Pastrami is a deli meat. DELI meat. Made from corned beef BRISKET. Commonly eaten in sandwiches. Like at lunch and shit. It was invented as a method for preserving meat from SPOILAGE, before fridges existed. In fact, 'to pastrama' is to preserve meat.
Gripping.
And, let's be honest, most often followed by slicing and stuffing into a vacuum pack for someone to rip open later and wolf down on a quick lunch break. Sure, there's better quality versions, but the pastrami most people come across comes straight off the supermarket fridge shelf. Mmmm.....
Moreover, pastrami is a naturally fatty meat and the fat is an important part of the flavour. Which, great, but if you want to kill yourself you can always jump off a cliff.
Kangaroo meat, on the other hand, has an incredibly delicious delicate game flavour that is not at all dependent on fat. Indeed, it has one of the lowest fat contents of any meat.
Many people assume the flavour is strong, but in fact it's elegant and sweet and, if you didn't know otherwise, you could well think it's the best beef you've ever had in your life. The meat has an unusually fine texture making it incredibly tender - it literally melts in your mouth.
Which, personally, is enough to sell me, but in case you've been tainted by various negative perceptions, let me at this point dispel a few myths.
Some people naively believe that eating kangaroo meat is tantamout to the inhumane and brutal killing of an incredibly sweet pet and that most people around the world are against it - that it's very unusual.
Far from it.
In the home of the kangaroo, well aware that kangaroo numbers need to be kept down and that doing so is done incredibly humanely, many Australians routinely eat kangaroo meat, be it in Australia's top restaurants or on the backyard barbie.
In addition, Australia sells around five million kilograms of kangaroo meat a year overseas, and has been exporting kangaroo meat to game-loving European connoisseurs for 40 years. An even larger volume is also exported to Russia, Africa and China for use in sausages.
It's not unusual - it's everywhere. And more and more, world class chefs are clamouring to get their hands on it.
What IS unusual, is just how little other people know of the wonderful aspects of kangaroo meat.
The meat is incredibly lean, with only about two percent fat, of which a mere half is saturated fat.
Being wild animals, kangaroos carry few of the diseases commonly carried by domestic animals. Need I mention foot and mouth and mad cow's disease? Or the fact that researchers from the Food and Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have collectively identified cold cuts as “high risk” foods when it comes to things like E. Coli and other bacteria.
No, I thought not.
A diet high in kangaroo meat can reduce serum cholesterol levels, reduce risk factors which cause a predisposition to cardiovascular disease and reverse metabolic factors associated with the development of late onset diabetes.
Surely something THAT healthy, that also tastes so fabulous, is the ultimate meat??
i lived in australia for a while several years ago and was surprised at how much i liked kangaroo. it is indeed very tasty.
Posted by: Heather | January 22, 2007 at 07:09 PM
Good argument Kirsty. I'm a fan of pastrami, but taste and health together at last? I once ate kangaroo at a restaurant in Port Douglas that had a photo of Bill Clinton eating the very same dish at the restaurant. If it's good enough for Bill, it's good enough for me.
Jared, this argument is the kind of thing you need more of on this site, instead of lauding a report by the Meat Association of America that there might be the odd B vitamin here or there in some meat somewhere.
Posted by: Lebowski | January 23, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Which? Kirsty's original article, or the fact that you once followed Bill Clinton around?
Both would be an improvement on the normal quality of reporting around here...
Posted by: Jared | January 23, 2007 at 12:03 PM
Oh come on, we all know my submission was painfully tedious. Thank god mine actually is the ultimate meat otherwise I'd stand no chance. I'll try and get more creative next round if i'm lucky enough to make it through...
But it is bloody taste and healthy.
I once went to Port Douglas and never made it to the beach. I don't know what the hell happened, but I just never went. I went to the reef though. And didn't get left behind, obviously.
Posted by: Angus Whines | January 23, 2007 at 03:41 PM
I've eaten kangaroo at Borough Market (really good) and at the Eagle Bar & Diner, back when they were committed to serving good burgers and not bad cocktails.
It was pretty good. For, you know, 'Australus'.
Posted by: Jared | January 23, 2007 at 04:13 PM
Brilliant that you know about Australus.
Posted by: Angus Whines | January 23, 2007 at 04:42 PM
Never had kangaroo, but it is one of my New Year's resolutions? Did I say one? I meant, "the" one.
I've located the exotic game purveyor here in Oregon where I can score, so I'm well ahead and can coast for the rest of year.
I will start with the ground 'roo burgers, and if I like, work my way up to a filet.
Posted by: The Guilty Carnivore | January 23, 2007 at 08:45 PM
I've eaten every kind of meat there is. I've eaten Chum. Ham. Spam. Spum, (spiced chum.)I've eaten leopard. I ate a squirrel that I found. I can honestly say, that there is noooooo contest between Pastrami and Kangaroo. It's Roo, dude. At best, Pastrami is a mystery meat, a kind of, "All of the above" selection of disgusting offcuts, playdoughed into a tube, (Mmm. A tube. Tasty) On the other marsupial's paw, Kangaroo is lean, tender and so packed with delicious flavour you'll honestly wish to God you had two tongues when you're eating it. And I know about that. I once ate a kangaroo fillet the size of a God damned boogie board.
Posted by: Team Diskin | January 25, 2007 at 11:18 AM
Diskin - I have to say, you are so, so wrong (and maybe this is pastrami's problem)
Pastrami is made from beef brisket and only beef brisket. It is in fact corn beef that has been smoked and had extra spices added.
It is lean because all the fat is cut off (the flavor comes from the curing)
In the words of Dr Seuss:"try it, try it you will see"
Posted by: mark | January 26, 2007 at 10:15 PM
Diskin - I have to say, you are so, so wrong (and maybe this is pastrami's problem)
Pastrami is made from beef brisket and only beef brisket. It is in fact corn beef that has been smoked and had extra spices added.
It is lean because all the fat is cut off (the flavor comes from the curing)
In the words of Dr Seuss:"try it, try it you will see"
Posted by: mark | January 26, 2007 at 10:15 PM