Yes, that is what you think it is....

Cooking ideas?

Pad Krapow

Smother it in chilly and garlic and basil like they normally do?

Curry would be the obvious choice.

Ask on a Chinese forum perhaps?

Tamales, probably tastes like iguana.

I was not aware that Chinese ate water monitors, but then the Cantonese will eat anything.

i think they are eaten everywhere they occur, are they even found in china? Maybe Hainan island.

I was not aware that Chinese ate water monitors, but then the Cantonese will eat anything.

I thought it was snake

I was not aware that Chinese ate water monitors, but then the Cantonese will eat anything.

I thought it was snake

It is probably a goana to you , you know ..bush tucka.

It's water monitor lizard.

"After skinning the lizard, dress and cut up the meat. Marinate it in sour orange juice, or in sweet orange juice acidulated with lemon juice. Add 1 teaspoon whole peppers and a dash nutmeg. After 3 hours, drain and wipe the meat dry. Season with salt, dip in beaten egg and in fine bread crumbs, and fry in deep, hot fat. Or it may be sautéed butter until it is brown and tender."

boil in salt water with a stone

when stone is soft ready to eat

re

It's water monitor lizard.

oh dear

tomorrow hes going to tell us it tastes like

dave2

They are a protected specie.

Varanus salvator, or the Asian water monitor, is not protected.

I slow cooked it and the meat was pretty tender, although a bit coarse. It had a good flavor, something between dog and wild boar. I picked pieces with mostly no bones, but like rat, there are lots of little bones in many parts. The skinning part you see on videos I would forego. There is some thin layer of fat under the skin and it protects the meat; the skin pretty much falls off in the boiling process.

Not sure the current staus but it was listed as protected in the past, not that it means anything to the locals, I often see protected turtles, some criticly endangered for sale in markets.

I could be wrong but I didn't see it in any of the research I did on protected reptiles in Thailand.

Not sure which worries me most, the water lizard or the fact that you compared it to dog & rat meat. Then again is that really BBQ chicken somchai street vendor sells me?

^ Probably, as all the other options would be much higher cost than chicken.