The Great Taste Of Rat

[PattayaOneTeam]

Above Bawd in Pattaya

Eating Rats

Recently peckish, I trawled the Secrets web board in the hope of finding some juicy gastronomic pointers, and wasn't disappointed when I discovered two threads about eating rats.

The threads were: “What's for Breakfast?”, and “Rats - would you eat one!”

Now these rats aren't your common or garden sewer-dwelling city rats (I hope) but are instead ones that live in the rice fields (but who can really say where they were caught when they are skinned, gutted and barbecued?)

Pumpuynarak kicked us off with: Wifey and I visited her mum in the village on Friday. As we were about to leave there was considerable excitement from the neighbours, whose son had caught a rat. This rat was a fxxking monster. It must have been 18 inches long, minus the tail, that's in part what all the excitement was about. I am told by wifey they rarely catch them that size.

Within minutes it had been skinned and was divvied up amongst them and wifey had her share. So off we go, back home with the rat.

No sooner had we got in the door than wifey is cutting it up and chopping it into small pieces, the remainder went into the fridge.

Now the cooking commenced. After about 20 mins of frying wifey is tucking into this rat with the biggest smile on her face i have ever seen.

I have to say that the cooking smells permeating from the kitchen were quite nice, but there's no way I could eat the thing.

Brownie shuddered: a rat with an 18 inch body?? <deleted> catching it. I'd have run a mile. Is it a normal rat with gigantism or another type of rat?

Secrettom was cool on the great taste of rat: Treated like a rabbit by the Thais, they are field rats and I accidentally ate some a few years ago; greasy foul <deleted>.

Comsic36 helpfully weighed in with: I work in a rat/mouse lab and we have a freezer full of 800 rats cut up in various pieces. What is your wife's address, I can feed the village for a year.

Hilly helpfully set out what looked like a delicious recipe for rat (in post 10, Rats - Would you eat one thread for adventurous readers - let us know how it turns out!), commenting: Serve ground rat meat on an oval dish with livers and heart on the top. Circle with garnish of basil leaves and halves of lime. Serve with white rice. The flavor will be hot and tangy with a mild crunchy chew to it. It is not to be considered the main dish, but a nice hot and spicy accent to other prepared dishes.

Eddibabyyeah said: During a trip around LOS last year myself & the missus came across lots of sellers at the side of the road selling BBQ'd rats. She stopped and bought one. The thing smelled bloody awful. I did have a small bite of it and it was full of bones and tasted nothing like rabbit.

Heymarky said he'd eaten one in Bangkok unknowingly many moons ago. Tasted like pork only sweeter.

I'd have thought a Bangkok rat would be full of diseases, and taste disgusting, but what do I know. I bottled my only opportunity to taste upcountry rat.

Unlike me, Bottleymike didn't bottle, and said I have eaten barbequed rat up country. It tasted OK, and probably a lot healthier than the steroids fed pork, or the farmed fish that are fed on chicken crap.

The rats live in the rice fields and feed off of the rice, so are relatively speaking free range, so why not eat them.

LionKing weighed in with a late night Pattaya tale in a street behind South Pattaya Market, for anyone tempted after a night out: half way up there are some stalls selling skinned rats and dozens of other things dead and alive. However they are probably Beach Road or City rats rather than the delicious free range rice field rats.

Sinclair1969 said My girlfriend loves to eat these wild rats, they are different from the city rats in that they have been living in a clean environment. They are for sale along the main roads in many parts of Thailand and are a favorite among many villagers.

Merv believes the dearest meat in Thailand is Rice Rat. Why I asked, and the answer is quite simple really "they are very difficult to catch" i thought they tasted a bit gamey and very chewy.

So there you have it. Rice field rats sound like they could be quite tasty, urban rats are literally “bog” standard. Any intrepid tasters out there, be sure to let us know.

Next Edition: Other unusual food Choices in Thailand.

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-- Pattaya One 2011-12-03