Currently reading Hemmingways True at first light, and just finished the chapter concerning the eatining of lion tenderlions, I have been told that mountain lion has great flavor and better then pork, any info on lions and anyone eat the back straps of their lion? good,avoided etc?

I can tell you from experience that the flavor of mountain lion tenderloin is second to none. I brought home the tenderloins from my cat back in 2001. We first tried it without any marinade or other seasoning to see what it was like and didn't marinate or season any of the rest. My wife was still teaching school at the time and took some of the lion tenderloin and some bear tenderloin in to an end of the year covered dish event. Those who tried both thought the bear meat was much more tender, but the lion tenderloin more flavorful. I must admit that I doctored the bear tenderloin a bit with marinade. I am not a big fan of bear meat. The lion meat was so good that I am seriously thinking of going on another mountain lion hunt.

Hopefully nobody will be thinking of the take off on the Harry Chapin tune, "The Cat's in the Cradle at the Canton Inn---"

mt lion I thought tasted much like veal. a bit sweeter and lighter, but very much the same. So much so in fact that my mother in law., whoe wouldn't eat anything wild, came over one night for some veal parmesan. Jup you guess it - couple of hours latter when we told her, she really did turn a pale shade of green. Ate some leopard, but he was so old you couldn't get a fork into the gravy, tasted good though. Even tried some bar b qued honey badger once, and believe it or not it was quite good.

Thanks guys I've managed to eat some wild stuff but so far no felines. thanks for the feedback.

quote:

"The Cat's in the Cradle at the Canton Inn---"

An oldie but a goodie.

quote:

Originally posted by patrkyhntr:
My wife was still teaching school at the time and took some of the lion tenderloin and some bear tenderloin in to an end of the year covered dish event.

Wonder how that would go over here in CA.

I can just imagine:

"Hey guys, what did you bring to the pot luck?"

Person 1: Uhh, potato salad
person 2: Jello
person 3: macaroni and cheese
Ms. Patrkyhntr: Oh, I brought an african lion tenderlion.--what, you've never had it before?!

Iron/Mtn,

The backstraps from my lion were very much like pork as you have been told. Interestingly the PH would not touch it and admitted it was just an old time prejudice of his and he had never tried it.

Leopard tenderloins are really quite a delicacy from my point of view. Sadie and I both enjoyed them very much.

Mt. lion tenderloins also are excellent. I cooked some at a friend's home and the lady of the house was not very please but admitted that it was at least palatable.

All this cat meat had no "Gamey" flavor

Regards,

Mark

P.S. Let me tell you if you can slog your way through True at First Light you are a good man. My! That was a tough read.

Puaj!!!
I've eat nearly everything (snakes, hamsters, lizards, etc, etc) but I will try to avoid a cat no matter his size !!

L

Butch- You BASTARD!! At least that is what MY mother in law said to me when I pulled the same switch on her. I find the cook and eat much like veal. We have grilled the straps and used a wine reduction with great results. I manage a couple of big properties and when one of our hunters takes a cat they usually give me the meat.

African Lion tenderloin is very tasty.

I personally don't want to eat any more, but it is good. The client wanted to try it so we cooked some up. Quite tasty, however, someone else can have the rest of my lion steaks from here forward.

Too bad when you hunt and study an animal and learn it's habits, see what it eats and then smell them when you are taking photos, you think twice about eating them.

HOWEVER, better to eat him, than the other way round.

Best,
Phil

Watch it, the meat from all carnivores (or omnivores) has the chance of being infected with trichinosis - so cook darn well, unless you have it examined by a vet first!!
- mike

Hey MHO,

My friend Chickens have taken to eatinf Shrews... does that put them off of the BBQ list?



FB

Mark you are right it is hard to follow in places, but any book on Africa beats nothing in some places I wonder what EH was thinking. I can see my wife letting me have a native "bride". Guys thanks for the feed back on the lion, very interesting.

Fallow - watch out for them killer chicks!

- mike

I didn't eat any part of either one of the lions I have killed. I guess I wasn't hungry enough to eat a fellow carnivore--and a CAT at that!

But they were both fully consumed by the camp staff and local herdsmen and villagers. Every scrap of meat was eaten, as far as I could tell.

I too have eaten mountain lion and thought it tasted like tender pork chops.....loved it. Warning: never attempt to eat this meat if you are the one to gut and skin the lion.....It's the most aweful smell I've had the displeasure of sensing and could not eat anything from that lion if I had processed the cat in the first place.....let someone else do it....find someone from PITA.

