparently. Needless to say I never partook in the meal. You have to draw the line somewhere.

Edited November 8, 2009 by Geekfreaklover

[Newguy70]

"I have never tried it , Like lobster !!- Anyone ? perhaps in a stew ."

To the OP,

Very common in most places from what the wife tells me. I have yet to see, but will give it a try when I do, or if presented.

Really, any difference between this and the lobster (think about it).

Reason for edit, quoted wrong post

Edited November 8, 2009 by Newguy70

[churchill]

Recently had large ,about 1/2 inch, fried ants which tasted like wild mushrroms ! Really very good -

Nothings off the menu in Thailand .

[simon43]

I had the buffalo placenta (raw), a few years ago. Not the tastiest meal that I have eaten, to be honest

Simon

[enerzne]

At the place, i stay in Isan, it is very normal to eat this animal. But not all year around. It will be hunted and served after the rice has been brought in. This rats and mice have been in the ricefield all the short live they had, they were feeding on rice. Most likely nothing else.

To me and the people here, in this time of the year this animals are clean. The people here would never eat a rat in Bangkok. You would not know what it had been eating or where it had been.

As to the taste: same as you eat lizard or frogs cooked here. It is not the meat that has taste. The herbs have taste. Green onion, garlic, chili, mango ... everybody to his liking.

It is delicious to me.

[dumball]

They eat rat here in Cambodia , they harvest the rats as well as frogs in the rice paddies so they are not contaminated as are city rats , the going price is $1.50 a kilo and they sell well .

Rats can be a good money maker as they are prolific breeders , it has been reported that 2 rats put in an enclosed environement and fed daily , will return 25,000 rats in 1 year , 1 rat can easily weigh 1 kilo .

Who was that expat asking what to do for a business in Thailand to suppliment his income ?

[jeanpierre]

"I have never tried it , Like lobster !!- Anyone ? perhaps in a stew ."

To the OP,

Very common in most places from what the wife tells me. I have yet to see, but will give it a try when I do, or if presented.

Really, any difference between this and the lobster (think about it).

Reason for edit, quoted wrong post

thy taste like rabbit my friend

[blue eyes]

If you eat any variaty of meats you will like BBQ rat.I would never eat one in the cities,but up in Issan where they come out of the paddies they are great.They are eating rice and like the beef that is corn feed are just the best.

[473geo]

When the paddies are cleared the rats head into the paddy walls....they are then snared as they leave the burrow,much the same as rabitts........a wire noose and a strong stick in the ground. I've only eaten them barbeque but very tasty.........yes had some buffalo after birth ......but at least it was cooked!!

[473geo]

Here is an impending feast.......not before the rat had taken a snack of his own from the the little guy on the left!!!

[j0hnga1t]

last month I was in Yasothon and my future mother-in-law prepared two field rats as part of lunchLuckily they also made a wild mushroom dish......

My fiancee said the rats "gin kow" (eat rice) so they are good to eat, not like Bangkok rats that eat garbage....I still refused to eat it

[MrFrank]

I had grilled rat on a number of occasions in my (then) girlfriend's village near the Cambodian border. I had been keen to try it for a while but she warned me that it was a rare and valued delicacy that had to be eaten very fresh, so we couldn't just pick it up at a food stall. She also said that you could only eat them in December because the rest of the year they weren't fat enough.

Her brother in-law was an experienced rat hunter and so, armed with newly provided plimsolls (which he said were essential for the task), a head-mounted flashlight and an air-rifle, he would head off at around midnight to his favoured, secret spot in the rice fields, returning at first light with 4 or 5 large rats.

My girlfriend would gut and de-fur them while her sister fired up the "barbecue" and they would be grilled flat using one of those wire cages that are intended for fish. We would then eat them for breakfast with rice and freshly made chilli dip.

I can thouroughly recommend it and it remains my favourite thing to have for breakfast. The meat tastes somewhere between chicken and rabbit and the crispy skin is excellent.

[Godolphin]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade here but ... rat, why would you want to eat it?

I fully understand the need for communities to utilise all the food groups for survival.

I don't point my finger at any falang who may want to participate in Thai family meals. And, yes, I know that food is just food and all that.

However, there are many, many better things you can eat other than rat. Just look at chicken, beef, pork and seafood for example.

It must be a throwback to fear of the Great Plague or something but I will never knowingly eat rat and will never be convinced to do so.

Previous posts about the bitter skin, etc really put me off ever wanting to eat rat.

Maybe if I was starving. Maybe.

[chiliwasabi]

Personally I think rat is delicious. I don't wish to rain on your parade Godolphin but....why would you not want to at least give it a try (unless you are vegetarian

It isn't as if it's a sewer rat. By reading your post you seem to have your rat varieties confused.

Life can be a bit boring without trying new things and embarking on new adventures. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone.

[THAILIBAN]

AROY MAAK MAAK !

[davyboy]

Kaeng-phed rat, bbq rat and rat legs fried in garlic are all delicious! Aroi maak maak

Try them!

[Godolphin]

^^^chiliwasabi I hear you brother. I am definitely not a vegetarian but I would only eat rat (and dog, for that matter) if I was truly starving.

I know that sounds unadventurous and all that but I'd much rather have crocodile, or stingray or emu or something.

I take your point but I must have a rat "issue" or something. They are devious little bastards and, really, there is not much meat on them anyway.

[chiliwasabi]

Fair enough!

I guess we all have our limits. Personally I've never had a problem with any of the more "exotic" foods in Thailand but the thought of eating most cheeses and a good deal of western food makes me retch.

Some food it is best not to think about how they are made or where it comes from. Fish sauce and pla ra are pretty mainstream (well fish sauce is) but some people would sooner give it a miss if they knew it was essentially fish leave to rot for long periods in big barrels.

[Thongkorn]

The rat is the only thing the forces say not to eat it Carry's many deceases on it and in it.

[blue eyes]

The rat is the only thing the forces say not to eat it Carry's many deceases on it and in it.

What "forces"?

[chiliwasabi]

I suspect Thongkorn is referring to Womp rats and the forces of good and evil.

The womp rat was a large, omnivorous rodent native to Tatooine. It was widely considered to be a pest. They were slightly larger than two meters in size. There were three races of womp rats: ones that lived in Beggar's Canyon, ones that lived in the Jundland Wastes, and swamp womp rats. It was not unheard of for people to have domesticated womp rats as pets, but Luke Skywalker and his friends used to "bulls-eye" womp rats with stun blasts, while flying T-16 skyhoppers, for fun and target practice.

[mahtin]

Another argument against eating rat is the risk of Weil's disease: the British SAS's rule book lists rat as the only meat which its members in action are not allowed to eat.

wiki/rat

[NADTATIDA1]

In season and pound for pound rat is probably the most expensive meat to buy in issan.