In Namibia, I'd put Oryx, Kudu, and Zebra backstrap as a very close race. I'm not going to argue with anyone but most people who like the sauced up versions of game meat, don't really like "meat" flavor in my experience. The same thing carries over to Eland, I've had it quite a few times and find it to be more bland and less interesting than several other meats. But.....that's why we have various flavors of ice cream, when anyone knows that Bluebell White Chocolate Almond is the peak.......

6 month old warthog roasted. Yum!

It's all good in Namibia but springbok is excellent. Overall in Africa Tommie chops are as good as Ruark described and possibly the best game I've ever eaten. Western hartbeest is really nice also. I have missed the eland thing as I think I've never had it that was perfectly prepared. It was good but just not great.

Mark

Another enjoyable entree is chicken fried kudu steaks. Yum! Yum!

#1 Eland
#2 Kudu
#3 Gemsbok
#4 Springbok

mountain zebra loins on the grille followed by some smoked oryx that was killer. The medium rare zebra steaks were as good as any meat I've had anywhere.

Gatogordo

There is only one kind of ice cream- homemade vanilla!

1. Common Reedbuck
2. Springbok
3. Eland

Nyala.

They must be impossible to domesticate, or people would not eat beef.

Eland prepared any way is Great I like it best Grilled with Gemsbuck second and stewed is my favorite.

My favorite is Namibian Dessert Steak. A thick gemsbok fillet soaked in cream and garlic for a day or two in the fridge. Grilled rare over coals and sliced very thin. Served with cold beer beside the fire after supper.

Outside of Namibia my top choice is roast sitatunga. It ties the gemsbok for top spot overall in my mind. Of course the guy who cooked the sitatunga had been working safari kitchens since the '50's, so it might have been the cook and not the meat.

I'm going to have to get some vensio out for tonight. This has made me hungry.

Dean

quote:

If I am successful on my Suni this year....

Wait until you hunt Suni..one of the most interesting hunts I had in Mozambique. Your back starts to hurt bending down to look under the brush for the telltale sign of that flashing little tail. Their tails look like they're electric...whipping and spinning non-stop. Great little antelope. You'll love it!

I enjoy a lot of the smaller game they have a very fine texture mountain reedbuck is a very good one then nyala, bushbuck and then of course eland and gemsbok is also very good. The ones that are not so great for me is the beest family wildebeest, blue, black, hartebeest and blesbuck they are good but not as nice as impala or kudu.

Then one of the best dishes that I have ever eaten is Charl's special guinea fowl cooked in a pot. I couldnt stop eating.

It will depend upon who is doing the cooking. My favorite was Kudu backstrap. Of course the Boer PH kept to hunting and the cook was French.

A lot has to do with:
- how the meat was handled
and
- who cooked it.

Ok so Eland and Nyala get my vote for Best.

I know we are only discussing the "Best"....but the WORST I had was Waterbuck meat. That f****er smelled bad and I could not bring myself to chew it down the throat...ended up spitting it out in the napkin.

Can any one comment on Sitatunga meat ??? Given that it is a swamp dwelling animal, I am curious about the palletability of its meat.

Mountain Zebra...served med. rare...Wow....DELICIOUS

Impala backstrap.

Bull1

Mud-baked cane rat or braised porcupine are hard to beat!

Aardvark tenderloin.

Eland, Gemsbok, Kudu
Warthog on the spit.

Springbok, Impala and some nondescript meat that I was told not to ask what it was.

I'm still wondering.

Well last weekend we braaied Giraffe fillet that had been marinated in Olive oil, Worcester sauce and cracked pepper. Sliced thin and med rare, even the bunny hugging guests came back for more!
Normally I would rate Impala and Nyala as awesome, although we eat more Wildebeest and Blesbok because that seems to be what we bag more of. The trick is to use a beast that expired quickly and whose meat was handled well from the time it was shot until it made it's way to your plate. Venison tends to be a little tougher than pampered cow so marinate & age in the fridge and slice thin.... magnificent!
I wanted to cut & paste a photo of my next meal but I had better learn how to put photos up on AR!!)
JCHB

quote:

Originally posted by collector:
Can any one comment on Sitatunga meat ??? Given that it is a swamp dwelling animal, I am curious about the palletability of its meat.

