I guess what I would really like to know is if edible do they taste good to most people.

A friend shot one(cow)on an exotic ranch in Texas recently and I attempted to pan-fry a couple thin slices of backstrap.

My first impression was not very good. I couldn't get it out of my mouth fast enough. I wanted to brush my teeth with a cat/dog turd. It wasn't tough, but had an awful flavor.

Is this normal?

Is there a better way to prepare it?

I guess I could always use it for fishbait or coyote bait.

Suggestions?

ha ha ha - that is funny - maybe what they are eating. here in Africa where they eat what Nature intended they taste pretty good if cooked properly, then again even a good Angus steak can taste terrible if cooked badly.

i will post some tips and a recipe for you later on.

They sure are,
HD WB a few times and it was delicious.

Did your friend handle the field dressing/meat correctly?

The problem most often arises from care of the carcass/meat. All of the African antelope of every species I've had has been excellent.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek: All of the African antelope of every species I've had has been excellent.

Ditto....D. Nelson

Both the Blue and Cookson's I killed were at the top of the list for favorite meats in my wife's opinion.

The PH in Namibia had an interesting indoor Brai that had two sides to it. You put the small pieces of Mopani in the right side, cook them down to coals and they fall through a grate. You then move them to the left below the grilling rack and cook the meat there.

That Blue Wildebeest could have been cut with a fork it was so tender. Flavor was to die for.

Malan hard at work.....

Wildebeest are FANTASTIC eating!

I try to pop at leat two of them every year ane very few of them end up as biltong. Most of the meat end up as sausage or mince, and we ask the butcher to leave the backstraps and fillets whole. They work a like a charm when grilled medium-rare in the Webber. The rumps get cut up into steaks and ditto for the Webber treatment.

Have to admit that the black wildebeest have better meat than the blue variety. The black wildebeest is one of the most selective grazers on the African plains and only munches on sweet grass. As a result, their meat has a finer texture (to me at least) than the blue wildebeest and is fully the equal of kudu or gemsbuck.

Wildebeest tastes very good, IMHO.

Here, a few years ago in the Selous, PH Pedro de Sa e Mello and Nchimbi are cooking some up for lunch.

It was quite delicious, even though not very well or properly aged.

Wildebeest in Texas is probably not quite the same.

A lot depends on how you clean, prepare and cool the meat prior to cooking.

I've eaten WB in the Limpopo and it was quite good. Of course the skill of the cook might have had alot to do with its excellent taste.

"Are Wildebeest Edible?" Yes! Definitely! Every single piece of a dead wildebeest is edible! That is if your definition of "edible" is something like: You will not die after eating it! The skin, horns and hoofs require extensive boiling to get it chewable, but once you get these parts swallowed, you will not die or suffer any lasting ill effects. Teeth require prolonged boiling in vinegar, but even those are all edible! Not very nutritious, but certainly edible! Paunch content is mostly partly digested grass - not pleasant smelling, but perfectly edible - in the sense that you will suffer no ill effects from eating some of it!

Methinks you wanted to ask if wildebeest is tasty? There are two directly opposing replies: Wildebeest that was chased by a vehicle before being wounded in the gut and then chased for hours before being finally killed with the umpteenth shot is still edible, but certainly not tasty! An excellent venison cook like my Cecilia will get it barely edible, but it could never be tasty. Spiced to kill the taste of any meat and just a painful burning sensation is possible, but for any but a true masochist, it can never be prepared in any pleasant tasting manner.

OTOH, a young fat wildebeest bull or heifer[either black or blue] that was killed with a DRT shot without even knowing that there was any danger, almost immediately eviscerated, carcass properly cooled and aged for some 1 to 4 weeks in a cold room before skinning and final butchering makes for a pleasant meal prepared from almost any cut by even a beginner venison cook!

If you do not like venison one or more of a few things happened: (i) The specific animal selection was unfortunate. (ii) The killing technique was not good. (iii) The carcass care was not up to scratch. (iv) The final cooking was just not good enough to compensate for poor choices or treatment of (i) to (iii)! If (i) to (iii) are very well done then the cooking technique simply makes the difference between exquisite cuisine and very good food!

In short: Yes, wildebeest are edible and can even be exquisite cuisine!

Just incidentally the part that is most sensitive, taste wise, to killing technique is the liver: Anything but a DRT shot results in a bitter and tasteless liver. Almost any animal [even ancient old trophy males] given a DRT shot while unaware of being hunted has a pleasant tasting liver!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

I suppose their diet plays a larger roll than assumed.

I've eaten Wildebeest and Gemsbok both in Namibia as well as here in Texas. The animals in Texas most definitely tasted different to my palate.

