Australia to shoot 6,000 kangaroos

[DeadlyDaring]

Originally Posted by SuperScout

If you would just let a couple of us Texans down there, we could show you how to really bbq the meat - actually we just smoke it - and even a yankee would think it as a gourmet meal!! As far as the portestors are concerned, they too would make great moving targets!

Here is some info on the way to cook roo et etc

It costs the Australian environment nothing to produce kangaroo meat. In comparison, seven kilograms of soil are used to produce one kilogram of wheat. Animals are killed in the production of even a vegetarian's food supply. Whole ecosystems are lost when forests are cleared to plant crops and toxic pesticides for maintaining crops also cause animal deaths. The kangaroo meat industry is sustainable and does not threaten kangaroo populations. Since the arrival of Europeans, kangaroos have thrived because of increased grasslands, better water supply through dams and bores and reduced dingo numbers, the kangaroo's main predator. Kangaroo numbers are so great that some farmers consider the animals a pest. Ironically, the industry that was established to control kangaroo numbers has only succeeded in taking a sustainable yield, despite killing up to 20% of the total population in certain years. The kangaroo meat industry only harvests non endangered species. Farming wild animals is less cruel than raising domesticated animals for meat. Kangaroos do not suffer the stress of live trucking and abattoirs. Instead they live freely in the wild until they are killed instantly by professional shooters.


Roo meat is super lean, rich in protein and other good things, and it's cheaper than any decent cut of cow meat, which quite honestly, has been shit lately.


Russia, Germany, Japan and the USA, all of which are the leading importers of kangaroo.


The kangaroo meat available commercially differs from the East Coast States to the Wes Of Australiat. NSW and Southern Queensland hunters harvest eastern grey kangaroos which are smaller and are generally regarded as inferior in meat quality to the Western Red which has been the mainstay of the South Australian industry for over 35 years. A new comer to the scene has been the Tasmanian harvest of wallabies for their meat and a new cut, wallaby shanks, can give their equivalent from sheep a run for the money in flavor and texture. From here on, I’ll group all three macropods (the kangaroo genus) to discuss the cooking, as it is the same for all of them.


The primary kangaroo cuts include strip loin, (long) fillet and rump which are all ideally suited to pan frying, barbecuing and stir frying and are suggested to be served medium rare. Secondary cuts are generally sold as diced meat or mince and these are best used as processing meats in sausages and preserved products or prepared using slow cooking techniques such as braising or slow roasting for pies or casseroles. One point worth noting is that roo mince is best salted with soy sauce rather than inorganic salt as soy helps retain more moisture in the mince.


As I mentioned before, kangaroo is a very lean meat easily trimmed to be less than 2% fat. This basically means that if it’s overcooked, not rested or improperly carved, the meat is more likely to be dry and tough. I always recommend medium rare as the preferred doneness so if you like your meat well done, I’d suggest you avoid kangaroo and stick to high fat meats.


Young meat with 1 to 3 weeks from killing can have a subtle flavour making it indistinguishable from quality beef while a very intense gamey flavor will develop with well aged meat – up to 3 months when stored under oil. If you prefer the light gamey flavor, then I suggest you purchase frozen kangaroo as this stops the ageing process.


Many chefs marinate kangaroo to add selected flavors to complement the meat at whatever degree of ageing they presume their market prefers. Some use marinades based on red wine while others use fruit based mixtures such as kiwifruit (Chinese gooseberry), mango or papaya (paw paw) to aid with the tenderization process. I have never been interested in using fruit marinades, however I prefer to use something like Mountain Pepper BBQ Sauce which offers a complexity of sweetness, fruit and spice and also has a tenderizing action when used as a marinade. Depending on the dish, simply using dry rubs on kangaroo meat; Australian Wildfire Spice, Red Desert Dust, Wylde thyme, Yakajirri or Alpine Pepper are all good for a range of flavors