I found it surprisingly good. The first I saw of it though wasn't real promising. It was a grey slab in a sandwhich packed for the ride from the airport to the concession. I finally got hungry and bored enough to try it after 2 1/2 hrs and it was great. I wasn't the only one to like it either. Part of the agreement the concession holder has for the area I hunted was to give the local village 1/2 the meat from animals taken and they make it a policy to give vissibly more than that. Most animals were halved or sent whole to the village. None of the sitatunga left the hunting camp and the PH seemed to make sure that we got more of it than normal for an animal of that size. Too good to waste on biltong.

Dean

Thanks Dean,

Good to know and appreciate the detailed feedback.

My two favorites from that part of the continent are eland and . . . . eland.

I've also heard giraffe meat is very tasty and often served in Namibia, but I've not tried that one yet.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I have missed the eland thing as I think I've never had it that was perfectly prepared. It was good but just not great.

Mark

Mark:
Surely you didn't miss out on Faro West's version of wood grilled, rare filet mignon of giant eland?

It was the best African meal I've had, all three times!

Smoked Mt. Zebra backstrap is excellent.

All the talk of cooking wild game got me up and into the kitchen to prepare one of my and Ms. SL's dinner favorites:

The ingredients:
Two backstraps
One package of thick cut bacon
One package cream cheese
Sliced Jalepenos (optional)
Your favorite seasonings

Curious?

Hungry?

timing could have had something to do with it, but:
shot my buff at 3pm, had a thick 2" tenderloin grilled just past medium rare about 6pm. Delicious!!!

In eleven weeks I will be able to report back on Mtn Zebra backstrap VS Kudu and Gemsbock and Impala. Hopefully, a day apart.

They will all be delicious, the bush gives a man an appetite for self-killed game steaks.

Rich

all this talk and what S-L posted, I got a package of Elk steaks out of the freezer and headed to the grill in a few minutes.

Eland loin over the coals is the best!!

Of all wild game meat I've tried I find simitar horned Oryx to be the absolute best! However, of The African game form southern Africa I find my favorite is Zebra cooked over coals! It, to me, tastes like American ELK, or Horse meat which I ate a lot of durring WWII, because beef was not usually available because of rationing!

IMO, it all depends on who, and how it all is cooked and how well it is handled when killed! I have eaten Eland that my curr dog wouldn't touch, but that was because it was killed gutted then hualled around in the back of a Cruiser for 8 hours before being skinned, and butchered!

The eland steaks we had were awesome. Also warthog on the braii

Eland steaks were excellent. While not RSA, we had wart hog in Tanzania that was quite good. While in RSA the Outfitter I was hunting with always had packages of summer sausage made from gemsbok. Great snack at any hour, especially with a Vodka Tonic.

Looking forward to trying some lion and hippo filets in June. From what I have read, hippo is very good.

Kudu, no, Gemsbok, no, Hartebeest, no, Springbok, no, Zebra, no.......
Darn, I gotta go back! There are so many I need to try. I loved them all. Don't know if I could pick a favorite.
Bfly

My 3 favorites.

eland steaks med. rare on the grill.

kudu braats

blue wildebeast enchiladas with chipolte sauce

YUM!

Mad Dog

All of it is good if you are with the right companions sitting by the fire after a long day of hunting. Can't wait to go back !

Gemsbuck

cold Gemsbok schnitzel like Vera Veldsman makes-yum yum

quote:

6 month old warthog roasted. Yum!

Can't comment on warthog, but 4 month old wild boar is delicious. Soak in apple juice before cooking then lather in honey and cayenne pepper while BBQing.