.

drew, I think the problem was, that Texas Wildebeest had been feeding on dog and cat turds with maybe a few Jack Rabbit pellets for good measure...lmao. Wildebeest is excellent. I've had it many times. I can be dry if over cooked, but like any well prepared venison, it can be excellent. Certainly no Bontebok, Nyala or Bushbuck, but very good as a rule.
LDK

Of course wildebeest are edible, everything is edible, even I am edible (that, however, is called cannibalism and is frowned upon in most cultures.)

All kidding aside, have you tried soaking it in buttermilk overnight? My grandparents swear by it when cooking game meat. If that doesn't work, try soaking the meat in apple juice (my usual go-to for hogs, but used it on addax and scimitar with pleasant results). I've also found that the "Montreal Steak Seasoning" you buy at the grocery store in the spice area works well for seasoning game meat.

If both of the above ideas fail, soaking the meat in Coke-Cola has been recommended to me more than a few times.

I chatted with the shooter and according to him the WB didn't go far. What concerns me the most is that he did not stick around to see how the animal was gutted or skinned. He has no idea if anything got spilled on the meat. I might try soaking in buttermilk or applejuice, maybe even diesel fuel-pigs like it .

Andy

quote:

Originally posted by drewhenrytnt:
I chatted with the shooter and according to him the WB didn't go far. What concerns me the most is that he did not stick around to see how the animal was gutted or skinned. He has no idea if anything got spilled on the meat. I might try soaking in buttermilk or applejuice, maybe even diesel fuel-pigs like it .

Andy

Andy, if the wildebeest was so foul tasting that you would even consider diesel fuel soaking to improve the taste, then something horrible went wrong with the carcass handling.

I do know that diet does play an important role in the actual taste of all grazers and particularly browsers. But a wildebeest [both black and blue] are essentially grass eaters, and I do not know of any grass other than so called turpentine grass that will impart a taste to the meat of grazers forced to eat this, for them very poor tasting and avoided except in extreme hunger, grass. Even if there was absolutely no grass to graze on they would, once driven by hunger probably eat some browse. I know some browsing bushes does impart a very bad taste to the meat of the eater, but know of no grasses that will do the same. Could be that wildebeest in your country are exposed to some bush they have no evolutionary idea about and their meat taste is so affected by eating what they do not know in another continent?

There must be some explanation for the bad taste you experienced. One possible cause is that the carcass was not eviscerated soon after shooting. That will cause a diffusion of paunch content gasses into the meat - particularly the fillets, but also eventually the whole carcass.

Another possible explanation may be found if another hunter shot a waterbuck on the same day? If the skinners handled a waterbuck incorrectly and then skinned your friend's wildebeest without a very thorough hand washing in between, the wildebeest meat will likely taste like you cannot get it out of your mouth fast enough! This is caused by an oily substance at the hair base of waterbuck skin, and I can assure you a waterbuck that was not very carefully skinned is inedible . OTOH a properly skinned, i.e. with great care taken to not touch the meat with a hand that touched the hair, waterbuck’s meat - even from an old trophy bull - is very good!

A last possible explanation is that the skinners pulled a very poor trick on you.


I hope you find out what caused the bad taste - there are enough postings here to convince anyone that the taste should be good to excellent.

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren

+1 on what everybody has said, so far. One of my favorite dishes, from the limpopo was blue wildebeast enchiladas with chipolte sauce. They were to kill for.


Mad Dog

yes, very edible.

besides lions eat them all the time.

I have eaten wildebeast everytime in Africa,, prepared just about everyway possible. Everytime it has been good,, even the biltong was good.It very well could be it's diet or the handling. Here in the states I always clean and process all my own venison,, part of the fun to me right down to stuffing gut sausage. I have shot some game that feed largely on sage brush in a drought year that had a very significant "twang" to it. Some have tasted more like goat than venison and it was handled and cleaned properly. Wildebeast are tough animals just about like all the African antelope and can survive on just about anything they can chew and swallow.

We had some on our last trip and it was excellent!

Andy, I am surprised, because the wildebeast looked nice and cleanm when it was hanging in the cooler. I did not notice any strang odors, either.

I hope Jay has better results.

Did you use a CLEAN skillet.

Keith

i don't know if it is edible, but it is surely HALAL if you slaughter it according to KOSHER law
YES

You are supposed to fry them in good olive oil, not that black treacle them pumps pull out the ground in Texas.

.

Nine out of ten lions recommend them !

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Fulson:
Nine out of ten lions recommend them !

Only nine? I guess there is always that 10%.

Soaked in applejuice and about 8-10 whole cloves, Tblsp peppercorns, some apple cider vinegar in glass container covered in plastic wrap and in fridge for 24 hrs. Placed in rack and grilled over pecan wood.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY OUT OF THIS WORLD FANTASTIC!

Applejuice with cider vinegar will be my new "goto" for marinade.

Don't know what happened with the first stuff! That taste was indescribably nasty!

Thanks for the tips!!

Andy