Frog Legs

[Blaise (imported)]

How do you cook frog legs? I have not enjoyed any in a year or so. I just saw a local televsion new show recipe, but I wonder how others prepare them.

[Ernie of Maine (imported)]

:-\ Sorry I can't help you on this one. I've only had them ones in Arkansas on my way back from San Antonio, Texas. Back in 1995 when my E-350 was bran new.;)_____Ernie of Maine________:)

[Blaise (imported)]

The customary way to cook them is to use an egg/milk batter with flour before deep frying them at about 375 degrees F until the fat side of the legs floats up. I think that peanut oil works well. Then one uses a mayonnaise based sauce with garlic and some sort of pepper mixed as a dip. However, a restaurant in Lavonia, Louisiana serves them braised in a Provencal sauce. Once you enjoy them that way, frying almost seems a waste. One has wine with them, but I don't recall which wines are best. The flavor is much like chicken, but to my taste more subtle or delicate.

[Riverwind (imported)]

I had them once as a kid, they were frying them and the big thing was keeping them in the pan. OH YES, they taste like Chicken.

River

[kristoff]

Never had them. Can't be much to them. Be like picking a toothpick clean, seems to me.

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Can't be much to them.

I agree. They did not make the cut for feeding the growth of civilization in "Guns, Germs and Steel."

[Blaise (imported)]

I agree. They did not make the cut for feeding the growth of civilization in "Guns, Germs and Steel."

The frog legs here are large enough for a meal. The come in a pair. I confess that they are regional fare, but that fare is delicious.

Fried frog legs came come served with fried oysters and fried shrimp. They come with friend potatoes. However, I prefer the legs braised. As I said, the flavor of frog legs is sufficiently delicate for wine.

By the way, I enjoyed the televsion series. I have not yet read the book.

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

New one on me; I've never tried the things.

On a related note, I was at the chinatown district in the city the other day, at a grocery store. Saw some kids eating what looked like huge spiders; turned out, there was a deli in the corner of the store that had a whole display rack / heater thing filled with hanging chicken feet. About 6 inches of leg (which served as the handle), and... the chicken foot, which one ate as a snack. At first I thought 'no way, not gonna try it', but figured later I had to give it a go. About all I can say is they taste like chicken ( ), and precisely as gristly and strange as you might be imagining.

[Blaise (imported)]

New one on me; I've never tried the things.

On a related note, I was at the chinatown district in the city the other day, at a grocery store. Saw some kids eating what looked like huge spiders; turned out, there was a deli in the corner of the store that had a whole display rack / heater thing filled with hanging chicken feet. About 6 inches of leg (which served as the handle), and... the chicken foot, which one ate as a snack. At first I thought 'no way, not gonna try it', but figured later I had to give it a go. About all I can say is they taste like chicken ( ), and precisely as gristly and strange as you might be imagining.

Now that sounds--well--gristly and strange. Frog legs are quite delicate

[jane_says (imported)]

Although I normally don't cook or eat any meat on the bone, I make an exception for frog legs. It makes me sad afterward, when I think of the cute little guys on crutches, but I eat them every chance I get anyway. When I was a kid my older cousins regularly went frog-gigging (if you don't already know, don't ask; it's pretty grisly) and brought the legs to my granny who would fry them up in much the same way Blaise describes, but without dipping sauce of any kind, as far as I can recall. There is a local Chinese restaurant who always has frog legs on their buffet. They are kind of dusted with flour or cornstarch and fried, with lots of black pepper and some diced scallions on top. Excellent, and when we eat there I always make sure to wrap up a couple of bones to bring home for the chihuahuas who look like real barbarians dragging them around and growling at each other.

My dad is currently on a business trip in Wuxi, China and called me yesterday morning. For lunch, the company he is working with caters food for all the employees daily. Yesterday they had bento boxes with greens and peppers, rice, and two (according to my dad) "big, fat, white, bleached-out looking chicken feet". He said he nibbled one to be polite, but couldn't stomach it.