Lion backstrap chicken fried is very good, it tastes about like round steak...Cats do stink during the butchering process or rather the gutting process IMO and that bothers some folks. I wasn't overly fond of the smell and wouldn't want a steady diet of cat meat..

With all the scrumpdillyishious cuts of Buff,eland and the like who wants to eat cat?? I guess if you can get past the smell you got it licked. (no pun intended) Charlie

I did eat some leopard in Zimbabwe. The cook had fixed it as an appetizer, it was heavily seasoned and I really couldn't tell what it would taste like by itself. Probably just as well.
Doug

Last fall I ask Vaughan Fulton about Leopard and he said he would pass but I am looking forward to a sucessful Leopard hunt and the chance to try the tenderloins. I stuffed and roasted Mt Lion backstraps for my office staff (all female) a few years back and all raved about it. The same year we had Mt Lion on the grill for mothers day and it was a big hit.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles Mc Williams:
I guess if you can get past the smell you got it licked. (no pun intended) Charlie

I knew someone would get around to the above statement! I've been resisting makeing a similar statement myself!

Mountain lion meat is excellent! Back in the old days when folks lived on wild game, mountain lion was preferred above all. The meat is light in color like pork and is much like a sweet pork in taste. If you take a mountain lion, don't fail to harvest the meat. As for butchering; I'm told if you open the stomach, the smell is horrendous. I was very careful in gutting my cat. I boned it out and left it outside overnight in 10 degree weather. The next morning, I stuffed the meat in a duffle bag and checked it on my flight back to Houston from Colorado. When I got home, it was still hard as a rock.

Russell is right, mountain lion is very good fare. I would not make the mistake of having it made into sausage though. It is good cut in steaks, chops, roasts, etc.

Kitty, the other white meat.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:

The backstraps from my lion were very much like pork as you have been told.

Probably a residual effect from the lion's diet! (ie human meat is reported to taste like pork. )

lion meat??? i'd rather eat my rifle

Lion, leopard and caracal are all excellent eating

We cut one fillet from my lion in Zimbabwe. The camp cook fried it and we all had a few bites during lunch. It was the best meat I have had. I only wish we had taken the other fillet so that I could have made a meal of it.

Jason

This year in Zimbabwe, we also ate my Leopard. I loved it, and agree that it reminded me of veal. I was a bit surprised when they served it, since I didn't think that cats could be eaten.

After seeing what a lion eats (bait) and how nasty it gets - I am not so sure I want to eat lion or leopard or hyena or vulture or any carrion eater...

I could be wrong or I might try it if I ever shoot Mr. Simba or Mr. Spots...

Dogcat,

So I take it you have never dined on baboon either?

Mike

Mike,
NO way, no way, no way....
I do like to shoot them and then let the odd leopard that wanders by have a taste of ol' Mr. Blue Butt....

Eating zebra was a stretch for me... Reminded my of a pony I once had...

Okay, thought maybe given your love for the baboon that you had asked the camp chef to cook up some baboon burgers.

I'll try whatever. Can't be much worse then 20 years of british beef in the commisary.

As someone who has never hunted Africa nor Mountain Lions I can't really comment on how they taste, but my wife and I both like Bobcat. It tastes better than deer in the same type dishes. JMO.

Can you get Trichinosis from a African lion like you can from a mt. lion ?

Trichinosis is a pig disease isn't it?

quote:

Originally posted by bentframe:
Can you get Trichinosis from a African lion like you can from a mt. lion ?

One can get trichinosis from any Mammalian. The larvae encyst in mucles. When the meat is eaten, the larvae are freed, molt and lay thousands of larvae that encyst in the muscles and wait to be eaten.
Thus the carnivore often harbour Trichina larvae, the omnivorous too.
The pig infect themselves in eating the tail of their companions. (caudophagei ; caudo=tail, phagei=to eat)
The horse infect themselves in eating dead dessicated rats in hay.

I ate lion filets and leopard filets; both taste like veal, but nothing worth calling home. Baboon is another story.

I ate a filet off my African lion and everyone in camp thought I was crazy. I've also eaten mountain lion at various wild game barbecues around southern Arizona.

Both of these large cats have white meat resembling the breast of turkey. The taste of both was similiar.

I can't say it was the best meat I've tasted because nothing beats eland or Brazilian beef, but it was good. It's a distinctive flavor, though.

At our barbecues, everyone jokes about eating puddy cat... except they use a different word.

Bill Quimby