As you’d expect, the native Australian spices pair very well with kangaroo and also reflect flavors as used by Aborigines for eons. To cook the dry rubbed or wet marinated kangaroo, I heat a saucepan to hot and then add a little oil but avoid the smoking stage which is a sign that the unsaturated oil fractions are converting to undesirable trans fats. Also use a high smoke point oils such as peanut or even macadamia nut oil. As the kangaroo is lean, I prefer to add just a little more oil than normal, which will reduce the chance of the meat sticking. I then place the kangaroo in the pan and depending on the size of the fillet I cook for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. At that time I remove the entire pan from the stove and cover it with foil and leave to rest for 5 minutes, which allows the juices in the kangaroo meat to redistribute after the heating forces juice to the middle. After resting the meat, I slice the kangaroo fillet across the grain, which is the final step in maintaining the tenderness.


PS ALWAYS SOAK YOUR ROO MEAT AT LEAST ONE HOUR IN OIL BEFORE COOKING

Preferably overnight

Cheers
DeadlyDaring

[82Rigger]

Deadly,

Can 'roos move fast?

Would taking one on the run with a rifle be good sport?

[DeadlyDaring]

Originally Posted by 82Rigger

Deadly,

Can 'roos move fast?

Would taking one on the run with a rifle be good sport?

Bloody oah Mate! ....a hopping moving target at 65-70 km/hr (104-112mph)

Everything you may want to know about the ROO
http://www.australianwildlife.com.au/kangaroo.htm


ENERGETICS OF HOPPING
when hopping starts its costs are high

as speed increases, the energy costs change little which means that a kangaroo hopping at a moderate speed (>15 km/hr) uses less energy than a similarly-sized animal that is running

for red kangaroos, the most comfortable speed is 20-25 km/hr

as speed increases up to about 40 km/hr, the hopping rate remains constant but the length of the hop increases

although red kangaroos can hop at speed of 65-70 km/hr for short distances, at these speeds the hopping rate increases as well as the hop length

while hopping has benefits in energy expenditure at high speed, at low speeds (below 6 km/hr) they have an awkward walk using their hind legs with the tail providing additional support for the front legs, and this is both clumsy and energetically expensive


Cheers
John

[Keith_Hixson]

I understand that PETA has booked flights to Australia. Have fun with those folks.

[SuperScout]

Don't they make good moving targets, too??

[82Rigger]

Scout,

Yeah, but ya can't eat 'em!

[Keith_Hixson]

In New Guinea

Keith

[revwardoc]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...013016,00.html

Surfer saves drowning kangaroo off Gold Coast beach

A GOLD Coast father and amateur surfer has put Bondi Rescue, Bondi Vet and Steve Irwin to shame with an early morning beach rescue of a drowning kangaroo.

Neil McCallum, 48, was on a morning walk with his son, Jazz, 15, about 6am on Tuesday along Kirra Beach when a juvenile roo bounded across his path, dived into the surf and started swimming out to sea.

Concerned that two hammerhead sharks had been in the same spot in recent days, the pair kept an eye on the roo until it got caught in a rip.

"A guy came up and said: 'Gee your dog's a long way out'," Mr McCallum said yesterday. "I said: 'That's not a dog, that's a kangaroo'."

So Mr McCallum, a father of three and a professional circuit speaker, dashed home, grabbed his long board and returned to the rescue.

"It was very frightened by the time I got to it. I grabbed it on the back and it sort of shook me off like a wild animal. So I tried to wrestle him on to my surfboard and he found it difficult to stay on board."

Eventually he herded the roo into a sand bar where it recovered before bounding away.

Mr McCallum said he'd never seen a kangaroo in the area before, only bush turkeys and, yesterday morning, a koala.

Mr McCallum's wife, incident on the family video camera and the footage will be shown exclusively on Seven's Today Tonight this evening.

[Boats]

I have to agree with you thinning them out can only give the remaining ones a better chance at getting by without rations.

[QM3steve]

I'd like to try it with a pistol from a dunebuggy. Now that'd be a challenge.